Restructuring at Quebecor | End of the game for TVA Sports?

The day after the announcement of the elimination of 240 positions at Quebecor, including 140 at Groupe TVA, the big boss Pierre Karl Péladeau taps his foot with regard to TVA Sports, which is experiencing “decisive” moments.

“I think that today we are ‘at the edge'”, he said in an interview Friday with Paul Arcand at 98.5 FM. “There are a number of considerations that do not militate against the prospect of success as far as TVA Sports is concerned. »

Quebecor declined an interview request from The Press with Mr. Péladeau. In a radio interview, the CEO first recalled that his company had “invested” so far some 200 million since 2011 in TVA Sports. Despite revenues that reached 103 million in 2021, the channel has never been profitable. Mr. Péladeau mentioned in particular the file of the never-obtained return of the Quebec Nordiques, the loss of the Major League Soccer (MLS) contract at the hands of Apple as well as the exorbitant 5.2 billion contract signed in 2013 in partnership with Rogers for the rights to the Montreal Canadiens, to explain these financial difficulties.

The other cause, for which the two major Quebec telecommunications companies have been at loggerheads since 2019, concerns the royalties deemed insufficient that Bell pays to Quebecor for TVA Sports.

This case is currently in arbitration. “It will be the last arbitration before the renewal of the contract that we have with the National League [de hockey]. It will be decisive. The fact that the American live-streaming giants are now getting sports broadcasting contracts is another setback for TVA Sports. “Previously, you could think that television was going to keep a kind of slot for the event live. This is no longer true. »

QUB “integrated” music

New details on the description of the eliminated positions also began to circulate on Friday.

“It will be in all sectors, whether in Montreal, Quebec, in the regions for TVA, whether it is information, production”, specified to Paul Arcand Mr. Péladeau, assuring however that he did not would be “no asset sales or closures”.

At the end of the day, Quebecor announced that its online listening service QUB musique would no longer be a stand-alone service but would be “integrated” into the French platform Qobuz. This will make its appearance in Canada in May 2023. “The QUB musique brand will continue to evolve within Qobuz itself, in particular through an offer of playlists tailored to Quebec music lovers as well as through local editorial content – ​​chronicles of albums, in-depth articles and interviews – of high quality”, assures the press release from Quebecor.

Launched in 2020, QUB musique, whose objective was to compete with Spotify and Apple Music in the industry, had a catalog of more than 75 million songs from here and elsewhere, including around 3,500 lists of reading. The Quebec platform has a listenership rate of Quebec performers of 76%, one of the rare alternatives to international platforms – where the listenership rate of Quebec performers is around 8%.

In July 2021, QUB musique said it had 25,000 subscribers to its listening service – which costs $11.99 per month. Specialists have estimated that this number has since doubled. But even at 50,000 or 60,000 subscribers, this growth remains modest compared to the million Spotify accounts in Quebec.

According to the press release from Quebecor, “current QUB musique subscribers will have access to a preferential monthly rate when transferring their subscription to Qobuz”. Since 2019, Quebecor has been a shareholder in Qobuz, which last May had around half a million subscribers, according to the daily The world.

Not the carnage

Elsewhere at Quebecor, the newsroom of the 24 hours is affected as well as many freelancers and supernumerary employees.

Union representatives were also beginning to paint a portrait of the positions eliminated. From Quebec to Rimouski via Sherbrooke and Chicoutimi, the abolition of one to three positions per office was estimated. In total, about 25 permanent unionized jobs will be affected. The TVA employees’ union (Local 687) has between 800 and 1,000 members in the province.

“Obviously, hearing the announcement of 240 positions, one thinks of a carnage, it’s extremely panicking, said Steve Bargone, CUPE union representative, in an interview. It’s always appalling that someone could lose their job, we’re still assessing the damage. But it seems less dramatic than originally announced. »

The union adviser also deplores having learned of the “restructuring” just a few minutes before the announcement in the media. “No matter how hard we tried to be part of the solution, obviously it’s not working. We are never consulted, no one asks us for our opinion. And yet, I have day-to-day employees who offer solutions. They are never retained. »

With the collaboration of Jean Siag, The Press