Speeches and Interviews

February 3, 2005

Speaking Notes for Daniel Gourd to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage

Speaking Notes for Daniel Gourd, Executive Vice-President of Télévision de Radio-Canada, to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, Ottawa

(Check against delivery)

Ladies and gentlemen, good day.

I am grateful for this opportunity to address the committee, and I have been awaiting this occasion with anticipation, as I am the bearer of good news indeed.

As you know, we undertook two years ago to reposition Télévision de Radio-Canada.

We relied on a realistic, though aggressive, strategy to re-establish the important position of French television within the francophone community.

Our primary intent was to reconfirm its critical role in the cultural development of francophones across the country by having every confidence in the public television's unique ability to make bold programming choices.

Essentially, we chose to continue to set much store in the basis of Télévision de Radio-Canada's distinctive character:

• Rather than climbing on the reality-TV bandwagon, we decided to continue to explore new drama formats that reflect the varied contemporary realities of our society.
• We have continued to innovate and to have faith in young authors, new actors, and talented directors, the likes of Frédéric Ouellet, Hélène Bourgeois Leclerc, Patrice Sauvé, Isabelle Langlois, among others, who were duly rewarded at the last Gémeaux Award presentations.
• We have strengthened our news and information role and now offer over 40 hours of programming per week, a level unequalled in our history.
• We have reinforced our distinctive character through our public affairs programs. We now offer 10 such programs every week — the only network to do so.

Our boldness was well met by the public, and our viewership increased strongly, beyond our initial expectations.

Our fall programming — built on the success we experienced last winter — enabled us to garner nearly one quarter audience share in the evenings (22.0 points), up 6.7 points over the previous year and 3.6 points over the entire day.

Initial ratings since our winter 2005 programming schedule was launched are just as encouraging.

Our efforts to enhance our program schedule are succeeding. Our new on air signature, "Vous allez voir," now takes on a whole new meaning.

You will recall the stir caused by the program les bougon one year ago, even before the first episode was aired. It so happens that, as I speak, the american networks fox and abc are taking an interest in the show.

Certain columnists were predicting that the new comedy cover girl would cause a scandal. They proved to be wrong. Why, do you think? Because the public fully understands that our networks can indeed air this type of program. Our positioning is clear.

As was to be expected, our regional programs are buttressed by the networks' strengths. According to the bbm results for the fall of 2004, early evening tv news programs are on the rise in all markets.

I might add that our progress is not merely quantitative in nature. The public's perception of us underwent a positive change in a very short time.

In effect, we noted the following on the basis of the outcome of our seventh barometer survey [explain]:

• The percentage of the francophone audience that deems our programs satisfactory is also up, from 71% to 81%.
• Credibility remains the key feature of our new positioning that is most recognized by the francophone audience.
• 78% of respondents held the view that télévision de radio canada fully meets their expectations of what public television should be (compared to 73% in march 2004).
• 86% of respondents believe Télévision de Radio-Canada offers quality programming (compared to 81% in march 2004).
• An increased number of viewers now consider télévision de radio canada to be a network that is on the move (71%, up from 66% in march 2004), that stirs the imagination (85% as opposed to 80%) and that provides innovative programming (65% compared to 61%).

This significant rise in ratings and public appreciation confirms that we made the right choices.

This is no reason to let down our guard!!

We are fully aware that our successes are fragile.

The coming year will be critical. It is of the utmost importance that we have the resources required to prevent a drop in our audience shares. We must maintain a strong schedule at all costs or we run the risk of losing the trust of the public, our advertisers and our producers and incurring the dire consequences this would entail. We were able to get back on our feet, but a second fall would be fatal.

If this should occur, Télévision de Radio-Canada would be marginalized, and its downfall would be speedy. Shrinking audience shares and advertising revenues would be irreparable. Public support and satisfaction would tumble.

As you well know, repositioning a service such as ours is a lengthy process. In the field of television, several years may go by from the time we commit to a production to its broadcast.

We set a target of successfully repositioning télévision de radio canada within four years. It is essential that we shore up our fragile successes. Nothing can be taken for granted. The work must continue.

In such circumstances, you will understand why the lack of stability and predictability of our financial situation is of such grave concern to us.

Thank you for your interest and your support.

I would now like to introduce my colleague, Sylvain Lafrance, Vice-President, Radio de Radio-Canada and New Media.