Streaming giant Netflix is shelling out $500 million for original Canadian productions, but what does that mean?
What will we get for that money in terms of TV?
Perhaps a new, improved talking Littlest Hobo?
For more laughs, CBC (subsidized to the tune of $1.5 billion annually) pooh-bah Hubert Lacroix, hailed the deal as “levelling of the playing field.”
“The levelling of the playing field, so that everyone ... contributes to the ecosystem, is key,” Lacroix said. “We’re too small in this world to be doing this by ourselves.”
Read the full story here.
cbcexposed is all about exposing the waste of the CBC ... over 1 billion dollars a year of taxpayer money funds the cbc and a lot of that taxpayer money is wasted.
The CBC is now a pygmy amongst giants
The CBC’s Place and Role in the Networked Media Universe.
Today I participated in a panel debate at the Manning Centre’s annual conference. It’s a big conflab that attracts a whose who list of the Conservative Party and party faithful.
The question we debated was, “Is it time to pull the plug on the CBC?” I debated the question with James Baxter from iPolitics and Brian Lilley, a co-founder of Rebel Media and all about town commentator for various conservative-type talk shows, publications, etc.
So, should we pull the plug on the CBC?
The CBC is now a pygmy amongst giants. It’s share of the total media economy dropped from 5% in 1980s and early 1990s to less than half that amount today.
Based on revenues in Canada, Google is now bigger than the CBC, while Facebook is about half its size.
While the CBC is the number 1 internet news source in Canada, it is crucial to stress that it does not dominate the internet news environment. People get their news from many internet news sources — old (e.g. CBC, Postmedia, Toronto Star, CTV) and new (e.g. iPolitics, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed), domestic and foreign (e.g. BBC, Yahoo!-ABC, the Guardian, New York Times).
Read the full story here.
Today I participated in a panel debate at the Manning Centre’s annual conference. It’s a big conflab that attracts a whose who list of the Conservative Party and party faithful.
The question we debated was, “Is it time to pull the plug on the CBC?” I debated the question with James Baxter from iPolitics and Brian Lilley, a co-founder of Rebel Media and all about town commentator for various conservative-type talk shows, publications, etc.
So, should we pull the plug on the CBC?
The CBC is now a pygmy amongst giants. It’s share of the total media economy dropped from 5% in 1980s and early 1990s to less than half that amount today.
Based on revenues in Canada, Google is now bigger than the CBC, while Facebook is about half its size.
While the CBC is the number 1 internet news source in Canada, it is crucial to stress that it does not dominate the internet news environment. People get their news from many internet news sources — old (e.g. CBC, Postmedia, Toronto Star, CTV) and new (e.g. iPolitics, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed), domestic and foreign (e.g. BBC, Yahoo!-ABC, the Guardian, New York Times).
Read the full story here.
The CBC's answer to its privileged status ...
Here’s how thinking works in the upper echelons of the CBC.
Canada’s public broadcasting network has been under fire for months over its efforts to build a digital presence in direct competition with private newspapers and other media, which are struggling to survive in the face of remorseless technological change. The private operators maintain it’s unfair that the CBC gets generous subsidies to steal business from them. In a world of shifting readership habits and murderous competition, every penny of revenue is vital. The CBC, they note, already enjoys a federal subsidy of more than $1 billion a year, including a $150 million annual boost introduced by the Trudeau Liberals. Private operators, meanwhile, are haemorrhaging money as the strive to keep the wolf from the door.
The CBC’s response: Ask for even more money from the public purse.
Read the full story here.
Canada’s public broadcasting network has been under fire for months over its efforts to build a digital presence in direct competition with private newspapers and other media, which are struggling to survive in the face of remorseless technological change. The private operators maintain it’s unfair that the CBC gets generous subsidies to steal business from them. In a world of shifting readership habits and murderous competition, every penny of revenue is vital. The CBC, they note, already enjoys a federal subsidy of more than $1 billion a year, including a $150 million annual boost introduced by the Trudeau Liberals. Private operators, meanwhile, are haemorrhaging money as the strive to keep the wolf from the door.
The CBC’s response: Ask for even more money from the public purse.
Read the full story here.
CBC Criticized Over Digital News Strategy
The publisher of the Globe and Mail newspaper, Philip Crawley, told members of Parliament who are examining Canada’s beleaguered news industry that the Globe’s ownership isn’t seeking “handouts or subsidies — but we do like to play on a level playing field.”
“It’s not level if taxpayer dollars directed to the public broadcaster make the competition for digital ad dollars more difficult. The CBC is the Globe’s largest competitor in the digital ad space amongst Canadian-based media.”
Read the full story here.
“It’s not level if taxpayer dollars directed to the public broadcaster make the competition for digital ad dollars more difficult. The CBC is the Globe’s largest competitor in the digital ad space amongst Canadian-based media.”
Read the full story here.
CBC unseated in ratings
Central Okanagan radio listeners are apparently changing their habits.
