Heritage minister James Moore warns Canadians won’t tolerate any move away from a pan-Canadian identity by its publicly-funded national broadcaster, Radio-Canada. The French-language service has decided to rebrand its services as “Ici” which means “here” in French.
“Canadians will only tolerate these changes if CBC (the English name of the service, standing for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) can explain how they’re not backing away from what taxpayers expect from the CBC—which is for them to be a Canadian broadcaster, very clearly, in mandate and brand,” Moore told Canadian Press.
Radio-Canada says it is not changing its name but it is only changing the name of each of its platforms. The concept derives from the station id which has been used for decades. “Ici Radio-Canada” translated as “This is Radio-Canada” or “Here is Radio-Canada.” The decision to use “Ici” was in part because is shorter and snappier and is expected to appeal to a young audience. It is also designed to unite several platforms under one brand.
“We want to remake Radio-Canada because more than ever it must be a living space, an open organization, flexible and agile,” said Louis Lalande, executive vice-president of French services.
“[It’ll be] just as creative as ever, but more innovative and better attuned to our audience.”
A statement published on the web says the introduction of ICI is part of a broader project aimed at making the French-language broadcaster’s services more innovative and relevant to Canadians.
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