Nelson Sergerie
GRANDE-VALLÉE – As of March 31, Cogeco will no longer serve the area between Saint-Maxime-du-Mont-Louis and Saint-Yvon, on the north side of the Gaspé Peninsula, significantly impacting two community television stations located in Saint-Maxime-du -Mont-Louis and Petite-Vallée.
It was a devastated Télésourire in Petite-Vallée who brought attention to the issue around noon on January 17.
“We fell out of our chairs when we received this information. We were very surprised,” says the president of Télésourire, Monika Tait, who received notice of the closure on January 11.
“Cogeco tells us that it is really a financial question given the few subscribers in our sector. It’s becoming difficult, I imagine, to make a profit from it,” says Ms Tait.
Based in Petite-Vallée, Télésourire is now faced with finding a quick solution. “We are looking for support everywhere. We spoke with the Ministry of Culture, the Federation of Community TV. We also approached Telus to find out how it could help us broadcast our shows,” says the president.
The local, regional and national political aspect will be the next ones to be addressed. “Our vision is to keep our TV alive, but we haven’t found the support yet,” she says.
One solution would be to switch to internet-based programming. “It’s a possibility. We are a nonprofit organization and we rely on subsidies to pay our employees. An internet media grant is much less. We will have difficulty surviving. We have to find a solution,” according to Ms. Tait.
Community television is valuable for the Estran sector. Programming includes local information, memories, and access to municipal council meetings in the sector.
“Our young people also use TV, listen to it, and follow it. We also have young people who produce shows. We are very active in our community,” explains Ms. Tait.
By email, Cogeco confirms that it will cease its activities on March 31. “We have always been committed to offering the best service for our customers. After presenting several projects and solutions to continue supporting the analog signal of standalone televisions, we unfortunately had to conclude that the infrastructure that supports the services does not have the capacity to provide the desired technology for
the following municipalities,” writes the communications department of the cable giant.
“In the meantime, we are evaluating alternatives with standalone televisions. Regarding Internet services, citizens can redirect to another provider in the region,” specifies Cogeco.
Reactions
The political community is dismayed in the Estran and Eastern Haute-Gaspésie region following Cogeco’s announcement.
“We receive this (news) harshly, mainly for our community TV because they are on analog. We do not want to lose this local information media,” notes Noël Richard, the mayor of Grande-Vallée and deputy prefect of the MRC of Côte-de-Gaspé.
He mentions that Télésourire is an important media with its local programming such as the broadcast of municipal council meetings and it covers all events in the Estran region.
“If community television does not have time to come to an agreement with another service provider by March 31, Cogeco is not closed to the idea of offering the service a little longer. We should not have any interruptions in service,” notes the mayor.
The company confirmed that this was a purely economic decision. “Cogeco was in the running with Telus when fibre (optic) was installed. Telus was selected by the government for the subsidies. In addition, we know that with analog TV, the majority of customers left Cogeco for Telus,” says Mr. Richard.
“For the rest of the Gaspésie, it didn’t seem problematic. It’s just our sector that has this problem,” concludes Mr. Richard.
For his part, Guy Bernatchez, the prefect of Haute-Gaspésie, describes this decision as bad news.
“It will give Telus a monopoly,” notes the prefect.
“In Haute-Gaspésie, at the media level, it’s difficult. Having a live community TV was a very important tool for transmitting local information. We must not forget that our population is aging here and people are attached to their local television,” indicates Mr. Bernatchez, for whom television on the internet is not the best solution.
“We quickly get into solution mode. Elected officials will be there to support community TV,” he says.
He strongly wishes that Telus broadcasts community TV.
“Telus got huge subsidies to install fibre optics in the area. It’s time to see to what extent it can be a good corporate citizen,” challenges the prefect.
“This is the ‘hoped-for’ solution that would make everything easier for everyone. Telus will have a good job to do with the actors for the future. I hope they will listen,” continues the prefect while the Community Television Federation will meet the telecommunications giant in the coming days.
“Cogeco had fewer and fewer subscribers. If they didn’t maintain their network well, it’s because the business wasn’t there. It’s unfortunate because there will be a Telus monopoly,” Mr. Bernatchez notes in passing.
The MRC is ready to work with the Ministry of Culture to continue to help TV stations. The prefect also adds much of the community televisions’ income comes from bingos and it might be difficult to continue to generate that income if they were to switch to an internet platform.
“There are strict and restrictive laws for online bingo. Everything is done to ensure that we stay on TV with Telus for their proper functioning. I dare to hope for what will happen,” concludes the prefect.