Montreal: Cutbacks in public broadcasting and concentration in the private sector were top-of-mind issues at this year’s apftq convention, held in Quebec City May 31 to June 2.

The event included a ‘political blitz’ of National Assembly members and the re-election of Jacquelin Bouchard to a second term as chairman of the Quebec producers association.

Keynote speakers at the annual meeting included Quebec Culture and Communications Minister Louise Beaudoin and Videotron president Guy Crevier.

Beaudoin underlined Quebec’s historical support for the production industry, but issued what is clearly a warning: although culture was spared this year, the minister said there is no guarantee next year’s budget won’t be cut.

The apftq is projecting indie production could reach $400 million this year, up from $370 million last year. As such, the production tax credit will cost government $50 million or more in ’96/97.

Crevier, who is also chairman of the board of Tele-Metropole, offered the producers ‘a minimum guarantee’ that independent production licensed by Television Quatre Saisons and the TVA Network will be maintained at current levels. Licence fees paid out by tqs and tva to indie producers total $20 million to $25 million a year.

Following Videotron’s acquisition of CFCF Inc., including the French-track tqs network, the producers have insisted that both tqs and tva continue to operate.

‘We will keep both networks,’ says Andre Provencher, vp programming, Tele-Metropole. ‘What we shouldn’t see is an agreement like the one between Radio-Canada and Radio-Quebec (cross-financed production and sharing of libraries).

‘Cross-programming is the result of a personality conflict,’ he says. ‘What we hope for is highly distinctive programming for each network (tqs and tva).’

Provencher says savings as a result of Videotron’s buyout will come from a better management structure and economies of scale, but not necessarily a reduced investment in programming.

As for the service companies acquired by Videotron, Tele-Metropole vp Francois St-Laurent says for the most part they do not compete.

‘Tele-Metropole is a publicly traded company and we can’t arbitrarily decide (on a reorganization). It’s important to respect the diversity of shareholders (even if the majority shareholder is Videotron),’ says St-Laurent, adding:

‘As for Tele-Metropole’s affiliates, we have undertaken a market study which we will use to reorganize our technical service structure this year.’ St-Laurent, a former vp at Coscient, says this could lead to a more unified management structure and a one-stop service approach.

Political blitz

During the Quebec City conference, the apftq organized a political blitz of top Quebec government ministers including Finance Minister Bernard Landry and Minister for the Montreal Metropolitan Region Serge Menard.

The main motive for the blitz, says apftq communications director Jean Bouchard, was to better inform politicians of the economic impact of the production industry – $370 million in production in ’95, which translated to 15,000 full- and part-time jobs and a salary mass of $140 million.

Returning apftq board members include Claude Veillet (tv), Claudio Luca (vice-chair, features), Nathalie Barton (secretary/treasurer, documentaries) and Sylvie Berthiaume (multimedia). New members include Andre Picard (tv), Suzanne Girard (features) and Jacques Langlois (commercials).

Louise Baillargeon, apftq president and director general, is also a member of the board. The association has 85 member production companies.