Radio-Canada has asked Prime Video to pause subscriptions for its 24-hour French-language news channel ICI RDI.

The public broadcaster says the move will allow it to finalize discussions with Canadian distributors to make ICI RDI’s signal available by subscription on its streaming service ICI TOU.TV, following concerns from Quebec MPs voiced at last week’s meeting of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. 

CBC/Radio-Canada announced March 5 that both CBC News Network and ICI RDI would be made available on Prime Video as add-on subscriptions for $4.99/month each.

Committee Vice-Chair and Bloc Québécois MP Martin Champoux called the deal to make ICI RDI available on the Amazon-owned streamer “stunning” at last week’s meeting saying that it was “very difficult to justify offering this streaming on an American platform on Prime Video, regardless of the motives…before it is offered on a platform that is owned in Canada.”

A motion was subsequently passed summoning CBC/Radio-Canada President Marie-Philippe Bouchard to come before the committee to explain the deal.

“Beyond its existing agreements with all Canadian cable and satellite providers, the public broadcaster has entered into various agreements with digital platforms such as River TV, owned by Videotron, to offer a subscription option to its 24-hour news channels for a segment of the public that is turning away from cable and cannot be reached through traditional cable, satellite, or fibre optic distribution,” Radio-Canada said in a release issued on Friday.

“The agreement with Prime Video is part of this strategy, as it offers the possibility of subscribing directly to specialty channels and currently includes several French- and English-language Canadian channels,” it continued. “The upcoming addition of the ICI RDI signal on ICI TOU.TV will offer a new option to access the channel for those who favour digital consumption on local platforms.”

Read more in our sister publication, CARTT.ca, here (paywalled).