Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following item from Radio Canada International:
CBC/Radio-Canada to cut 10 per cent of workforce, end some programming as it faces $125M budget shortfall (RCI)
Public broadcaster says most cuts will take effect over the coming year
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada announced Monday that it plans to cut about 10 per cent of its workforce and axe some programming to cope with a potential $125 million budget shortfall.
In a news release, the public broadcaster said it plans on cutting 600 union and non-union positions across the entire organization. The corporation said about 200 vacant positions will be eliminated on top of that.
CBC and Radio-Canada, the French-language arm, will each be cutting in the range of 250 jobs, while the rest of the cuts will come from the technology and infrastructure department and other corporate divisions, said the corporation.
CBC spokesperson Leon Mar said some of the cuts will begin immediately but most will take effect over the coming year.
CBC/Radio-Canada — which received around $1.3 billion in public funding in the 2022-2023 fiscal year — also announced Monday it will reduce its English and French programming budgets for the next fiscal year and cut about $40 million from independent production commissions and program acquisitions.
Mar said that will mean fewer new television series and fewer episodes for existing shows.
The corporation said earlier this year it had begun cutting $25 million through measures such as limiting travel, sponsorships and marketing, and delaying technology initiatives.
The public broadcaster blamed its budget issues on rising production costs, declining television advertising revenue and fierce competition from the digital giants.
CBC/Radio-Canada said it’s also grappling with forecast reductions to its parliamentary funding beginning in the next fiscal year. A fund to help the public broadcaster offset revenue losses during the pandemic is also ending, it said. The fund supplied the CBC with $21 million a year for two years.
We understand how concerning this is to the people affected and to the Canadians who depend on our programs and services. We will have more details in the months ahead, but we are doing everything we can to minimize the impact of these measures, said CBC/Radio-Canada president Catherine Tait in a prepared statement. [Continue reading…]
CBC has so many cuts over the years, i.e., eliminated their shortwave as one major example, so what’s really left to cut except to hit delete on everything CBC.
It’s a pity.
Does the CBC outsource their transmitter network like other government owned broadcasters?
This would appear to be the reason why these broadcasts have excessive transmitter costs. AM is 106 years old and FM stereo is 61 years old. By comparison there is a new generation of cell phone technology every 8 years. Once the telcos decide to switch off their old base station transmitter/receivers then the phone is totally useless.
AM and FM transmitters can only carry one program per transmitter. More than 67 % of the output of an AM transmitter contains no sound it is a waste of money. Now there is Digital Radio Mondiale which can radiate 18 programs from one modified FM transmitter at a lower total power than for a single analog program. It can be transmitted in the now vacant TV channels 1 – 6.
The only exceptions are Norway has no analog radio just DAB+, All India Radio DRM and some of the BBC using DAB.
It’s not true that “Norway has no analog radio”, in fact there are 573 FM and 3 AM transmitters operating there. But the blog post is about Canada, not Norway. The quoted article doesn’t mention anything about transmitting costs, so how did you conclude that these are “excessive” for the CBC or any other broadcaster?
Just the beginning, Canada is due to have a general election in 2025, but with a minority parliament that could happen any time. The Opposition leader currently leading in the polls promises to “Defund the CBC” and turn its Toronto HQ into “affordable housing”. Policy, posturing or red meat for the base? Who knows.
I would say that massive cuts to the CBC are almost a done deal if Poilievre is elected. I don’t know if it would completely cease to exist, but I wouldn’t be surprised if, for example, all of its TV operations are shut down.