My name is Gordon Nixon, and I'm pleased to preside over this meeting as Chair of the Directors of BCE. I would now call the meeting to order. To begin, I wish to acknowledge that we are joining you today from Montreal, located on the traditional territory of the Kanien'kehá:ka Place, which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange among many First Nations. We are dedicated to fostering positive and mutually respectful relationships with Indigenous people and communities. Today is the sixth consecutive year that I've conducted our annual meeting virtually, a format that we adopted during the pandemic, but one that has served us well.
A virtual meeting enables shareholders across the entire country and a broad spectrum to attend and enjoy an equal opportunity to participate in the meeting, and we've made every effort to ensure shareholders have the same rights and abilities to participate as they would in an in-person meeting. We have, however, heard from some shareholders that they would like to have the option to attend our AGM in person. We acknowledge that request, and we have announced that as of 2026, except in the case of a force majeure event such as a pandemic or exceptional circumstances, including one that may have physical security or public safety implications, we intend to hold our annual meeting of shareholders through a hybrid meeting format that includes an in-person component. Given this, there will not be a vote on shareholder proposal number two.
We will shortly go over the procedures of the meeting and how shareholders can vote, raise points of order, make motions, and speak to shareholder proposals, and then, importantly, ask questions during the meeting. The business of this meeting will be conducted in both English and French. Online, you may choose the language of the meeting by selecting English, French, or original feed at the bottom of the broadcast screen. If you select original feed, you will hear the original language spoken without any translation. Closed captioning is also available on all feeds. If you are listening by telephone and you wish to change the language, you must hang up and dial back into the meeting using the phone number that corresponds to the language of your choice that is indicated on the website. I will now introduce the members of the BCE team joining me here today.
Mirko Bibic is our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Melanie Schweizer is our Senior Vice President of Corporate Services and our Corporate Secretary. In accordance with the BCE bylaws, I, as Chair of the Board, will act as Chair of this meeting, and Melanie will act as Secretary. Also attending today's meeting via phone are T.J. Singh and Paul Fletcher, representatives of Deloitte, the shareholder auditors for the year 2024, as well as Mark Forman and Janice Rath, who are representatives of Ernst & Young, the proposed shareholder auditors for the year 2025. Curtis Millen, our Chief Financial Officer, is available on the phone to answer any questions. Other members of the Board of Directors and senior management are also viewing via webcast. Before we begin, I would like to ask Melanie to take us through the procedures of today's meeting.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Voting during today's meeting will be through the Lumi Platform only. As described in the proxy circular, only registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders who received a control number from our transfer agent, TSX Trust Company, may vote online during the meeting. Please note that you do not need to vote during the meeting if you submitted a proxy, as your proxy holder will vote on your behalf. Starting now, you can register your vote on all items of business for today's meeting. To vote, click on the voting tab on the left of your screen. You will see the meeting resolutions displayed on your screen. To vote, select one of the voting options available. Your vote will be automatically submitted to our transfer agent after you make your selection. Votes may be changed up to the time voting is closed.
The poll will remain open until the Chair declares voting on all matters closed. Preliminary results will be announced later this morning, and final results will be posted on our website. Les actionnaires peuvent soumettre des questions en tout temps pendant le déroulement de l'assemblée, en français ou en anglais, jusqu'à ce que le président mette fin à la période de questions et reprenne à la fin de l'assemblée. Il est recommandé que les questions soient soumises dès que possible durant l'assemblée afin que l'on puisse y répondre au bon moment. To ask a question in writing online, click on the messaging tab on the left of your screen and submit your question. Your question will be read at the appropriate time.
Assuming they've been submitted in sufficient time, questions related to the matters of business to be voted on will be addressed at the time such matter is being discussed. Other questions will be addressed during the question and answer session after the formal business of the meeting has been completed. To ask a question by telephone, call the number appearing on the screen on the meeting page of bce.ca and on the homepage of the Lumi Platform, and then press one. A Lumi representative will contact you and ask for your 13-digit control number. You will then be unmuted at the appropriate time to ask your question live. To ask a question by audio only or video through the integrated function of the Lumi Platform, click on the request to speak button at the top right of your broadcast panel.
