Close X
Monday, November 11, 2024
ADVT 
National

Audience there but not money: CBC CEO disputes Harper comment over funding

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 30 Sep, 2015 12:43 PM
    WINNIPEG — The head of the CBC is hitting back at Conservative Leader Stephen Harper over comments the national broadcaster is floundering because of low ratings rather than a lack of funding.
     
    CEO Hubert Lacroix says the CBC has healthy ratings, but is crippled by a broken funding model.
     
    "It's not about a lack of audience," he said after the CBC's annual general meeting in Winnipeg on Tuesday. "It's about a broken finance model that doesn't work, that used to be built on advertising revenues supporting a drop in parliamentary appropriations. In this environment, it doesn't work anymore."
     
    The 2012 federal budget cut CBC's funding by $115 million over three years. Last year, the broadcaster said it faced a $130-million shortfall — compounded by the loss of broadcast rights to NHL games — and was cutting 657 jobs
     
    Harper told a private radio station in Quebec that the CBC's budget crunch isn't due to government cuts, but because of its low ratings.
     
    "The reason for the difficulties aren't the cuts," Harper said in an interview broadcast Monday. "There aren't cuts. The reason is the loss of (CBC's) audience. It's a problem for the CBC to fix."
     
    There is a limit to state subsidies, he added. 
     
    Lacroix wouldn't answer when asked whether he thought Harper's comments were fair.
     
    "But I'm going to tell you it's not because of our ratings that we have a problem at CBC-Radio Canada."
     
    Canada must look to other European countries for ideas on how to fund public broadcasting, Lacroix suggested. France and Spain collect revenue from Internet service providers, while the United Kingdom uses a licensing system based on the purchase of a television to raise cash.
     
    Germany has a household fee, which others are interested in adopting as people increasingly turn to digital platforms, Lacroix said.
     
    "People are no longer buying television sets. We should have a conversation about what's the best funding model for us. We can't continue in this environment."
     
    The Liberals and the NDP are promising to restore funding to the CBC. But even with a cash injection, Lacroix said, the broadcaster would not change its strategic plan.
     
    The CBC plans to focus on its digital platform and has a goal of doubling its users to 18 million a month by 2020, he told the meeting.
     
    It is also paring down its supper-hour television newscasts to between 30 and 60 minutes and is adding local TV news inserts throughout the evening.
     
    Lacroix said that contrary to claims by the union for CBC employees, the broadcaster is not planning a "fire sale" of its property, but will consolidate where it makes sense.
     
    Carmel Smyth, president of the Canadian Media Guild, said Lacroix is not underlining how pivotal the Oct. 19 election is for those who value the CBC.  
     
    "For 80 years, the government has funded the CBC. It has given it a set mandate that the CBC has to comply," she said. "For Mr. Harper to suddenly say the problems are not a result of his funding cuts boggles the mind.
     
    "The CBC is in a funding crisis. It has all these programming responsibilities and it just can't keep doing them with the funding at the level that it's at."

    MORE National ARTICLES

    CMHC Conducting Research On Foreign Ownership Of Canadian Real Estate

    Data indicating how much of Canada's real estate is being snatched up by foreign buyers is scant, but the country's national housing agency is working to change that.

    CMHC Conducting Research On Foreign Ownership Of Canadian Real Estate

    B.C. Childrens' Advocate Says She Was Misled About Teen Who Died In Care In Abbotsford Hotel

    B.C. Childrens' Advocate Says She Was Misled About Teen Who Died In Care In Abbotsford Hotel
    Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond issued a sharp rebuke following the death of 18-year-old Alex Gervais, an aboriginal teen in care who was killed after falling from a fourth-floor window of an Abbotsford hotel last Friday.

    B.C. Childrens' Advocate Says She Was Misled About Teen Who Died In Care In Abbotsford Hotel

    Bland Tourism Slogan Draws Unexpected But Welcome Attention To Alberta Town Of Okotoks

    Bland Tourism Slogan Draws Unexpected But Welcome Attention To Alberta Town Of Okotoks
    The slogan "There are a number of things to do in Okotoks" was photographed on a Calgary transit train and mocked on the Internet this week.

    Bland Tourism Slogan Draws Unexpected But Welcome Attention To Alberta Town Of Okotoks

    Rare Event: Supermoon Phenomenon To Coincide With Total Lunar Eclipse On Sunday

    Rare Event: Supermoon Phenomenon To Coincide With Total Lunar Eclipse On Sunday
    Stargazers across Canada are preparing for a rare and spectacular celestial light show this Sunday night.

    Rare Event: Supermoon Phenomenon To Coincide With Total Lunar Eclipse On Sunday

    Ottawa Posts $150 Million Surplus For July, $5.16 Billion For Fiscal Year To Date

    Ottawa's surplus after four months of the 2015-16 financial year was $5.16 billion — including July's $150 million surplus.

    Ottawa Posts $150 Million Surplus For July, $5.16 Billion For Fiscal Year To Date

    Clayton Ness Sentenced For Shooting That Injured Sheriff Allan Buttree At Alberta Courthouse

    Clayton Ness Sentenced For Shooting That Injured Sheriff Allan Buttree At Alberta Courthouse
    A man who shot a sheriff during an escape attempt at a northwestern Alberta courthouse has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

    Clayton Ness Sentenced For Shooting That Injured Sheriff Allan Buttree At Alberta Courthouse