Social responsibility
Astral Media has a long-standing history of support for Canadian cultural expression and we are committed to our leadership role in supporting the unique creative talents of the Canadian film, radio and television industries.
Last year alone Astral Media’s pay, specialty and radio networks spent over $151.8 million on the development and purchase of Canadian content, original programming and in support of home-grown talent. Of that amount, $72.5 million was spent by Astral Media’s French-language radio, pay and specialty television services.
Supporting Canadian-made content in Television
We continue to be the country’s largest private investor in English- and French-language content; financing every stage of film production from script development to equity investment, and promotion. We proudly showcase Canadian productions on our networks, offering meaningful visibility to Canadian talent.
- As major supporters of Canadian and Québec programming, The Movie Network and Super Écran have increased their level of support year-over-year, contributing $54 million in Fiscal 2008 including investments in movies like Le Déserteur on Super Écran and Dead Men Walking on The Movie Network, as well as in original series such as The Weight, also on The Movie Network.
- Les Chaînes Télé Astral invested over $40 million in the support and development of Canadian programming such as Miss Méteo on Séries+, S.O.S. Santé on Canal Vie and Bombes à retardement on Canal D. This investment reflects the acquisition of over 1,000 hours of Canadian programming, including approximately 350 hours of documentary programming by independent producers.
Astral Media The Harold Greenberg Fund/Le Fonds Harold Greenberg
Since its creation, The Harold Greenberg Fund/Le Fonds Harold Greenberg has invested over $62 million in support of over 2,450 Canadian productions. In Fiscal 2008, The Fund/Le Fonds invested over $4.5 million in 117 projects. Projects supported by The Fund/Le Fonds include, Atom Egoyan’s Adoration and Paul Gross’ war epic, Passchendaele, which opened the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival; as well as French-language projects such as Phillipe Falardeau’s C’est pas moi, je le jure and Benoît Pilon’s Ce qu’il faut pour vivre, which has been submitted for 2009 Oscar consideration.
Supporting the Canadian music industry
Astral Media Radio (AMR) believes in the Canadian music industry and supports it every day through a variety of different types of investments and by showcasing Canadian talent, in particular, nurturing emerging talent.
- In Fiscal 2008, AMR invested over $20.5 million dollars in the development of Canadian talent, excluding royalty payments and promoting Canadian artists on air.
- Through the investment of the Canadian content development invested $8.9 million this year alone in a number of organizations, including Fonds Starmaker/RadioStar, FACTOR/MusicAction Canada, Songwriters Association of Canada, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, Canadian Music Week, to name just a few.
While investing in Canada’s cultural industries is a responsibility which is incumbent on all broadcasters, Astral Media prides itself on the conscientious care and management of its investments, ensuring critical support for the highest-quality creative Canadian productions.
Actively supporting our communities
As a media company, we have an extraordinary ability to help philanthropic organizations build their visibility, educate the public about their causes and by extension, increase their fundraising abilities. We have employees in eight provinces and 45 cities across our country; and we are actively involved in each and every community that we work.
In Fiscal 2008, we contributed over $20 million in value to over 370 organizations. We helped raise close to $12 million in radiothons for children’s hospitals across the country and we broadcast hundreds of PSA campaigns on our television and radio networks and on our outdoor advertising. Some of key initiatives this past year include:
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Radiothons raise $12 million for Children’s Hospitals
After tallying the combined results of Astral Media Radio’s fundraising initiatives for the 2007-2008 radio broadcasting season, listeners of our stations had donated over $12 million to various children's hospital foundations and organizations across the country. The funds were collected in campaigns held in more than 20 Canadian cities including Toronto, Montreal, London, Winnipeg and Calgary, to name a few.
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EndMS campaign
The donation of $3 million worth of advertising space on our television, radio, outdoor advertising and Internet platforms to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada gave the MS Society a unique coast-to-coast platform to raise awareness of one of the most common neurological diseases affecting young Canadians and to promote its $60 million endMS fundraising campaign. The endMS campaign was the MS Society of Canada’s first capital campaign. Funds raised were earmarked for research activities and to establish Canada as the premier destination in the world in which to train for and pursue a career in MS research. The goal of the endMS campaign was to increase the pace of discovery so that a cure for MS can be found in the shortest possible time.
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SAINT-VRAK day is back! VRAK.TV gets kids active for a 3rd year!
On Sunday, May 25, VRAK.TV returned with its third annual SAINT-VRAK Day to get young people physically active. Well aware of the problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle, VRAK.TV took the initiative to add a new holiday to the calendar. Young people were encouraged to spend a day without the TV and computer. The theme of 2008 SAINT-VRAK Day was cycling. Kids across Québec were enticed to get moving!
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Astral Media brings breakfast to children… coast to coast!
Ten thousand breakfasts in 6 days! With a long-term partnership with the Québec Breakfast Club under its belt, Astral Media recently broadened its relationship with the organization by partnering with The Breakfast Clubs of Canada. The generous participation of Astral Media radio stations in Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver made it possible for the Company to hand out over 10,000 breakfasts during live morning broadcasts in each city. The goal of this major campaign was to remind Canadians of the importance of ensuring that kids start the school day with the energy they can only get from a good breakfast.
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Stand UP! Kids from coast to coast rally with Family Channel against bullying
Family Channel’s fifth annual national Bullying Awareness Week took place in November 2007 with the mission to teach and reinforce effective strategies to help kids stand up to bullying. This year, over 16,000 nominations were received from kids in all regions of Canada. Ultimately, four schools were selected to host ‘’stand UP!’’ rallies in North Vancouver, Calgary, Rothesay and Richmond Hill.
Maintaining close ties with the communities in which our employees and their families work and live is at the heart of our management philosophy. In 2009, we will continue to enhance our ever growing support of important causes across the country.
Actively making changes for the environment
Astral Media’s commitment to the environment goes beyond the very real respect we have integrated into our daily operations. In various offices across our company, we have instituted:
- the use of recycled paper and the recycling of paper throughout our organization;
- the recycling of glass and plastic in certain offices;
- the introduction of double-sided printing in the majority of our offices;
- and the use of environmentally responsible lighting systems in many of our offices.
We have also instituted changes in the way we do business:
- At corporate communications we have made a commitment to communicate to all our publics online. Our Annual Report is now primarily consulted online with only the minimum legal requirement of print copies produced;
- This past year we introduced an extensive intranet. Our employee communications are 100% electronic, eliminating all previous printed communications;
- At our Radio division, employees have been active in putting into place environmentally friendly mugs for all radio’s employees, reducing dramatically the use of disposable coffee cups.
- At our Outdoor division, we introduced BIOFlex, the first biodegradable vinyl for billboards in Canada as well as solar panels and energy efficient lighting that results in a 40% energy savings in our transit shelters in Toronto. In our street furniture program, we also use recycled and recyclable materials;
- And, in our Television division we have instituted a number of initiatives and promote programming that puts the environment first. At Canal D for example, we have a number of special programming segments on the environment, including: Québec 2050 with Hubert Reeves and David Suzuki; La Terre après les humains and Eco Solutions as well as many other.
We are committed to making changes, and changing attitudes, and we are actively instituting processes that engage employees and reduce our environmental footprint.