In February 2013, my girlfriend and I sat in front of the TV and binged the series “House of Cards” in one sitting, 13 episodes in one weekend. We sat in front of the television, but the images we saw were not from a television channel. They came from a platform called Netflix. It made no difference to us as individuals. A good story is a good story. It changed everything for us as a people.
Published at 1:32 am. Updated at 7:00 a.m.
Quebec’s special society grew up around television. Every day, every evening we spent time together. Nothing is more precious than time together. Artists, journalists, politicians, scientists, workers came to our home and we welcomed them to our great joy.
We informed ourselves together. We laughed together. We cried together. We have created a collective memory by mixing fiction and reality. Television was a connection, a representation of who we were.
To protect and regulate it, governments have introduced all kinds of rules, benefits and responsibilities. Since its invention, we have recognized the tremendous power of this technology and worked to ensure that it serves people. In the service of our culture. In the service of our progress.
When cable transmission made possible the multiplication of channels and access to American broadcasters, we ensured that the collected amounts were redistributed in the local industry.
One would have thought that access to American stations since the 1970s would have an impact on listening to local stations. Not really.
The French-speaking majority in Quebec prefers to watch television in their language. Which is completely normal. All nations do the same.
Language was the ultimate protector of Quebec’s cultural industries. Stronger than any law or measure. Even with all their resources, NBC, ABC and CBS couldn’t weaken our networks.
International platforms now offer most of their content in multiple languages, including French. And that changed everything. That’s why Quebecers are subscribing en masse to Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video. To get access to stories in our language, you used to need TVA, Radio-Canada or Télé-Québec.
That is no longer the case. I know that there are more and more people who follow their favorite soap operas in English, but the fact remains that the giants’ French offering has removed the last protective barrier.
Why didn’t our leaders, who were able to ensure that the advent of radio and then television enabled an expansion of national culture, know how to do the same with the Internet?
They did not understand the power of the beast. As if for them the Internet is a device, a supplement, a satellite, while it is the universe. They were completely overwhelmed. It happened too quickly. Lack of vision? People from another time? Your negligence leaves us behind today.
Without supervision, competition is unfair. Imagine a highway where some cars have to obey the speed limit and others don’t. We know who will arrive last. It is not just Quebec’s television industry that is in danger of disappearing, the very identity of Quebec is also in danger.
For decades, culture was the magic potion of our Asterix Village. The potion has just changed sides. It’s the Romans who have it. Soon we risk becoming like the Romans.
Last night we set our clocks back an hour. At 2am it was 1am, easy too. We should be able to set the calendar back 10 years to avoid being where we are today.
In this decade, platforms have benefited so much from the all-you-can-eat buffet, grown so much, taken up so much space, created so many habits among consumers that it seems impossible to control and regulate them . We can blame them, but it was up to us to push through.
The most determined will say that it is never too late. TRUE. It’s just that the standoff was already David versus Goliath, it became David versus ten Goliaths.
Television will not die. The word TV comes from the Greek têle, which means “far away”, “at some distance”. See images that are far away. Whether we call it “platform” or “application”, it remains the same process. We see things that we don’t really see in the eye.
What will probably happen is that we will see ourselves less and less in these images. That they will come from even further away. To the point that we no longer recognize ourselves there. And to give up our difference in order to be able to resemble what we see there.
All my thoughts are with those whose immediate lives are being turned upside down by the consequences of this announced crisis.
Government people, we have been telling you for 10 years: “Do something!” » Our television needs vision.