Bell CEO Mirko Bibic appeared before the Committee on Canadian Heritage on April 11th to answer questions about the company’s recent layoffs. MPs grilled Bibic on everything from journalism to telecom rates, while Bibic tried to stick to a narrative of struggling Canadian media in need of help.
In an opening statement, Bibic stressed that “facts matter” and laid out several important facts, including that Bell “continues to invest in media” and “far exceeds” its regulatory obligations around local news. He also said Bell wasn’t alone, pointing to layoffs at other media organizations like the CBC and at other telecom companies.
Elsewhere, Bibic said that Bell “pays almost $2 billion a year in federal regulatory fees.”
“In contrast, Amazon, Disney, Netflix and others, each many, many times larger than Bell, have not paid anything,” Bibic said.
MPs repeatedly asked Bibic to justify the layoffs in light of Bell’s continued profitability, pointing out the company’s dividend payouts to shareholders, stock buybacks and executive compensation.
“Bell reported a whopping $2.3 billion in profit last year,” NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said. “As CEO, you pocketed $13.43 million in compensation… You laid off in nine months over 6,000 employees. How does a profitable company justify these layoffs, particularly in light of the millions of dollars in subsidies from the government?”
“When we make our decisions, we have our consumers front of mind,” Bibic said. “In terms of media, viewers front of mind. Investments we need to make to better serve consumers and viewers. We’re doing this in an environment of with the appearance of increasing cost… high inflation, increased competition.”
When Bibic didn’t evade questions, he discussed Bell’s ongoing “investments” in news, stressing that Bell exceeded the requirements set out by the CRTC. Asked about the declining hours of local coverage in smaller communities, Bibic said that viewers were increasingly going digital for news coverage and pointed to Bell’s increasing digital news presence on platforms like the CTV News app and YouTube.
“Bell Media far exceeds regulatory obligations for local news,” Bibic said. “We are more than 25,000 hours of local news per year. That’s over 150 percent more than the CRTC requires.”
Elsewhere, Bibic was asked about cuts to positions outside of news and media and whether Bell would relocalize the positions outside Canada.
“No position was relocalized abroad,” Bibic said.
Several MPs questioned Bibic about telecom rates. Bell’s CEO repeatedly said that rates were coming down and deferred to his March 18th appearance before INDU.
“We are providing phenomenal service on world-leading networks at prices that are declining significantly,” Bibic said.
Bibic also pointed to this week’s launch of No Name Mobile as an example of the way Bell is lowering prices. It’s worth noting that No Name Mobile is an offshoot of PC Mobile and runs on Bell’s network but only offers plans with up to 4G speeds.
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