Allow your browser access to your microphone and camera as applicable, then click on the green checkmark. You will be called upon to ask your question and unmuted automatically at the appropriate time. Toutes les procédures ainsi sommairement décrites s'appliquent également à la présentation de motions, notamment quant à l'ordre du jour. Pour plus de détails, veuillez vous reporter à notre code de procédure et au guide de l'utilisateur Lumi disponible sur notre site web et sur la plateforme Lumi. For the good conduct of the meeting, questions should be of interest to all shareholders and not personal in nature. If your question is related to a personal matter, your question will not be read, and instead, a BCE representative will communicate with you after the meeting if you've provided your contact information.
To allow us to respond to as many questions as possible, we will limit each shareholder to one question and ask that it be succinct and limited to a maximum of two minutes. If you have an additional question that hasn't already been asked, please feel free to submit it, and if we have time, we will address it. We want to make sure we can be responsive to as many shareholder questions as possible during the 90 minutes we have allotted for this meeting. Written questions on the same topic or otherwise related will be grouped together and addressed at the same time. Any question that cannot be answered during the meeting due to time constraints will be posted on the BCE website with the corresponding answer as soon as practicable after the meeting. I would now like to bring your attention to the notice appearing on screen.
Today's remarks will contain forward-looking statements. These are based on several assumptions and are subject to important risks. The notice on screen contains a cautionary statement in this regard and is made on behalf of each speaker whose remarks today will contain forward-looking statements. Finally, I can report that Bertrand Joly and Isabelle Vachon, employees of TSX Trust Company, have been appointed to act as scrutineers of the meeting. Mr. Chair, I now turn the meeting over to you.
Thank you very much, Melanie. Encore une fois, bonjour. Merci d'être avec nous aujourd'hui. Once again, thank you to everyone for joining this meeting. As Canada's largest communications company, Bell provides fiber, internet, 5G wireless, TV, media, and technology solutions to customers across our country. BCE is an iconic Canadian company with a history of adapting to fast-changing environments. 2024 was, as you know, a challenging year across the industry. We faced headwinds, including aggressive competition on pricing, an unfavorable regulatory environment, and slowing market growth. For these reasons, we focused our growth on our core business and taking advantage of new opportunities that will set us up for long-term success and sustainable value creation. We are committed to winning back investor confidence by ensuring that shareholders understand how we are generating value today and setting the business up to deliver even greater value tomorrow.
Management has been working hard over the past year to put in place the foundation for growth and success this year and beyond. This includes the 2025, or sorry, this includes the proposed acquisition of Ziply Fiber, a high-quality, high-growth fiber-first internet services provider operating in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Today's announcement of Network Fiber Co, our strategic partnership with Montreal-based Canadian Pension Fund PSP Investments, supports Ziply Fiber's expansion without significantly impacting BCE's balance sheet. The appointment of a dedicated Chief Commercial and Experience Officer was also done. The creation of Ateco, the Bell Business Markets division charged with delivering leading technology solutions to our enterprise customers. Our aggressive digital media and content strategy anchored by Crave, as well as harnessing the power of technology, automation, and simplification that ultimately will drive cost efficiencies.
We are excited, and to you, our investors, I want to say that we are listening. We have the assets, the team, and the plan to deliver for you, our customers, and our communities, both now and into the future. The focus of the past year has been on reducing costs and strengthening our balance sheet while also putting in place the building blocks for growth. We remain focused on maintaining an investment-grade credit rating for our senior debt, as well as lowering our leverage ratio. We know the dividend has been a topic of heavy discussion. We have an elevated dividend payout ratio that is outside our policy range, which has been causing pressure on our share price. As a board, we are focused on addressing these concerns. We have spent considerable time with our shareholders, and we have heard your perspectives.
We must address a number of significant changes in our operating and economic environment that have occurred since November when we paused our dividend growth. There has been heightened economic uncertainty related to the ongoing global trade war, which very likely will slow the pace of economic activity and increase inflationary pressures both in Canada and around the world. Many economists are now predicting a global recession. Recent surveys suggest a sharp drop in consumer confidence and a slowdown in business spending as companies postpone or cancel investments. Additionally, the reduction in BCE share price has resulted in an elevated dividend yield and therefore a high cost of capital. At the same time, an unsupportive regulatory environment, ongoing competitive pricing pressures, and a slowdown on immigration have added further complexity.
