The chief executive of Quebecor Inc. warned Thursday that the company鈥檚 French-language sports television programming could be in jeopardy amid rising costs for broadcasting rights.
Speaking at the company鈥檚 annual general meeting, Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl P茅ladeau said that TVA Sports, a specialty channel operated by Quebecor Media-subsidiary TVA Group, continues to lose money.
鈥淣o one should be surprised if TVA Sports goes out of business,鈥� he said in his remarks to shareholders, delivered in French and translated over a livestream.
P茅ladeau cast doubt on whether the channel would be able to compete for French broadcasting rights to NHL games, noting the recent megadeal the hockey league inked with Rogers Communications Inc.
鈥淲e can tell you now that TVA Sports will not have the means or the business model to pay the exorbitant amount 鈥� the NHL is demanding for national French language broadcast rights to hockey games,鈥� he said.
Last month, the league unveiled a 12-year, $11-billion agreement with Rogers for the national rights to NHL games in Canada starting in the 2026-27 season.
The deal will kick in following the conclusion of Rogers鈥� current 12-year deal it signed for $5.2-billion. That deal, signed in 2013, saw Rogers then sublicense French-language TV rights to TVA as part of a $120-million pact over 12 years, The Globe and Mail reported at the time.
P茅ladeau said Quebecor has invested more than $230 million in TVA Sports since launching the channel in 2011.
鈥淎s the saying goes, 鈥楧on't throw money after bad,鈥欌�� he said.
鈥淎nd TVA Sports at the moment is facing such a situation. We can't keep throwing good money after bad.鈥�
Quebecor said Thursday in its latest quarterly earnings report that TVA Group's advertising revenues continued to decline, despite TVA Sports growing its market share in the winter thanks to the 4 Nations Face-Off broadcast and Saturday night Montreal Canadiens games.
In a separate interview Thursday, Bell Canada CEO Mirko Bibic said the new Rogers deal with the NHL "maintains the status quo that's existed for the last 12 years."
Bell's English sports channel TSN has maintained regional broadcast rights to some Canadian NHL teams' games since losing out on the national contract to rival Rogers in 2013.
Bibic was coy when asked if Bell had bid on a portion of the national rights in the latest round of negotiations, and if the company was disappointed not to get them.
"We're winning with viewers on the basis of the breadth of our content," he said, noting TSN has "a lot of hockey" through its regional packages.
"We have hockey, football, soccer, golf, tennis and the list goes on."
For Quebecor, the outlook for its business overall was rosier on Thursday as it reported its first-quarter profit rose compared with a year ago.
P茅ladeau said the telecommunications and media company is focused on gaining market share in its wireless business.
Quebecor "continues to perform well in a highly competitive market, disrupting the established order and reshaping the industry as Canada鈥檚 fourth major telecommunications player," P茅ladeau said.
The company's net income attributable to shareholders totalled $190.7 million or 82 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31. The result compared with a profit of $173.2 million or 75 cents per share in the first three months of 2024.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $1.34 billion, down from $1.36 billion last year.
On an adjusted basis, Quebecor said its income from operating activities amounted to 80 cents per share, up from an adjusted profit of 71 cents per share in the first quarter of 2024.
During the quarter, the company said it added 54,400 mobile phone subscriptions, compared with an increase of 60,200 in the same period of 2024.
Quebecor reported its mobile phone average revenue per user was $34.31 in the first quarter, down $1.63, or 4.5 per cent, from the first quarter of the prior year.
It said that was mainly due to higher promotional discounts, lower average revenues and a change in the customer mix, including the dilutive effect of Fizz鈥檚 prepaid services.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:QBR.B, TSX:BCE, TSX:RCI.B)
Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press
