By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the CRTC public hearing into the renewal of CBC/Radio-Canada’s broadcast licences that was supposed to happen in May has been postponed until further notice, but the deadline for interventions remained back at February 20th.
However, that did not stop Quebecor from sending a letter to the CRTC on April 14 requesting the Commission put the letter on the renewal’s record, so the issues it raises can be discussed at the hearing, whenever that might happen.
Quebecor also brought the issues to the attention of the federal government. It’s a complaint made before, and often, by private broadcasters – that CBC is pulling in ad dollars.
“CBC/SRC continues, disgracefully and unscrupulously, to compete in an entirely unfair and unprecedented manner with private broadcasters such as TVA—this at a time when CBC/SRC, as a Crown Corporation funded largely from the public purse and subject to no profit imperative, is shielded from the costs and impacts of the current crisis,” the letter states.
“CBC/SRC appears to respect no bounds and indeed its conduct is beyond the bounds of comprehension. This is completely unacceptable and must be addressed by government authorities as soon as possible before it is too late,” the letter continues.
Apparently, according to confidential sources mentioned in the letter, the CBC has been offering advertising below regular costs in the markets of Quebec City and Montreal.
Quebecor also complains that SRC radio is promoting events it is associated with, contrary, they argue, to their conditions of licence, which prevents them from advertising.
Also, in terms of content acquisition, the SRC is allegedly taking advantage of a shortage of content due to cancellation of shows by “snapping up large amounts of coveted content at very high prices, without regard for the impact on the industry as a whole. According to our sources, CBC/SRC has acquired content by paying above the going rate for broadcast rights.”
On April 16, CBC/SRC responded to the letter but declined to share it with Cartt.ca :” We are addressing these latest claims by Quebecor with the Commission and have no further comment at this time,” said a CBC spokesperson in an email.
However, on the 17th, Quebecor replied, “Obviously, in a business context, we cannot ask these advertisers and clients to sign affidavits attesting to the facts or betray their trust by giving you their names. CBC/SRC is aware of this, which makes their accusation about the quality of our evidence particularly shameful.”
Quebecor’s letter suggests the Commission can be contacted by their sources to provide the information on a confidential basis, to allow the Commission to investigate.
The CRTC responded to Cartt.ca in an email saying:” The Commission can confirm that we are in receipt of the letter; we are currently examining the contents of the letter sent by Quebecor as well as the response from CBC/Radio-Canada. The Commission is following its normal course of action in examining the letters and will respond in due course.”
At this point, it’s not known what the next steps will be.
