CBC/Radio Canada Names Incoming President

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

The announcement from Heritage Canada, a federal government department, has Bouchard, most recently president and CEO of TV5 Quebec Canada, filling the top job at the country’s public broadcaster for a five-year term, starting Jan. 3, 2025.  

She will replace Catherine Tait, the out-going head of CBC/Radio Canada, who leaves the pubcaster amid controversy surrounding executive bonuses paid to staff this year after another round of employee layoffs in the face of lower advertising revenue and competition from U.S. digital giants.

Before joining TV5 Quebec in 2016, Bouchard held a number of management and senior executive positions at CBC/Radio-Canada. She returns to the pubcaster as legacy broadcasters, including CBC/Radio Canada, struggle to stay relevant to Canadian media consumers as Netflix, Prime Video and other U.S.-based streaming platforms assume a greater share of the domestic TV market.

“Public service media all around the world serve as a precious public asset. As society changes at a fast pace, so must our public broadcaster, continuing to build trust in order to remain relevant to all Canadians,” Bouchard said in a statement on Tuesday.

In May 2024, the federal government created an advisory committee 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 content production costs continue to rise.   

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