Marie-Philippe Bouchard named next president, CEO of CBC/Radio Canada

Veteran Quebec television executive Marie-Philippe Bouchard has been named the next president and CEO of CBC/Radio Canada.

The announcement from Heritage Canada, a department of the federal government, means that Bouchard, most recently president and CEO of TV5 Quebec Canada, will serve in the top job at the country's public broadcaster for a five-year term, starting from 3 January 2025.

She will replace outgoing CBC/Radio Canada chief Catherine Tait, who is leaving the public broadcaster amid controversy over executive bonuses paid to staff this year after another wave of employee layoffs amid lower advertising revenues and competition from giants US digital.

Before joining TV5 Quebec in 2016, Bouchard held a number of executive and management roles at CBC/Radio-Canada. Returns to public broadcaster as legacy broadcasters, including CBC/Radio Canada, struggle to remain relevant to Canadian media consumers as Netflix, Prime Video and other U.S.-based streaming platforms take a larger share of the national TV market .

“Public service media around the world represent a valuable public good. As society changes rapidly, so too must our public broadcaster, continuing to build trust to remain relevant for all Canadians,” Bouchard said in a statement Tuesday.

In May 2024, the federal government created an advisory panel to provide policy advice on the future of the public broadcaster, which includes a possible revamp of its annual funding model – which includes taxpayer funding and advertising revenue – as the costs of Content production continues to increase.

The CBC could see a boost in funding after Canada struck a $100 million deal with Google to pay local publishers annually for news snippets shared or repurposed on its local platform.

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