So much has changed since November, and considering these factors, as you know this morning, we have made the necessary decision to adjust our dividend. The annualized dividend per BCE common share will be established at CAD 1.75. Concurrently, we're establishing a new long-term common share dividend payout ratio to target a payout ratio range of 40%-55% of free cash flow. This policy range provides us with much greater flexibility for both deleveraging and investing in future growth. To make it easier for our investors to consider the effect of capital leases on our cash flow, we will also begin to disclose our free cash flow after capital leases repayments going forward. The adjusted dividend will free up approximately CAD 2.1 billion in capital that we will use to strengthen our balance sheet.
By the end of 2027, we expect to achieve a Net Leverage Ratio of approximately 3.5 times Adjusted EBITDA, with a long-term goal of approaching or going below 3% by 2030. We will also eliminate the discount feature of our DRIP effective with the Q2 dividend payment on July 15th. The decisions we announced today are the right ones for the right time. They show disciplined execution against the roadmap we showed investors and management showed and discussed with investors in February and provide clarity on our capital allocation priorities. Our plan focuses on strong Free Cash Flow generation, selling non-core assets, and thereby reducing debt. All our actions position us for a resilient dividend-paying company featuring a very sustainable long-term dividend that will continue to provide our shareholders an attractive yield. At the same time, we are boosting growth through strategic acquisitions.
For example, we're using the net proceeds from the sale of our ownership stake in MLSE to acquire Ziply Fiber. By doing so, we are converting a passive investment that generates little cash into a fast-growing revenue-generating business line, which is in our core strategic area and a business we know extremely well. I'll let Mirko go into details later, but suffice to say that this strategic redeployment of capital back into a core business, fiber, demonstrates that we are committed to driving growth. We're also carefully reviewing all of our non-core assets and will continue to look at monetizing them where it makes financial and strategic sense, with the objective of continuing to strengthen the balance sheet.
Before I conclude, I would like to touch on an important issue for Bell and indeed for Canada as a whole, and this country as a whole at this transformational moment in our country. As Canada faces threats to its economy, it's more important than ever to encourage investment in this country by strong Canadian companies. It doesn't get much more Canadian than Bell. Bell traces its roots back to the 1880s, just 13 years after Confederation. Today, we connect 99% of communities in all 13 provinces and territories, and we provide services to millions of Canadian customers. We are a leader in R&D. We invest more than CAD 500 million per year to support Canadian researchers, among the highest level of investment of any Canadian company. Most importantly, we build the sovereign critical infrastructure that powers the Canadian economy.
As external threats increase, it is existential for Canada's security that the government create the policy and regulatory conditions to improve and to enhance connectivity. In this context, we believe the CRTC's decision on wholesale fiber access is baffling. It is not the right policy. It is the wrong policy at the wrong time and will both discourage investment and will not strengthen Canada's infrastructure. Allowing the largest communication companies to resell services on each other's network reduces the incentive to invest in new network infrastructure. Less investment means fewer jobs along our supply chain, diminished network resilience, and fewer Canadians getting access to the world's best internet technology, particularly in rural and remote communities. Bell has already revised its fiber build target down by 1.5 million locations as a result of the decision, and we have cut our capital expenditures by CAD 500 million this year alone.
We want to spend more money in Canada, and we implore the CRTC and the new federal government to reverse its policy and implement solutions that drive investments, that create jobs, and that enhance connectivity. It is critical to our future competitiveness. Looking ahead to the rest of the year and into 2026, the overarching challenges of the industry are not going away. However, we are very excited to reset, and I want to assure you that we are agile and have taken the steps to meet our financial goals and ensure balanced growth. We are keenly aware of the global economic shifts, and we will adapt to meet these challenges. Our board will continue to provide robust oversight on Bell's long-term capital allocation strategy. We are also looking to attract new talent to the board. In particular, we're seeking a candidate with expertise in the U.S.
