One of Quebec’s media giants announced Thursday that it will lay off about a third of its workforce starting in February.

Quebecor-owned TVA said it will cut 547 jobs, including 300 positions in internal production, 98 operations positions and 149 positions in other departments.

TVA said a complete reorganization of its resources is necessary due to the rapidly changing media landscape, the popularity of streaming services and losses in web advertising revenue. The station says it lost $13 million this year, compared to $1.6 million last year.

The media giant said it will refocus its mission solely on broadcasting, effectively ending in-house production of entertainment content, centralizing its news division and reducing its real estate footprint.

“The traditional television business model has been disrupted on all sides: shrinking audiences, declining subscriptions, falling advertising revenues, fierce competition and aggressive bidding for entertainment content and sports rights,” he said in a statement. Press release.

He also said those problems are compounded by CBC/Radio-Canada’s unfair competition with private broadcasters for advertising revenue.

TVA had already cut 140 professional and management positions in February 2023 and canceled some of its programming, but today said those measures were not enough to stay afloat.

“The deficit currently facing the TVA Group is simply no longer sustainable,” Pierre Karl Péladeau, acting president and CEO of the TVA Group and president and CEO of Quebecor, said in a press release.

“We have a responsibility to correct the situation. TVA has historically been an important vehicle for Quebec culture, language and news. We have a duty to preserve it and ensure its sustainability.”