More than 500 employees laid off to “save” TVA

Faced with the situation at TVA Group, which he considers “critical”, Pierre Karl Péladeau announced Thursday the dismissal of 547 employees, or nearly a third of the workforce.

The decision affects 300 people in internal production, 98 mainly linked to the activities of regional stations and 149 in other sectors. This collective dismissal comes after the announcement of the elimination of 140 positions at Groupe TVA last February. Around twenty temporary journalists, in the region and in Montreal, are affected.

“It is our responsibility to save TVA,” said Pierre Karl Péladeau Thursday, during a videoconference meeting with employees.

TVA’s third quarter financial results, presented Thursday, show a deficit of nearly 13 million for its television broadcasting sector for the current year. This deficit was 1.6 million at the same time last year.

The man who is also the interim big boss of TVA Group believes that this upheaval is due to the proliferation of digital broadcasting platforms (Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, Crave, Hulu, etc.), which leads to fragmentation audience and subscriptions.

Added to this, he says, is competition and bidding wars for the acquisition of sports rights as well as the absorption of advertising revenues by web giants (Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other Twitter/X ), in addition to what Pierre Karl Péladeau calls “unfair competition” from Radio-Canada.

Even information is affected, he says, by platforms that profit from the journalistic content of the media “without paying them a fair share”.

He affirms that the domination of the web giants has created a deficit situation for all traditional private channels.

Major changes

TVA’s financial balance sheet has been negative since 2021 for the TV sector. TVA Group revealed Thursday that its cumulative loss for the first nine months of the year amounts to 32 million, that is to say four times more than a year ago.

Major changes are therefore announced with the aim of “preserving activities”. A plan focused on three measures was developed: the end of internal production activities in entertainment content, the reorganization of the information sector and the optimization of the real estate portfolio.

The first measure aims to refocus TVA on its role as a broadcaster by ending internal production activities for entertainment content. Shows The goose that lays golden eggs, The cheater And Vlogging will be entrusted to external independent producers.

In information, internal teams will continue to produce current affairs programs for TVA Nouvelles and LCN, Hi hello and certain TVA Sports broadcasts. However, nearly a hundred layoffs are planned in the information production sector, mainly linked to the operation of regional branches.

At least four journalists per station will continue to remotely feed an 18-minute regional bulletin during the week, management said. But the production and recording of regional news bulletins will be entirely entrusted to TVA Québec teams. This change will allow some regional offices to be moved to smaller premises.

“We will continue to broadcast our news bulletins as they exist today,” assured Mr. Péladeau at a press conference.

In order to reduce operating costs, all TVA Group and Quebecor information teams will be brought together at the end of the summer in the former premises of the Montreal Journal at 4545, rue Frontenac. The building is currently undergoing major renovation work, notably to accommodate the morning show studio. Hi hello. The teams of Montreal JournalTVA Nouvelles, LCN, Hi hellofrom QUB radio, from 24 hoursTVA Sports and TVA Publications will all work in the same location.

TVA and LCN will maintain separate and independent management teams from other media to comply with CRTC license conditions.

Critics of the union

The TVA Employees Union, affiliated with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, says it was informed by the employer 15 minutes before the announcement. “It’s terrible. It’s about people’s lives,” lamented union advisor Steve Bargoné.

The collective layoff notices sent to the government show 376 layoffs in Montreal and 59 in Sherbrooke, says Mr. Bargoné.

To explain its financial difficulties last February, the management of TVA Group notably mentioned the decline in profitability of TVA Sports, a channel launched in 2011. TVA Sports lost around 220 million in 11 years following the signing in 2013 of a 12-year agreement – ​​valued at 700 million – to become the official French-speaking broadcaster of the NHL in the country.

Thursday, Pierre Karl Péladeau indicated that the intention is to continue the activities of TVA Sports and to exercise in full the contract linked to the broadcasting rights for NHL games. “We have contractual obligations with the NHL and we will respect them,” he said. Subsequently, the future will be established taking into account the negotiation surrounding these rights, he clarified, adding to expect that digital platforms will be interested in this market, as Apple TV has done by acquiring the broadcast rights to MLS soccer matches.

Rental housing in the old building

The fate of the building at 1600, boulevard De Maisonneuve Est, where the TVA studios are currently located, remains uncertain. Quebecor granted a mortgage of several millions on this building to Groupe TVA to help it get through the financial crisis. The company says it wants to begin discussions with the City of Montreal and Quebec to study the possibility of converting the building into social housing.

TVA Group started the year with 1,327 permanent employees, 43% of whom are unionized.

The union has indicated that it will challenge the legality of the transfer of television production to independent producers, which it says is clearly prohibited by the collective agreement. “We are very aware that general television has a problem, but we will do everything to defend our members,” assured union representative Steve Bargoné.