I received the news first with a bit of disbelief, then with hope and enthusiasm. Finally, the two solitudes that the French and English networks (CBC/Radio-Canada) of the Société Radio-Canada (SRC) have formed for too long were going to look into cooperation scenarios without compromising the fundamental mission of the group, nor those more specific to both. And let’s be frank, this cooperation cannot be solely managerial or technical with the sole aim of achieving efficiency gains. It must also succeed in attenuating the resistance of the silos which prevent any creative alliance of content, ultimately beneficial to each channel.
You only have to take a look around the world to realize that Canada is significantly behind in the application of concrete and effective measures in the face of the steamroller of digital giants. The Netflix revolution, which toppled overboard in a single blink of an eye two resistant taboos of the Internet: the people who adhere to it do not want to pay a penny for the content they consume and the distribution of audiovisual content remains subject to territorial constraints.
At last count, Netflix had 270 million paying subscribers worldwide. The company will be 17 years old on August 29, and its trunk seems stronger than ever in the heart of the forest it has generated. In Canada, subscription revenues accumulated by digital platforms were still on the rise at the start of the year, and everything indicates that consumers remain attracted by their offering. The latest report from the Convergence research group, released at the end of March, does not bode well. People across the country, including Quebec, continued in 2023 to unsubscribe from traditional television distributed by cable or satellite, in favor of digital giants, whose revenues increased by 14%.
In this context, supporters of the status quo and inaction must change their minds. Already in a state of crisis upon the arrival of Netflix, the Canadian broadcasting system is now verging on collapse. We saw this recently with the layoffs within the two private broadcasting groups, TVA and Bell Media. Their cries of alarm are unfortunately not sufficiently heard in the offices of the regulatory authority. And the solution recommended by the federal government to restore order to the system focuses on subjecting digital platforms to new regulatory constraints, rather than on an upgrade and modernization of existing regulations aimed at bringing about new level playing field for Canadian services, founders of the broadcasting system.
However, we must balance the misfortunes that still threaten the Canadian system with the government’s multiple hesitations to take concrete action. With foresight, Mélanie Joly did not hesitate, in 2017, to take the initiative of an agreement with Netflix, thereby defining a first level of contribution to the internationalization of Canadian content. The Quebec dam upended the agreement. Of course, nothing was perfect, and the minister recognized years later “management errors”, especially in terms of communication, I would say. Canada has lost the advantage of time in the lurch of this imperfect but relevant initiative. The development of a legislative and binding solution took years to put in place, and it is still not in force. The adage “it’s never too late” will have to push its limits a little.
But let’s come to CBC/Radio-Canada. How was the Radio-Canada brand diluted in the digital sphere with two competing platforms, tou.tv and CBC Gem? Meanwhile, Bell Media brought together the content offerings of its two main channels, CTV and Noovo, into a single platform that offers programs in both French and English. If you talk to the managers of these two chains, they will tell you without hesitation that the success of Noovo’s rebirth is attributable to the innovation, audacity and creativity of its management, but just as much to the presence of the Crave digital platform in its fold.
Whether we like it or not, CBC and Radio-Canada have an obligation today to rethink themselves and correct the historical tangent of their sterile and unsuccessful relationships. Without compromising the specific missions of either, or more clearly undressing one to better dress the other. If public channels as strong as ZDF (Germany), RAI (Italy) and France TV felt the need to join forces in 2018 to lead a counter-offensive against the digital invader, I do not understand that two linguistic channels within the same company can still escape a more active and more synergistic coexistence. The ZDF-RAI-France TV alliance co-produces series each year with great creative ambitions with budgets to match, rivaling those of Netflix. Alliances, whether strategic, creative or functional in nature, are an unavoidable path forward, while isolation can only lead to failure and extinction.
Personally, I would have many reasons to be wary of CBC, which refused in less than 24 hours the project to adapt the series into English. The parents, of which I was the producer. The same affront, even worse, was committed against the series A boy a girl, which always tops the list of most adapted comedies in the world. But the realities are no longer the same and I do not believe that these heresies would again find their place in a context of systemic cooperation between CBC/Radio-Canada.