Bell CEO Mirko Bibic testified Canadian news will be dead if private television networks fail at the Commons Heritage Committee on Thursday.Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. cut 4,800 jobs on February 8 and and 1,300 jobs on June 14, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. The conglomerate further sold 45 of 103 regional radio stations in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and London, ON.“Without a Canadian broadcasting system there will be no news except maybe the CBC,” said Bibic.“We need to figure out how to keep Canadian news alive.”On April 27, 2023, Cabinet passed Bill C-11: An Act To Amend The Broadcasting Act, which waived traditional licensing fees for television companies permitted to use public airwaves.Bell estimated as an operator of the CTV network it saved $40 million annually on licensing fees under Bill C-11. “There are massive losses in conventional TV, $180 million. Our news service loses $40 million a year," said Bibic. "Advertising revenues declined by $140 million in 2023 over 2022 and we need to adjust to those circumstances.”Liberal MP Anju Dhillon responded, “But Bell is a telecom and media conglomerate that generates in Canada 15 times the annual revenues of Netflix.”“Netflix is eight times bigger than Bell,” replied Bibic.“Disney, seven times bigger than Bell. Amazon is 63 times bigger than Bell and they compete directly against us and generate more revenues in Canada in streaming than we do and they have to contribute nothing to the Canadian media industry. That’s what we should be talking about.”“But we don’t give money to those companies,” Dhillon pointed out. “We give money to Bell. And it seems like Bell expects to go back to the old bargain of protecting them from competition and tilting the rules in their favour.”“Your response to that was to fire Canadians,” added Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed.“According to your own corporate filings your compensation package last year was approximately $13 million, is that correct?” asked Noormohamed. “That is correct,” replied CEO Bibic.“What does the average journalist working in your newsrooms earn?” asked Noormohamed. “I wouldn’t have that precise number at my fingertips,” replied Bibic.“I actually wouldn’t know. I do know we spend almost $300 million a year in news in this country at Bell Media alone. That is a lot of investment.”“We’re talking about investment in people,” replied Noormohamed. “Clearly Bell has invested well in you.”Conservative MP Rachael Thomas said the Bell cuts were unjustified.“This is a company that is worth $40 billion, has received hundreds of millions of dollars in government handouts which, let’s be reminded, are taxpayer dollars and yet this is a company that just laid off 6,100 of those taxpayers.”NDP leader Jagmeet Singh told the Heritage Committee Bell Media had not prioritized journalists. “You chose to give $3.7 billion in dividends to shareholders,” said Singh. “You chose to buy back stocks for $140 million in 2023. You pocketed a staggering 42% increase from 2020 to 2023. You could have chosen to prioritize workers with that money.”“If we don’t have Canadian companies that grow and invest in critical infrastructure like ours and that create jobs, we are going to have a massive problem in the country,” replied Bibic. “That goes for media as well.”
Bell CEO Mirko Bibic testified Canadian news will be dead if private television networks fail at the Commons Heritage Committee on Thursday.Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. cut 4,800 jobs on February 8 and and 1,300 jobs on June 14, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. The conglomerate further sold 45 of 103 regional radio stations in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and London, ON.“Without a Canadian broadcasting system there will be no news except maybe the CBC,” said Bibic.“We need to figure out how to keep Canadian news alive.”On April 27, 2023, Cabinet passed Bill C-11: An Act To Amend The Broadcasting Act, which waived traditional licensing fees for television companies permitted to use public airwaves.Bell estimated as an operator of the CTV network it saved $40 million annually on licensing fees under Bill C-11. “There are massive losses in conventional TV, $180 million. Our news service loses $40 million a year," said Bibic. "Advertising revenues declined by $140 million in 2023 over 2022 and we need to adjust to those circumstances.”Liberal MP Anju Dhillon responded, “But Bell is a telecom and media conglomerate that generates in Canada 15 times the annual revenues of Netflix.”“Netflix is eight times bigger than Bell,” replied Bibic.“Disney, seven times bigger than Bell. Amazon is 63 times bigger than Bell and they compete directly against us and generate more revenues in Canada in streaming than we do and they have to contribute nothing to the Canadian media industry. That’s what we should be talking about.”“But we don’t give money to those companies,” Dhillon pointed out. “We give money to Bell. And it seems like Bell expects to go back to the old bargain of protecting them from competition and tilting the rules in their favour.”“Your response to that was to fire Canadians,” added Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed.“According to your own corporate filings your compensation package last year was approximately $13 million, is that correct?” asked Noormohamed. “That is correct,” replied CEO Bibic.“What does the average journalist working in your newsrooms earn?” asked Noormohamed. “I wouldn’t have that precise number at my fingertips,” replied Bibic.“I actually wouldn’t know. I do know we spend almost $300 million a year in news in this country at Bell Media alone. That is a lot of investment.”“We’re talking about investment in people,” replied Noormohamed. “Clearly Bell has invested well in you.”Conservative MP Rachael Thomas said the Bell cuts were unjustified.“This is a company that is worth $40 billion, has received hundreds of millions of dollars in government handouts which, let’s be reminded, are taxpayer dollars and yet this is a company that just laid off 6,100 of those taxpayers.”NDP leader Jagmeet Singh told the Heritage Committee Bell Media had not prioritized journalists. “You chose to give $3.7 billion in dividends to shareholders,” said Singh. “You chose to buy back stocks for $140 million in 2023. You pocketed a staggering 42% increase from 2020 to 2023. You could have chosen to prioritize workers with that money.”“If we don’t have Canadian companies that grow and invest in critical infrastructure like ours and that create jobs, we are going to have a massive problem in the country,” replied Bibic. “That goes for media as well.”
