'Télévision de Radio-Canada'
[1] is a
Canadian French language television network. It is owned by
Société Radio-Canada.
It is the only
francophone network in
Canada to broadcast over-the-air in all Canadian provinces, although its programming is generally directed at residents of
Quebec as opposed to
francophones outside Quebec.
Generally considered more populist than its English counterpart
CBC Television, this network has certainly been the more successful of the two, as it does not face such immense competition from
American networks. During the
2004-
05 television season it ranked close behind Quebec's top television network,
TVA, with a resurgent schedule including offbeat
sitcom ''
Les Bougon'' and
talk show ''
Tout le monde en parle.
With this success, however, have come accusations of
dumbing down. ''Tout le monde en parle'' replaced the long-running Sunday night arts series ''
Les Beaux Dimanches''. The following season, Radio-Canada moved its supper-hour newscasts (in Quebec and Ontario only) to 5:00 p.m. to make room for a new
talk show fronted by
Véronique Cloutier (former host of ''
La Fureur'') at 6:00 p.m. While Radio-Canada's newscasts had already fallen well behind those of TVA and often even
TQS, the resulting uproar led to a reversal that December, with a full-hour newscast returned to the 6:00 - 7:00 timeslot in all markets.
News programming is anchored by ''
Le Téléjournal'', which airs nightly at 10:00 p.m.; on weeknights it includes a current affairs segment, ''Le Point''. Local newscasts, which air during the lunch and supper hours, now also carry the ''Téléjournal'' name, i.e. ''Le Téléjournal
Montréal''. Originally, the regional newscasts had the name ''Ce Soir (This Evening)''.
CBC/Radio-Canada also operates le
Réseau de l'information (RDI), Canada's first French-language news channel.
In television listings such as ''
TV Guide'', where space limitations usually require television networks to be referred to by a three-letter abbreviation, the network is normally coded as 'SRC' (for 'Société Radio-Canada', the French language corporate name of the CBC as a whole.) This has no official standing as a name for the network — although the network did once experiment with using SRC as its on-air brand, it reverted to 'Radio-Canada' within a few months.
See also
List of programs broadcast by SRC.
Radio-Canada HD
In 2006, Télévision de Radio-Canada launched an
HD simulcast of its Montreal station
CBFT which is available national via satellite and digital cable cable operators.
Stations and affiliates
During the
1970s, as a result of the federal government's commitment to
bilingualism and the
Official Languages Act, SRC expanded into markets throughout
English Canada building stations, or at least rebroadcast transmitters, in every province to distribute its signal. These stations serve every major market in French and English Canada, with privately owned
affiliates serving smaller markets in Quebec. Unlike CBC Television affiliates, which often have several alternative programming sources, Radio-Canada affiliates are effectively constrained to carry network programming throughout the day, excluding local and regional programming and commercials.
Slogans
★ Prior to fall
2004: « Ici Radio-Canada » (tr. "This is Radio-Canada"). This is what the announcer said during the
system cue, when the network logo is displayed on-screen. But in the early-2000s, it became a promotional slogan in its own right.
★ 2005: « Vous allez voir » (tr. "You are going to see", "We will show you" (in a positive way) or "You will see").
★ Current (Fall 2006): « Ici comme dans la vie » (tr. "Here as in life") and « Radio-Canada, source d'information » (tr. "Radio-Canada, source of information").
Ombudsmen
The current
ombudsman of Radio-Canada is
Julie Miville-Dechêne, since
April 1,
2007. She was preceeded by
Renaud Gilbert (2000-2007),
Marcel Pépin (1997-1999),
Mario Cardinal (1993-1997) and
Bruno Gauron (1992).
Notes
1. Official name as stated in the CBC's annual reports and most press releases. Usually only 'Radio-Canada' is used on-air (in both voiceovers and the logo), while 'Radio-Canada - Télévision' is used for the network's logo in print.
External links
★
Official Site
★
CBC/Radio-Canada Corporate Site