Long-reigning top station CBC Radio 1 has been unseated by not one, but two Kelowna stations in the latest top-line radio statistics released by monitoring agency Numeris.
Sun FM and K-96 topped the fall rankings in the broad age 12 and up demographic, each with a 14.3 per cent share of the listening audience.
Individual stations focus on narrower demographics to suit their audience, but to compare them fairly, the 12 and up stats put all stations on equal footing.
CBC fell to second place with a 13 per cent share, down from 16.2 in the spring ratings book.
Read the full story here.
Long-reigning top station CBC Radio 1 has been unseated by not one, but two Kelowna stations in the latest top-line radio statistics released by monitoring agency Numeris.
Sun FM and K-96 topped the fall rankings in the broad age 12 and up demographic, each with a 14.3 per cent share of the listening audience.
Individual stations focus on narrower demographics to suit their audience, but to compare them fairly, the 12 and up stats put all stations on equal footing.
CBC fell to second place with a 13 per cent share, down from 16.2 in the spring ratings book.
Read the full story here.
CBC no longer represents ordinary Canadians ...
With the CBC’s TV ratings down 40% to a specialty channel-like 5% share of viewers even before it lost its NHL contract, according to Canadian Media Research, it’s worth asking again what has gone wrong with the Mother Corp and what should be done about it?
The answer to the first question is that it no longer represents ordinary Canadians to themselves in a way they like or even recognize. So when its funding comes under scrutiny, it is not surprising that most Canadians collectively yawn while watching any of the myriad other channels available to them on various media platforms.
Read the full story here.
The answer to the first question is that it no longer represents ordinary Canadians to themselves in a way they like or even recognize. So when its funding comes under scrutiny, it is not surprising that most Canadians collectively yawn while watching any of the myriad other channels available to them on various media platforms.
Read the full story here.
CBC workplace is psychologically unhealthy ...
A survey conducted for CBC in the summer by Gallup showed that “pride of association” has plummeted from 92 per cent of employees feeling proud to be CBC journalists and support staff in 2012 to 69 per cent in 2015.
“Psychological health and care for individual well-being are significant concerns,” says a report released internally to CBC and obtained by the Star. The results show 43 per cent of survey respondents said they would not describe their workplace as psychologically healthy.
Read the full story here.
“Psychological health and care for individual well-being are significant concerns,” says a report released internally to CBC and obtained by the Star. The results show 43 per cent of survey respondents said they would not describe their workplace as psychologically healthy.
Read the full story here.
Why is CBC still in the advertising game?
CBC has boasted that 50 per cent of the cost of its TV services is paid for by advertising revenue. No more.
In the year ending August 2015, CBC English TV ad revenue fell off a cliff and was barely $100 million, well under 20 per cent of TV revenues. Funding from taxpayers is now four times greater than ad revenues, an outcome that was predicted here.
To make matters worse the cost of selling ads and promotion on CBC TV represented $62 million last year. Administration costs, some of which are for sales, were another $78 million.
After deducting these overheads, there is no meaningful profit to be made from advertising, which begs the question: why is CBC still in the advertising game?
Read the full story here.
In the year ending August 2015, CBC English TV ad revenue fell off a cliff and was barely $100 million, well under 20 per cent of TV revenues. Funding from taxpayers is now four times greater than ad revenues, an outcome that was predicted here.
To make matters worse the cost of selling ads and promotion on CBC TV represented $62 million last year. Administration costs, some of which are for sales, were another $78 million.
After deducting these overheads, there is no meaningful profit to be made from advertising, which begs the question: why is CBC still in the advertising game?
Read the full story here.
CBC Staff Demand Changes
Last summer, CANADALAND published a story on the lack of diversity among CBC staff, citing an internal company survey taken between 2011 and March 2016 showing that about 90% of its employees were white.
In June, the union’s Joint Employment Equity Committee published a bulletin stating that over the previous year, the CBC had renewed its commitment to equitable hiring practices — and crediting the CANADALAND article with sparking the conversation.
The piece “exposed years of virtual inaction,” wrote the CMG, and led CBC staff “from across the country” to send a pair of letters to CBC president Hubert Lacroix and CBC News editor-in-chief Jennifer McGuire demanding changes in hiring practices.
Read the full story here.
In June, the union’s Joint Employment Equity Committee published a bulletin stating that over the previous year, the CBC had renewed its commitment to equitable hiring practices — and crediting the CANADALAND article with sparking the conversation.
The piece “exposed years of virtual inaction,” wrote the CMG, and led CBC staff “from across the country” to send a pair of letters to CBC president Hubert Lacroix and CBC News editor-in-chief Jennifer McGuire demanding changes in hiring practices.
Read the full story here.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix thinks the CBC's business model is broken ....
CBC president defends ad-free proposal, asks Ottawa for $400M to 'unshackle' broadcaster.
Hubert Lacroix thinks the CBC's business model is broken.
