Thank you, Sylvain.
First allow me to briefly explain the context over the last two years or so as we developed our new positioning.
Like everybody, we had noticed the news environment had changed a lot. We were facing new competition from other TV outlets, but also new media platforms. Basically, the public was no longer consuming news the same way as before.
Despite the great viewership numbers Sylvain cited, RDI was still locked into a rigid programming dynamic with regional shows at set times that did not always allow it to adequately cover regional news, among other things. The fact is that we were receiving a lot of complaints about regional programming being constantly interrupted to cover breaking news, an understandable cause of frustration for our viewers.
We wanted to both reinforce our regional presence and develop a more fluid approach, with greater editorial consistency. With the depth of our journalist teams across the country, we at RDI are the only francophone news network able to provide complete cross-Canada coverage, from live reports anywhere in the country, to compelling analyses and discussion of all aspects of a story. By building more flexibility into our coverage from 6:00 to 6:00, Monday to Friday, we can offer live coverage of the news, anywhere in Canada, at any time.
Another of our strengths is the ability to offer regional perspectives on national and international news. The softwood lumber dispute, which has been the subject of a great deal of discussion in recent months, is a good example of that strength, In Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, and the West, our journalists provided a regional take on the issue and analyzed the dispute and its impact from the perspective of local communities and their main players and stakeholders.
Lastly, we are going to create a new 10:30 p.m. newscast to recap the day's main stories from the regional Téléjournal editions and provide an overview of top events in the various regions of the country.
I would like to conclude by pointing out that regional programming is a fundamental requirement under our CRTC licence, and that we have always met our obligation to include at least one third regional content in our programming.
We view on-the-ground support from the regions as vital to the success of our all-news format at RDI, and we are convinced that the contributions of the regions to our new approach will be even more decisive and significant.