Canada: faced with a media sector in crisis, the BCE group cuts nearly 4,800 jobs

After newspapers and television, it is the turn of private radio stations to be hit hard by technological and economic changes. The Canadian communications group BCE has just announced the loss of 4,800 jobs, largely in the communications sector, and the sale of around forty regional radio stations.

The headquarters of the Bell Canada Enterprises group offices in Montreal (illustrative image). AP - Ryan Remiorz

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With our correspondent in Montreal,

Pascale Guéricolas

This is the worst personnel reduction in thirty years for the Bell-Canada company, a large part of which also revolves around telephony. This is the second time in seven months that the company has reduced its workforce as it faces a crisis. The audience of

radio stations

traditionally associated with car travel has been declining since the pandemic and teleworking.

The type of audio content is also changing, as

podcasts

become more and more popular. “ 

People who listen to audio content are no longer so much radio stations broadcast over the airwaves, but podcasts on Spotify or elsewhere. So, there are changes in habits which perhaps explain why advertising sales on regional stations are no longer what they were 

,” explains Jean-Hughes Roy, professor at the School of Media at the University of Quebec in Montreal. 

Layoffs to protect dividends

Bell-media would have lost nearly 110 million euros in advertising revenue. At the same time, the group reaped profits of several hundred million euros. By cutting into the less profitable sector, Bell nevertheless manages to keep its stock at a good price. 

“

At a time when the entire industry should be pulling together, we see that Bell is deciding to protect dividends to shareholders. Today, they preferred to kick out 4

800 people, backtracking on their commitments in terms of news bulletins, so it is extremely disappointing

,” said the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pascale St-Onge.  

Once again, regional information in Canada risks being reduced to nothing. For more than a decade, the Canadian government estimates that nearly 500 media outlets across the country have closed their doors and thousands of journalists have lost their jobs.

Also read: The American press in an alarming situation

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