Telecom market in light of the Ziply acquisition and the launch of our strategic partnership with PSP Investments. We spend a considerable amount of time with our shareholders and analysts listening to their perspectives on a number of years. We appreciate that many shareholders would like us to focus on deleveraging and prudent fiscal management, and that is what we are doing, and we will continue to be open and transparent with our shareholders and provide clarity with respect to our plans. Our board and the entire Bell team are energized, and we are focused on executing a clear plan that will accelerate our growth next year and for the years to come. Thank you to you, our shareholders, for your confidence in the direction of the BCE Group of Companies as we continue to adapt and to deliver for our customers and investors. Today's meeting will proceed as follows.
After confirming the establishment of a quorum, we will proceed with the receipt of our 2024 consolidated financial statement and auditor's report. We will then vote on the election of directors, the appointment of Ernst & Young as our new auditors, an advisory resolution on executive compensation, and two shareholder proposals. To facilitate the proceedings, I have asked Melanie to move the first three motions before we get to the proposals. Our President and Chief Executive Officer Mirko Bibic will then address the meeting, following by which we will announce the results of our votes, and finally, and perhaps most importantly, we will conclude the meeting with a question-and-answer session. Starting with agenda item number one, the scrutineers have provided me with their report on attendance, which will be filed with the records of today's meeting.
The attendance report, together with the proxies which I hold, confirms that the shareholders represented at least 25% of all the outstanding shares of BCE that are entitled to vote or are in attendance at this meeting. I therefore declare that the meeting is properly constituted for the transaction of such business as may be brought before it. Now moving to item number two, the BCE Annual Financial Report for the year 2024 contains the consolidated financial statements as well as the auditor's report thereupon. A copy of the 2024 Annual Financial Report will be filed with the records of this meeting. Attending today is Curtis Millen, our Chief Financial Officer, as well as representatives from Deloitte, your auditors, for the year 2024, and they are available on the phone to answer any specific questions you may have on the financial statements.
Melanie, are there any questions related specifically to the financial statements?
There are no questions on this item of business, Mr. Chair.
I remind you that the poll for all items submitted to a vote upon this meeting is open. The next item of business on the agenda is the election of directors. There are 13 directors to be elected and 13 eligible candidates who have been nominated. The director nominees for today's meeting are Mirko Bibic, Robert Dexter, Katherine Lee, Monique Leroux, Sheila Murray, Louis Pagnutti, Calin Rovinescu, Karen Sheriff, Jennifer Tory, Louis Vachon, Johan Weibergh, and Cornell Wright, along with myself, Gordon Nixon. These are the board nominees, and we will now turn to questions related specifically to this item. Melanie, are there any questions related to the board?
There are no questions on this item of business, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Melanie. Could we proceed with the motion?
Mr. Chair, I move that each of the 13 persons previously named be elected a director of BCE Inc. until the earlier of the end of the next annual shareholder meeting and the date they cease to hold office.
Thank you, Melanie. The next item on the agenda is the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as BCE's new auditors. Mark Forman and Janice Rath, representatives of Ernst & Young, are attending today's meeting via phone. As described in the proxy circular, in keeping with our focus on strong corporate governance practices and given the long tenure of Deloitte LLP as the corporation's auditors, we have conducted an RFP process, and after careful consideration and the recommendation of the audit committee, the board selected Ernst & Young LLP as successor auditors of the corporation for the financial year ending December 31, 2025, subject, of course, to shareholder approval. Ernst & Young LLP was selected based on qualifications of its audit team, staffing model, technology, as well as its independence.
We extend our thanks to Deloitte LLP, who did a terrific job for the quality of expertise and the insight that they have provided over many, many years. I would remind you again that the polls are open. Melanie, are there any questions with respect to this item of business?
There are no questions on this item of business, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Melanie. Please move that motion.
Mr. Chair, I move that Ernst & Young LLP be appointed as auditors of BCE until the next annual shareholder meeting.
Thank you, Melanie. The next item on the agenda is the advisory vote on BCE's approach to executive compensation. Melanie, are there any questions specifically related to this item of business?
Mr. Chair, we do have questions we received in advance from shareholders on executive compensation, specifically relating to the CEO and other executive officers. I'll summarize the question as follows. Could you please explain how the executive compensation policy and how bonuses are determined?
