CBC/Radio-Canada has cut thousands of jobs over years of successive budget cuts.

CBC/Radio-Canada has cut thousands of jobs over years of successive budget cuts.
Photo Credit: Mark Blinch/Reuters

Public broadcaster seeks new funding model

Decimated by years of budget cuts by successive governments, CBC/Radio-Canada is asking the government to boost and stabilize its funding. An extra $318 million annually would enable it to stop selling advertising. Private media have recently complained that the public broadcaster is taking digital ad revenues away from them.

CBC/Radio-Canada currently receives annual funding of $34 per Canadian. It would like that increased to $46, which it says is still well below what other public broadcaster get. Great Britain’s BBC, for example, receives $114 per person.

A request to ‘depoliticize’ funding

The public broadcaster would like to “depoliticize CBC/Radio-Canada funding” so that it is set for five years and indexed to inflation. That would shield it from the yearly government budget decisions which are often influenced by political concerns.

“We are at a critical juncture in our evolution, continuing to operate under a business model and cultural policy framework that is profoundly broken,” says the CBC document released on November 28, 2016. “At the same time, other nations are moving their cultural agendas forward successfully — and reaping the benefits of strong, stable, well-funded public broadcasters.”

The proposal argues the new funding model would result in “a net total GDP gain of $488M, a total labour income impact of $355M and the creation of 7,200 new jobs.”

Years of government budget cuts finally resulted in a decision to take down Radio Canada International’s shortwave transmission towers and make the service exclusively web-based.
Years of government budget cuts finally resulted in a decision to take down Radio Canada International’s shortwave transmission towers and make the service exclusively web-based. © YouTube

CBC/Radio-Canada funding affects RCI

Radio Canada International used to be funded separately by the Canadian government, but now it receives its funding from the CBC/Radio-Canada envelope. In 2012, CBC/Radio-Canada slashed RCI’s budget by 80 per cent and decided to dismantle its shortwave transmitters, ending all shortwave broadcasts.

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