Official Languages Committee on May 12th, 2009

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

And would I be right that this is probably a major factor, that it's not just a question that the signal will go to the 4% of missing homes? It's that it will go to all homes covered by Radio-Canada? Meanwhile you are broadcasting as well to the other 96% of the homes, and now you've got competing signals, competing advertising. Is that right?

[Rick Brace]

You wouldn't have competing advertising because we would sell all the advertising.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

That's the way you would like it. I just mean if it were to go the way Radio-Canada wanted it.

[Rick Brace]

That's right--if it went the way they wanted it to go. Outside of the province of Quebec we have distribution from TQS and RDS, so if they were to sell their own advertising there it would compete directly with the francophone side of the consortium, absolutely.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you for those answers. I appreciate that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Lemieux.

We'll start the second round.

Mr. Rodriguez, you have the floor.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Good morning and welcome, everyone.

You mentioned that there was a record number of live coverage hours. I think it was 650 hours. That's very good. You're providing the signal and that's fantastic, but people still have to be able to unscramble it. That's the issue under discussion today.

Two weeks ago in Vancouver, I met people from the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique. They said they were very concerned about francophones outside Quebec being able to receive those signals. You have no bilingualism mandate, do you? You are a private business, a consortium of private interests, and that's not a problem. You want to make money, but the problem is that you're not able to reach all francophones.

[David Goldstein, Senior Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs, CTVglobemedia Inc.]

Mr. Rodriguez, I think it's important to note that section 3 of the Broadcasting Act concerns both public and private broadcasters. The official languages requirements are not the same for us as they are for Radio-Canada and the CBC.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

You don't really have any restrictions, do you?

[David Goldstein]

No, not at all.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Ultimately, we have to solve this problem; otherwise you won't be making a good impression. I'm not saying that in a nasty way.

Mr. Brace, I would like to ask you this: what's in it for Radio-Canada? The corporation will be transmitting your signals, but will it be making any money apart from that?

[Rick Brace]

The answer is no, in terms of money.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Radio-Canada lost the bid and you won it, right? Why would they help you achieve your goals?

[Rick Brace]

I come back to whether there is a public responsibility and an opportunity here, understanding that we're talking about outside the province of Quebec. During the period of the games there is nothing that will compete with the games themselves; there's no programming you could put on.

Outside of Quebec, as you know, there's a very small number of francophones.

So I think it's a very fair offer. They don't have to make an investment. They can deliver something more efficiently than any other solution we've come up with. Perhaps it's their public responsibility, and today we've gone so far as to say we will permit them to produce it, but we will have to control the commercial inventory,

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

I agree with you. Radio-Canada has a mandate and has to carry it out. For our part, we have to ensure that it does so. The fact remains that you got the contract, not Radio-Canada. You're going to make money on this operation, but you're asking it to help you offset your weakness. That's a little strange.

[Gerry Frappier]

I'd like to provide a few details on profitability. French-language services outside Quebec don't generate a lot of money because the cash value of advertising time relative to ratings generated is relatively low. We're talking about 500,000 or perhaps 600,000 francophones outside Quebec who have the opportunity to follow the games. That represents very low commercial value.

As Rick was saying, regardless of what we present on TVA, Radio-Canada or RDS during the games, people will mainly be watching the games. Outside Quebec, those companies will probably have higher ratings by broadcasting the games than by broadcasting something else. It's in that sense that this is an advantage.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Ratings will be higher, but those people won't be able to sell advertising since you're the ones doing it.

[Gerry Frappier]

Advertising doesn't have a lot of value outside Quebec, Mr. Rodriguez. It's not the same story.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

I understand, but I don't see the advantage that these people would have in increasing their ratings if they ultimately can't make it pay through advertising.

Are you ready to invest money to reach the entire population? Let's take, for example, the freesat system, which costs $500. Let's suppose we're talking about 10,000 households, even though that's more than there in fact are. If you multiply that number by $500, it would cost you $5 million for everybody to receive the signal. Are you ready to do that?

[Rick Brace]

We've made a significant investment. We've made what we think is a fair offer, and I think it's time to see if SRC has a response. We'll have to discuss the proposal we put forward today with them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Rodriguez.

Now we'll continue with Ms. Guay.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, gentlemen.

We met with the Commissioner of Official Languages, who was dissatisfied and very concerned. We met with VANOC, who told us the same thing. We've just met with the CRTC, which also has major concerns about the broadcast in French. From what they said, 2.5% of the Canadian population won't have access to the Olympic Games, which corresponds to the population of New Brunswick. That's a concern. I hope efforts will be made on other levels.

We've talked about community television channels. Have you had any contact with them? Are there a lot of them? They're very big in the regions. In Gaspé and elsewhere, there are francophones and anglophones who could have access to the Olympic Games via community television. Have you taken any action in that direction?

[Rick Brace]

We've dealt with all of the cable companies, so virtually every region of the country, through our contacts. Whether it be the major cable or satellite carriers or whether it be the members of the CCSA, which is the small system cable alliance, or whether it be with the independents--and I think those are some of the ones that you're referring to--they have all been contacted, either in person, over the phone, or by letter, or through the CCSA, which represents the member group.

To this point in time, we have had a great response. The majors are in. They say they're happy to participate. The CCSA is now sending us feedback. You have to understand that this is a bit of a marathon; it is not a sprint. It takes some time.

So slowly but surely we're hearing back from the distributors out there. As I say, it's an ongoing situation.

I think at this point in time--

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Brace, we've been told that only one-third of people had been reached to date. 2010 is coming quickly; it's not even a year away. If only one-third of those people have been reached—I'm talking about the independents. There's work to be done.

[Rick Brace]

I'm not sure where you got that information.