Yeah, I mean, I would say that we have a very robust compensation committee, our MRC Committee, and philosophically, our objective is to attract and to retain a very strong and top-quality management team. We have an advisor that advises the compensation committee with respect to executive compensation. A large portion, in the case of the CEO, 89% of compensation is at risk, which perfectly aligns the compensation of our CEO with the performance of the company and the performance of the share price. And in fact, this year, you will see in the Proxy Circular, there is a look-back which shows what actual compensation levels are versus what were stated in the Proxy Circular. And of course, given the share price performance, there is quite a variance.
Our compensation structure is reviewed by the two proxy advisors, ISS, as well as Glass Lewis, and both have received very positive grades, and so we're very comfortable that our compensation committee does an outstanding job in terms of ensuring that we have the right process, that we have the right alignments, and that our target compensation, which is targeted for sort of mid-range of a competitor group, is accurate.
Can we now move the motion or?
Yes.
Okay.
Mr. Chair, I move that the advisory resolution on executive compensation be approved.
Thank you, Melanie. The last items to be submitted to a vote are two shareholder proposals. Please note that all voting on matters will close after these items. As a reminder regarding the previously submitted but withdrawn shareholder proposals in respect of the AGM format, as mentioned at the outset of this meeting, as of 2026, we have announced that we intend, barring exceptional circumstances as described earlier, to hold our annual meeting of shareholders through a hybrid format that includes an in-person component. Given this commitment, MÉDAC has agreed to withdraw the shareholder proposal number two. Therefore, we will not have a vote on this proposal. I would invite Mrs. Alice Chipot, the representative from MÉDAC, to present and move shareholder proposal number one and three. Operator, please open the line for Madame Chipot.
Parfait. Bonjour à tous et merci de me recevoir aujourd'hui en tant que représentante du MÉDAC pour les deux propositions d'actionnaires que vous avez évoquées. Alors, je vais présenter la première proposition d'actionnaires qui est sur la divulgation des langues maîtrisées par les employés. Il est donc proposé que les langues maîtrisées par les employés soient divulguées en ventilant l'information par juridiction pour tous les territoires, pays, États, provinces où la société a des activités. Au moment de son embauche, les compétences d'un candidat sont évaluées pour déterminer si elles satisfont aux exigences de l'emploi pour lequel il postule. Parmi celles-ci, il y a nécessairement ses compétences linguistiques. L'information à ce sujet est connue de toutes les entreprises et cette information existe à la fois dans sa forme statistique et est d'intérêt pour tout le monde.
C'est pourquoi nous vous invitons à soutenir notre proposition pour la divulgation des langues maîtrisées par les employés. Je vais passer maintenant. Plutôt avant de passer à la troisième proposition, je vais juste confirmer le fait que la deuxième proposition a été effectivement retirée du vote, soit la proposition sur les assemblées annuelles en personne, étant donné que l'entreprise a pris un engagement. Celui-ci a été publié dans le SEDAR, donc à compter de 2026, et sauf en cas de force majeure, normalement, les assemblées annuelles des actionnaires prendront la forme hybride avec une composante présentielle et une composante virtuelle. Donc ça, ça satisfait le MÉDAC et nous vous en remercions pour cela. Concernant la proposition trois, celle qui va au vote, elle concerne les systèmes d'intelligence artificielle générative avancée et le code de conduite.
Il est proposé que BCE adhère au code de conduite volontaire visant un développement et une gestion responsable des systèmes d'intelligence artificielle générative avancée. Nous le savons tous, le développement de l'intelligence artificielle présente des défis pour les entreprises comme pour la société, donc nous pensons qu'un meilleur encadrement est nécessaire. Or, bien que la politique d'intelligence artificielle responsable de BCE soit étroitement associée aux principes du code de conduite volontaire, les normes en matière d'intelligence artificielle évoluent rapidement et nous estimons qu'une politique et un processus associés robustes sont nécessaires. D'où, c'est ça, la proposition d'adhérer formellement au code de conduite. Voilà, je ne prendrai pas plus de temps, mais je vous invite à voter sur les deux propositions un et trois.
