Broadcasting - Secretary General Letter addressed to Peggy Tabet (Quebecor Media Inc.) and Paul Beaudry (Cogeco Inc.)

Gatineau, 20 October 2025

Reference: 1011-NOC2025-0052

BY EMAIL

Peggy Tabet
Vice President, Regulatory and Environmental Affairs
Quebecor Media Inc.
tabet.peggy@quebecor.com

Paul Beaudry
Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs
Cogeco Inc.
mailto:Paul.Beaudry@cogeco.com

Subject: The Path Forward – Supporting Canadian and Indigenous audio content, Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2025-52, 20 February 2025 – Procedural Requests

Dear Peggy Tabet and Paul Beaudry,

We are writing to inform you of the Commission’s decisions regarding the procedural requests filed by Quebecor Media Inc. (Quebecor Media), on behalf of NumériQ Inc., on 22 September 2025, and by Cogeco Inc., on behalf of Cogeco Media Inc. (Cogeco) on 26 September 2025, both as part of the proceeding initiated by The Path Forward – Supporting Canadian and Indigenous audio content, Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2025-52 (NoC 2025-52).

Quebecor Media requested permission to submit a final written submission in response to statements made by Cogeco during its appearance at the hearing on 19 September 2025. Cogeco subsequently requested that additional evidence, including a cease-and-desist letter that Quebecor Media sent to the newspaper La Presse, be added to the record of NoC 2025-52.

The Commission notes that Quebecor Media is not a party to the proceeding. Generally, only parties to NoC 2025-52 can file responding materials, including final written submissions. Although the issues to which Quebecor Media wishes to respond could not have been anticipated when NoC 2025-52 was published, Quebecor Media’s request to submit a final written submission is specifically intended to refute statements made by Cogeco rather than address the policy issues under consideration in NoC 2025-52. In the Commission’s view, Quebecor’s rebuttal comments are therefore out of scope.

Similarly, Cogeco’s request would introduce new evidence that also is not relevant to the policy issues under consideration in NoC 2025-52. For these reasons, the Commission denies both Quebecor Media’s and Cogeco’s procedural requests.

Finally, the Commission acknowledges that certain statements^{Footnote 1} made by Cogeco during its appearance at the hearing on 19 September 2025 pertain to matters that are currently being addressed by the Commission in another proceeding^{Footnote 2}. The Commission considers that the statements are out of scope of NoC 2025-52 and accordingly will not consider them in its deliberations.

A copy of this letter will be added to the record of the proceeding.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Scott Shortliffe, Vice- President, Broadcasting, at Scott.Shortliffe@crtc.gc.ca.

Sincerely,

Marc Morin
Secretary General and Executive Vice-President

c.c.: Scott Shortliffe, Vice-President, Broadcasting, CRTC, Scott.Shortliffe@crtc.gc.ca

Date modified:

2025-10-20