CBC/Radio-Canada is quietly preparing to abandon the FM band and the hertzian waves to be broadcast only digitally. At least that is what the President and CEO of the Crown corporation, Catherine Tait, has let know, without however advancing on a timetable.
In interview at Globe and MailMme Tait pointed out that more and more Canadians are migrating to digital platforms, and that the public broadcaster must accelerate its digital shift “to stay relevant”. “We wake up every day thinking, ‘What does our audience want, and where is it?’ And there are more and more of them on digital, ”said the one whose term will end this year.
Catherine Tait cited the example of the BBC, the British public broadcaster, which plans to go 100% digital by 2030. In the case of CBC/Radio-Canada, the transition is likely to stretch over a long period, however agreed the CEO, since several regions of the country still do not have optimal access to the Internet.
Moreover, figures published by the Center for Media Studies (CEM) at Laval University show that traditional television still has a greater reach than digital. In 2022, nearly half of the country’s Francophones said they listened to Radio-Canada or RDI on a weekly basis for information. Converselythe public broadcaster reached 32% of Francophones on the Web.
Not immediately
In an email sent to Duty, the state-owned company wanted to reassure its audience by specifying that the end of linear television and FM radio is not envisaged in the short term. “It’s not relevant,” we said. No question, therefore, for the moment, of turning your back on 95.1 and 100.7 in the greater Montreal area. Radio-Canada will continue to be accessible by tuning to 2 or 5 on a television.
The Canadian Media Guild, the union of CBC/Radio-Canada employees, says it has received confirmation that no plan exists. Catherine Tait is accused of having caused confusion five months before the end of her mandate. “It is regrettable that the statements of the President of CBC/Radio-Canada have been made suddenly, without the workers of the public broadcaster who create its programs, and the public who depend on its services, having had the opportunity to express their point of view”, can we read in a press release sent on Wednesday.
The transition to all-digital will come inevitably, but certainly not immediately, believes Aimé-Jules Bizimana, researcher at the Center for Interuniversity Research on Communication, Information and Society (CRICIS). ” THE streaming is gaining in popularity, so it’s not surprising that Radio-Canada is preparing for it. But it’s amazing that M.me Tait make this announcement now. There are still plenty of cars that don’t even have a digital receiver. Maybe in 10 years, we will be elsewhere, but we are not yet there, ”analyzes this professor from the University of Quebec in Outaouais (UQO).
According to data compiled by the CEM and surveyed in 2021, about 82% of Canadians had listened to traditional radio at least once during the month the study took place. A figure down slightly from 2017, but still well above the 47% of Canadians who used an online listening service at least once during the same period.
“Is it realistic to go digital only in the short term? Not sure. But at least Radio-Canada has set itself an objective. It’s important to have a goal if we want things to change. But anyway, it’s such a big decision that inevitably, it will also come from political will in the case of Radio-Canada, ”concludes Sébastien Charlton, coordinator of operations at the CEM.
Radio-Canada alone for now
CBC/Radio-Canada is currently the only broadcaster in the country to have made such progress on the end of traditional use of the airwaves. Joined by The duty Tuesday, the management of Télé-Québec remained evasive about its intentions for the future, acknowledging that “broadcasters all over the world are questioning themselves”, while saying they want to reach Quebecers, “whatever the mode of listening privileged”.
On the side of Quebecor, we reject the idea of switching only to the digital side. The president and CEO, Pierre Karl Péladeau, took advantage of the exit of Catherine Tait to tackle the public broadcaster. “If CBC/Radio-Canada considers that it no longer has the means to offer conventional television to Canadians while it benefits from a government subsidy exceeding one billion dollars, imagine the situation precarious and unsustainable private broadcasters. The words of M.me Tait confirm to us that it is urgent that the federal government tighten the mandate of CBC/Radio-Canada by eliminating, as it has promised to do, advertising on its platforms, like the BBC, regularly cited by the general manager of the public broadcaster,” he said by email.