Merci beaucoup, thank you very much, and we appreciate your input and your thoughts. Melanie, are there any questions online related to the shareholder proposals?
There are no questions online or on the phone related to this item of business, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much, and I now declare that the voting on all matters is closed. The results will be announced before the question and answer session. And with that, it's now a pleasure to ask Mirko Bibic, who is our President and Chief Executive Officer, to address the meeting.
Thank you, Gord. I'm pleased to be here today to discuss BCE's strategy for the year ahead and beyond. Premièrement, j'aimerais revenir sur 2024 et le premier trimestre de 2025. Nous avons établi les bases d'un important repositionnement pour notre entreprise. Nous avons réduit les coûts, renforcé notre bilan et précisé notre orientation. Nous sommes résilients face à des défis réglementaires sans précédent, à une concurrence féroce et à un environnement économique et géopolitique instable. Nous sommes restés centrés sur nos activités essentielles. Today, we have a clear strategy for growth, and it's anchored in four key priority areas. We're putting the customers first. We're providing the best fiber internet and wireless 5G. We're unlocking potential for businesses with technology solutions and building a digital media and content powerhouse. By building and executing on these four areas, we will deliver for all stakeholders.
At Bell, putting customers first is our top priority. Earlier this year, as Gord mentioned, we became the first Canadian telecom to name a dedicated chief customer experience officer, and since taking on this role, Hadir Hassan has been hard at work developing a better customer experience, and the experience is grounded in four key commitments. That your time matters. We'll keep our promises. We'll make it intuitively easy, and we'll provide a one-bell experience. Notre objectif ultime est de vous placer au centre de chacune de nos interactions, par exemple lors d'un abonnement, d'un changement apporté à vos services ou une demande de dépannage. Nous savons que votre temps est précieux. C'est pourquoi nous offrons une gamme de plus en plus importante d'options en libre-service et des assistants virtuels propulsés par l'intelligence artificielle qui sont accessibles en tout temps.
Les outils en libre-service vous aident à obtenir le soutien dont vous avez besoin, de jour comme de nuit. Nos agents peuvent alors se concentrer sur les cas plus complexes ou servir les personnes qui préfèrent utiliser nos services téléphoniques. We've also introduced a new intuitive digital bill, and we're hard at work improving the tools and information available to our representatives so no matter how you interact with us, our team will have access to the same up-to-date information. And because we know that life doesn't wait, we're enhancing our callback experience so that our team can follow up and make it right without you having to sit on hold. This will be a whole new Bell, and we'll continue to raise the bar each and every day and in the year to come.
Ensuite, notre priorité est de fournir les meilleurs réseaux internet sur fibre optique et sans fil 5G. Nos réseaux sont l'infrastructure essentielle qui propulse l'économie numérique au pays. Au Canada, 7.8 millions de foyers d'entreprises ont accès à notre réseau pure fibre. Le réseau sans fil 5G est offert à 87% de la population et le réseau 5G+ à 60% de la population. Je le répète chaque année, mais la fibre optique est clairement la meilleure technologie internet au monde. Et notre investissement stratégique porte ses fruits. Trois millions d'abonnés au service internet résidentiel de Bell profitent désormais de la fibre optique. En 2024, ce segment a connu une croissance de 10% par rapport à l'année précédente. Il y a encore de la place pour la croissance alors que trois millions d'emplacements de fibre optique supplémentaires sont prêts à recevoir des abonnés.
At our core, we're a network builder. And that brings me to Ziply Fiber. This transaction opens the door to an attractive U.S. market, the Pacific Northwest, where fiber deployment lags, population growth is robust, and the regulatory environment is favorable. The opportunity for BCE is significant. To finance the deal, as Gord said, we effectively traded a non-core asset, which is our stake in MLSE, in exchange for a long-term revenue and EBITDA growth engine. Ziply Fiber's performance speaks for itself. In 2024, it achieved significant fiber subscriber growth and EBITDA growth. This is a clear demonstration of its ability to generate meaningful and sustainable financial performance, and we aren't slowing down. Earlier today, we announced a strategic partnership between BCE and Montreal-based Canadian pension fund PSP Investments to support Ziply Fiber's expansion.
