On Monday morning, it was Pierre Karl Péladeau’s turn to launch a heartfelt cry at the CRTC as shocking as the one launched the day before by defender Marc-Antoine Dequoy.
• Read also: TVA is in its “last ditches,” Péladeau warns the CRTC
• Read also: “Keep your English!” – Dequoy, completely unleashed after the Alouettes’ triumph
The Gray Cup game was barely over when Dequoy, who had a microphone stuck to his face, exploded like a grenade. Eyes wet, throat tight with emotion and fury, the Alouettes player let out all the frustrations he had built up since the start of the Canadian Football League season.
“Keep it, your English!”, his cry from the heart, has traveled the country and has echoed in the farthest corners of the planet thanks to the Internet that multiplies the power of television. The day after that win, Dequoy felt the need to apologize for “going a little off”. Was it really necessary?
Most Quebecers understood very well the reasons why their ship had “rocked a bit”. He is far from the first of us to be shaken by ignorance and contempt for the French. The previous week, it was shocking to hear the national anthem sung only in English in Toronto, during the Eastern final between the Argonauts and the Alouettes. It was all the more unacceptable that we are now concerned – and I fully agree – with sparing the feelings of First Nations by recognizing their presence and their contribution to the country at every opportunity.
Sunday evening, in Hamilton, during this 110e At the end of the Gray Cup, we sang the national anthem in both official languages, but that was, as far as I know, about all the French we heard and saw. Fortunately, there were the displays of support shown by Quebecers who had traveled to attend the game!
PIERRE KARL PÉLADEAU AT THE CRTC
In a surprising coincidence, it was Pierre Karl Péladeau, new owner of the Montreal Alouettes and CEO of Quebecor, who was, yesterday, the first to appear at the CRTC hearing on the modernization of the broadcasting law. His words were less emotional than those of the Alouettes defensive back, but they were no less impactful.
Private mainstream channels are running up deficits, with 80% of Canadian advertising ($11 billion) now sitting with the digital giants, who have no obligation. As for Canadian cable distributors, which pay a percentage of their revenue for the production of original programming, they continue to lose subscribers, about a quarter of their subscribers over the past seven years. In Quebec, as in Canada, the number of households subscribing to online platforms now exceeds the number of households subscribing to a cable TV service.
THE PRISON OF PKP FROM THE HEART
In early November, Pierre Karl Péladeau announced the last-chance reorganization plan for TVA. As we know, it will mean the elimination of 547 positions. That’s almost a third of the current workforce. PKP ended its CRTC submission by stating “that Canadian companies can no longer wait for the end of the long process of implementing the new Broadcasting Law. Like many TV network owners, Pierre Karl Péladeau no longer believes that the state and the CRTC will be able to compel the digital giants to contribute meaningfully to our broadcasting system. This is a very bad omen.
