Air Canada passengers have access during their flight to hundreds of television series and documentaries. But Quebec television content can be counted on the fingers of one hand. What’s more, among the panoply of American programs that the main air carrier has acquired, very few are also offered in French.
Air Canada has nothing to be ashamed of with its selection of Quebec films. Passengers can watch just about every major feature film released last year during their trip, such as Arlette, Vanishing lines or viking. However, the same cannot be said for the offer of fiction series, reality TV, documentaries and other variety shows.
Out of nearly 200 television content offered on board this month, there are only five Quebec productions. Among them: the youth program Agent John, Jean-Marc Parent’s most recent television special and the recording of the Super Franco Fête musical show. To this are added The jokes of Just for Laughs, a concept that has the particularity of being silent, and the highly niche documentary Baghdad Twist by Montreal director Joe Balass, a short film in English, subtitled in French, dating from 2008.
In short, the offer seems quite limited compared to the substantial selection of American series of the moment, White Lotus in the first season of SuccessionPassing by Yellowstone or Chernobyl. Air Canada has also got its hands on a catalog full of popular reality shows, such as Keeping Up with the Kardashians and culinary competition Top chef.
“We pay constant attention to our offer of French-language content, including Quebec and Canadian content. In this sense, we are currently in an exercise of reviewing the options available to us, ”reacted by email Air Canada.
The airline, which declined our interview request, prides itself on offering its passengers a range of French-language content “unparalleled in the country”. To support its statements, Air Canada recalls that some of its planes are now equipped with live television. And among the six channels that can be viewed simultaneously in the air are two French-speaking channels: LCN and RDI.
Partnerships with platforms
While Air Canada has managed to reach an agreement with a non-stop news channel and a sports channel, the company has not ratified any partnership with one of the Quebec entertainment platforms, hence the huge imbalance between the offer of English and French-language television content. The air carrier, for example, enjoys agreements with the American HBO Max and the British BritBox, which has allowed it to acquire an impressive catalog of series and television shows in English, and for which there is often no no subtitles or translation.
Air Canada has also reached an agreement with the Canadian video-on-demand service Crave, which usually offers productions in both languages. However, the content that has been released by the platform is almost exclusively in English. “Many factors go into these decisions, including licensing fees, which vary depending on whether it’s live content, English or French, ”explains Bell, which owns Crave.
ICI Tou.tv rejects the idea of a partnership with Air Canada, but says it is negotiating with the carrier “project by project”. New arrivals from the ICI Tou.tv catalog are planned for the month of May.
Worse than Transat
Despite these additions, the offer of Quebec content on Air Canada flights will remain well below that of Transat. The two carriers have essentially made the same acquisitions of Quebec films in recent months. But for TV shows, it’s a different story. While the selection for Air Canada passengers is anemic, those traveling with Transat can watch hit Quebec series such asBefore the crash, The honorable or Discussions with my parents.
As for foreign series and films, Transat has a much less diversified catalog than that of its main competitor. The versions translated into French are however legion on board the Quebec carrier, which does not have the kidneys as financially solid as Air Canada.
“What Transat pays compared to Air Canada for a film is very little. It’s about the fifth. And you should know that even for Air Canada, we are not talking about large amounts. Above all, it gives the films interesting visibility,” says producer and distributor Christian Larouche, who has sold some of his films to the two air carriers in the past year. If he cannot comment on television, in cinema, he rather says that he has observed a sincere interest on the part of Air Canada for Quebec feature films for a few years.
Nothing obliges the former state corporation to acquire Quebec content. Airline entertainment is not regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Carriers are therefore not required to offer a minimum amount of Canadian content or French-language productions.