This partnership will accelerate the development of fiber infrastructure through Ziply Fiber in underserved markets in the United States. The partnership will target the development of up to six million fiber passings, enabling Ziply Fiber to reach up to eight million fiber locations over time. Notre stratégie d'expansion de la fibre optique arrive à une étape majeure. Nous allons combiner l'expertise opérationnelle de Bell et de Ziply avec les ressources, les compétences financières et l'expérience en matière d'infrastructure de PSP. Nous serons alors en mesure de soutenir l'expansion de notre réseau de fibre optique aux États-Unis et de bénéficier d'un coût du capital intéressant, tout en réduisant les contributions financières de BCE. L'annonce aujourd'hui renforce notre engagement à offrir une valeur à long terme aux actionnaires alors que nous faisons preuve de discipline sur le plan financier.
Our third priority is to unlock the potential of businesses with the best technology solutions, backed, of course, by our leading fiber and wireless networks. We've set an ambitious goal to become a billion-dollar tech services organization by 2030, and we're well on our way. Il y a deux jours, nous avons lancé Ateco, une division de Bell Canada basée ici à Montréal. Ateco, qui signifie automatisation et collaboration technologique, est un tout nouveau fournisseur de solutions technologiques. Il rassemble sous la même bannière trois des entreprises technologiques en démarrage innovantes que nous avons acquises récemment : FX Innovation, basée à Montréal; CloudKettle; et HGC Technologies, aussi basée à Montréal. La façon dont Ateco se distingue de la concurrence la place dans une position de choix pour révolutionner l'industrie et offrir de meilleurs résultats à nos clients.
Ateco's team of workflow automation experts will draw on their experience in the world's largest hyperscalers and automation platforms like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Salesforce, and ServiceNow to help customers streamline their operations, improve automation, enhance customer experience, and facilitate smarter, data-driven decision-making. Our fourth priority is to build a digital media and content powerhouse. Bell Media continues to deliver Canada's most-watched content in English and in French when and where Canadians want it. Digital Now accounts for 43% of total media revenue, up from just 17% in 2021. It's the direct result of a well-timed and strategic pivot that distinguishes us from our Canadian competitors. This digital growth will be the foundation for Bell Media's financial stability and will continue to drive meaningful, pardon me, free cash flow for investors.
More than half of our significant digital revenue now comes from direct-to-consumer streaming of Crave, TSN, and RDS content, and also Crave with Ads, Prime Video channels, Connected TV, and other ad-supported streaming options like our FAST channels. 2024 was Crave's most-watched year ever, and our subscribers now number four million nationwide. Bien entendu, Bell Media offre la meilleure combinaison de contenus de divertissement, de sport et de nouvelles au pays sur les meilleures plateformes. La population au pays continue de choisir Crave pour ses excellentes séries originales canadiennes comme Shoresy, Apathy, So Long Marianne et Survivor Québec, ainsi que pour ses émissions internationales à succès. Our expanded licensing deal with Warner Bros. means Crave will remain the exclusive Canadian home of HBO and Max content for years to come.
Yes, that means many more seasons of The White Lotus and The Last of Us for fans to look forward to. RDS et TSN continuent d'offrir du contenu sportif de calibre mondial sur plusieurs plateformes télévisées et de diffusion en continu, à la radio, en ligne et sur nos applications. On y trouve du hockey, du basketball, du football, du golf, du tennis et plus encore. Au cours de la prochaine année, nous continuerons d'investir dans les médias numériques et dans la création de contenus de qualité pour accroître la visibilité du Canada à l'échelle mondiale. Let me touch briefly on our work to modernize and simplify how we do business. We have a number of initiatives underway, including the digital solutions for our customers, which I mentioned earlier, and, of course, continuing to move customers off of copper and onto our fiber network.
When we started this work in 2022, we set a target cost savings of CAD 1 billion by 2028 or sooner. By the end of 2024, we'd already realized half that amount, CAD 500 million. So we're setting a new goal to realize savings of CAD 1.5 billion by 2028. As Gord noted in his introductory remarks, we spent a great deal of time with our shareholders discussing their perspectives and carefully evaluating the opportunities and the challenges before us. The decisions we've made to strengthen our balance sheet reflect the realities of today's operating environment, but they're also deeply rooted in our commitment to positioning BCE for long-term growth. By prioritizing financial flexibility and balance sheet strength, we are ensuring that we can drive forward through any circumstance, such as economic, geopolitical, or regulatory uncertainty or instability.
