A lot has been said recently about the future of our television. Some are agreed, but others shed interesting light, such as the comments that the actor, host and producer Charles Lafortune made on Wednesday at the microphone of Louis Lacroix on the airwaves of 98.5.
While the word “discoverability” of our content is on the lips of all leaders in the audiovisual world, Charles Lafortune believes instead that we must make our own platforms more accessible.
“We have to bring television back into television,” he repeated.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Charles Lafortune
Several broadcasters and specialized platforms are owned by Quebecers and Canadians (TVA+, Tou.tv, GEM, Crave, etc.).
According to Charles Lafortune, we need to offer greater visibility to these channels and better protect our television ecosystem if we want to promote our content.
The vice-president of content and creation at Pixcom points to the famous connected TVs which, unlike traditional television broadcasting, are not subject to any obligation from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to highlight local channels and national. They therefore favor foreign platforms and channels with which they sign agreements.
This point of view deserves to be looked at closely by the members of the working group created by the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe. This committee, led by Monique Simard, ex-CEO of the Société de développement des enterprises culturelle (SODEC), and Philippe Lamarre, president and founder of URBANIA, will have the difficult task of reviewing the methods of financing our film and television productions. .
On this, I welcome the minister’s initiative. We must dust off this way of doing things which is no longer of its time.
In several interviews, Mathieu Lacombe insists on the “generational divide” which is shaking our television universe. “Our young people are on TikTok. Our young people are on YouTube. Could we invest in productions that would be broadcast directly on these channels? “, reported THE Montreal Journal a few days ago.
There, I admit that I jump when I read that. I hope that the committee’s conclusions will not go in this direction. Are we going to start producing content that we are then going to offer on a silver platter to these platforms that are strangling us? It would be the world turned upside down.
I would like us to rethink the formats and start creating series in the form of 60-second capsules, but here we are saying that we should produce content to then put it on TikTok and on Youtube. Mathieu Lacombe mentioned it again at Luc Ferrandez on June 10.
Who would really benefit from this type of agreement? Who will the advertising revenue go to, if any? What would our broadcasters say about such an agreement?
If we start offering foreign platforms productions created with our public funds, how do you then expect us to demand royalties from Google or Meta to help our media?
We lose our negotiating point. You have to be consistent.
Speaking of coherence, the exercise we are currently carrying out cannot achieve clear objectives without a real dialogue with the federal government. Nice puzzle in perspective.
You should know that the series and shows you watch are financed by a sometimes complex mixture of tax credits and money allocated by Quebec and Ottawa. Added to this are advertising and cable revenues. These have experienced a significant drop in recent years in a context of fierce competition from digital giants.
Will the provincial and federal governments work together to achieve this necessary revolution? You should know that Ottawa must deal with the realities of other provinces.
The thinking we have, other countries have too. Everyone is trying to do their part in this terrible maelstrom and find solutions to protect their audiovisual industry. Could this involve an increase in co-productions with other countries?
Recent examples show us that we have everything we need to create agreements with foreign partners.
In short, it is a gigantic project that awaits those who dare to tackle it. “This is not an issue that can be resolved by pressing a button,” admitted Mathieu Lacombe.
On that, I agree with him.
I come back to the report by my colleague Marc-André Lemieux, published Wednesday, on the television content that users shamelessly offer on YouTube. As Ysolde Gendreau, a copyright specialist at the University of Montreal, said: “Having old VHS tapes does not come with the right to distribute them on the Internet. »
Read the file “Tele-nostalgia is popular”
I am frankly amazed to see that the rights holders are making no effort to prevent the distribution of this content on foreign platforms.
On the other hand, we are made to pay a subscription in order to see content on Tou.tv before anyone else. And we are told that wide distribution of Radio-Canada archives cannot be done for copyright reasons.
Meanwhile, I can watch episodes of D’Iberville and Salt of the week on YouTube that videocassette collectors unconsciously offer to this American giant.
I do not understand anything anymore !