Groupe TVA announces 240 job cuts as part of restructuring plan

Quebecor headquarters is seen Monday, October 6, 2014 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Quebecor announced the elimination of 240 jobs, including 140 jobs being cut from Groupe TVA, due to what it described as a difficult context in the television industry.

Another 100 positions related to other Quebecor entities are also being cut, the company announced in a news release on Thursday.

The company announced its results for the fourth quarter and a "restructuring plan," saying it was "a difficult but necessary decision in the current environment."

The company pointed to the economic downturn, an "unfair behaviour" of Radio-Canada due to the advertising revenues generated by the public broadcaster and a "highly prejudicial treatment of all our specialty channels by the distributor Bell TV."

Groupe TVA also stated that Parliament must quickly adopt Bill C-18 to "ensure that the use of our news content is recognized and paid for at fair value by the digital giants that are currently siphoning advertising dollars away from Canadian businesses."

Bill C-18, which was introduced in the spring of 2022 but has yet to be passed, aims to force the web giants to enter into compensation agreements with the Canadian media outlets.

Groupe TVA reiterated its call for government action "before it is too late."

"Faced with these circumstances and the lack of regulatory and government intervention, which has long been evident and which we have repeatedly raised with public authorities, we are forced to take appropriate measures in order to restore our financial position and ensure TVA Group's sustainability," the release said.

Groupe TVA said it recorded revenues of $171.9 million, a slight increase of $23,000 over the fourth quarter of 2021.

The company reported a net loss of $264,000, or $0.01 per share, for the quarter ending Dec. 31, compared with net income of $12.1 million, or $0.28 per share, for the same quarter of fiscal 2021.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Feb. 16, 2023.