We, therefore, remain focused on executing on the roadmap we shared with you earlier this year. From generating substantial Free Cash Flow and divesting non-core assets to pursuing transformative opportunities like the Ziply Fiber acquisition, every step we take is aimed at creating long-term value for shareholders. These decisions are the result of disciplined planning, rigorous analysis, and a clear-eyed view of what's best for BCE, for our customers, and our shareholders in both the short term and the long term. We're confident that they will strengthen BCE's foundation.
I'm really optimistic about Bell's future. We have a clear plan, grounded in concrete priorities and focused on what we do best, which is connecting Canadians, helping businesses succeed, and sharing Canada's stories with each other and the world. For 145 years, Bell has been there for Canadians. We've succeeded by adapting to change to deliver for our customers and our shareholders.
Today, we've got the right strategy and the right team to deliver long-term growth and create lasting value. Ensemble, nous allons créer de la valeur pour nos clients, les collectivités que nous desservons et nos actionnaires. Je vous remercie tous et je passe la parole à Gord. Gord, over to you.
Thank you very much, Mirko, for that very comprehensive review. I would now ask Melanie to provide the preliminary results of the scrutineers' tabulation of today's votes.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The scrutineers confirmed the following preliminary vote results. All director nominees received at least 95% votes for. At least 98% of votes are in favor of the appointment of Ernst & Young as our auditors. The advisory resolution on executive compensation is approved by approximately 92% of the votes. Approximately 96% of the votes are against shareholder proposal one, and therefore it is defeated.
Approximately 94% of votes are against shareholder proposal three, and therefore it is defeated. The scrutineers' final report will be available shortly after the meeting.
Thank you very much, Melanie, and we will now take questions and comments from our shareholders. I would ask Melanie one more time to remind us of the procedures to ask a question.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To ask a question in writing online, click on the messaging tab on the left of your screen and submit your question. To ask a question by telephone, call the number appearing on the screen on the meeting page of bce.ca and on the homepage of the Lumi Platform, and then press star one. A Lumi representative will contact you and ask you for your 13-digit control number. You will then be unmuted at the appropriate time for you to ask your question live.
To ask a question by audio only or video through the integrated function of the Lumi Platform, click on the request to speak button at the top right of the broadcast panel. Allow your browser access to your microphone and camera as applicable, then click on the green checkmark. You will be called upon to ask your question and unmuted automatically at the appropriate time. The rules of procedure that we outlined at the beginning of the meeting will continue to apply for this question and answer session.
Thank you very much, Melanie, and it's good timing. We planned 45 minutes for questions. It's 10:15 A.M., so we've got lots of time, and we look forward to any comments or questions. So, Melanie, do we have any questions?
I believe, Mr. Chair, we have a question on the line from MÉDAC. Operator, can you please open the line?
Bonjour, est-ce que vous m'entendez bien ? Parfait. Est-ce que pourriez-vous, s'il vous plaît, redonner les résultats du vote et de façon positive, c'est-à-dire repréciser le nombre de votes en faveur qu'il y a eu pour la proposition 1 et pour la proposition 3 ? Je vous remercie d'avance.
Okay. As mentioned, these results are the preliminary results, and we'll be reposting the final results and scrutineers' report on our website shortly after the meeting. But it was approximately 4% of votes were for shareholder proposal number one, and approximately 6% of votes are for shareholder proposal number three. Looking for additional questions.
Any further questions ?
Mr. Chair, there are no further questions in the queue at this time.
Okay. Well, there were a lot of announcements this morning, so perhaps a lot of the questions were answered.
We had a full 40 minutes of questions last year, but I guess there are none.
Checking again. There are no questions in the queue.
There are no questions. Okay. I won the pool. There being no further questions, I now declare that the question and answer session be closed. We thank everyone for their participation in our annual shareholders' meeting and for your continued confidence and support of the Bell team. Thank you very much.
Thank you.