Broken means that even if the current federal government has reinvested $75 million for the first year and $150 million for the next four, those dollars do not allow us, over time, to actually fix the issues that are about ensuring that we can continue giving services to Canadians, as Canadians expect.
Read the full interview here.
Hubert Lacroix thinks the CBC's business model is broken.
Broken means that even if the current federal government has reinvested $75 million for the first year and $150 million for the next four, those dollars do not allow us, over time, to actually fix the issues that are about ensuring that we can continue giving services to Canadians, as Canadians expect.
Read the full interview here.
Open letter to the CBC in response to "Medicare Schmedicare"
When I first read about the CBC decision not to air the Tommy Douglas documentary, I could see a certain logic to that position, though I didn’t agree with it.
Your subsequent decision to run “Medicare Schmedicare” is worse than irrational and incoherent. It is an utter repudiation of your very reason for existence: a voice for the public interest, across the whole country, and for the majority of the public.
The CBC owes Canadians better balance, and it can’t come soon enough. You have an obligation to reflect the public interest as it affects all citizens. That includes those who have fewer choices by virtue of their earning power, and who have so much to lose.
Read the full letter here.
Your subsequent decision to run “Medicare Schmedicare” is worse than irrational and incoherent. It is an utter repudiation of your very reason for existence: a voice for the public interest, across the whole country, and for the majority of the public.
The CBC owes Canadians better balance, and it can’t come soon enough. You have an obligation to reflect the public interest as it affects all citizens. That includes those who have fewer choices by virtue of their earning power, and who have so much to lose.
Read the full letter here.
CBC being irresponsible
CBC is getting in the op-ed game. But every dollar it spends on having someone explain the news is another it doesn’t have to pay someone to actually go and find it
Coming this fall to CBC.ca is an opinion vertical, a space devoted exclusively to commentary and analysis of the day’s news.
As with almost anything the CBC tries, this shift has already drawn criticism. The most consistent has come from media circles, a variation on a common theme against most of CBC’s digital properties – that they have an unfair advantage over their competitors. With the sort of stable funding most media organizations can only dream of, the argument goes, the CBC’s ability to give both writers and advertisers a major national platform makes it much, much harder for smaller, independent news organizations to find a foothold, much less grow to stable size.
That is a point you could pretty easily level against the entire CBC apparatus, if you were so inclined. The whole discussion, though, is bit of a canard. Embedded within it, is a far more salient point, albeit one that is trickier to parse out. Namely that, in this media climate, it is irresponsible for the CBC to be offering commentary and opinion, particularly when it is doing so out of its own news budget.
Read the full story here.
Coming this fall to CBC.ca is an opinion vertical, a space devoted exclusively to commentary and analysis of the day’s news.
As with almost anything the CBC tries, this shift has already drawn criticism. The most consistent has come from media circles, a variation on a common theme against most of CBC’s digital properties – that they have an unfair advantage over their competitors. With the sort of stable funding most media organizations can only dream of, the argument goes, the CBC’s ability to give both writers and advertisers a major national platform makes it much, much harder for smaller, independent news organizations to find a foothold, much less grow to stable size.
That is a point you could pretty easily level against the entire CBC apparatus, if you were so inclined. The whole discussion, though, is bit of a canard. Embedded within it, is a far more salient point, albeit one that is trickier to parse out. Namely that, in this media climate, it is irresponsible for the CBC to be offering commentary and opinion, particularly when it is doing so out of its own news budget.
Read the full story here.
CBC to appeal another defamation judgment
The Globe and Mail recently carried a story by Margaret Wente about two defamation judgments against the fifth estate,most recently one by Mr. Justice Douglas Cunningham of the Ontario Superior Court.
The CBC has filed notice that it will appeal this judgment, which could have a dramatic effect on Canadian journalism.
Our story, The Heart of the Matter, dealt with Health Canada's Health Protection Branch and questions about a medication called nifedipine. It followed previous fifth estate stories about questionable practices at the Branch.
No one from Health Canada or the drug's manufacturers sued the CBC, although the program focused on them. The two doctors who did sue came into the story only because of their participation at a Health Canada committee meeting.
Read the full story here.
The CBC has filed notice that it will appeal this judgment, which could have a dramatic effect on Canadian journalism.
Our story, The Heart of the Matter, dealt with Health Canada's Health Protection Branch and questions about a medication called nifedipine. It followed previous fifth estate stories about questionable practices at the Branch.
No one from Health Canada or the drug's manufacturers sued the CBC, although the program focused on them. The two doctors who did sue came into the story only because of their participation at a Health Canada committee meeting.
Read the full story here.
Non-profit company suing CBC
A non-profit preventive medicine company founded by Calgary Flames co-owner Allan Markin is suing the CBC for what it claims is a series of defamatory articles.
Pure North S’Energy Foundation is seeking $6 million in damages from the national broadcaster and two of its reporters, Charles Rusnell and Jennie Russell.
In its statement of claim, filed in Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench, True North says it has repeatedly asked the CBC to remove from the Internet what it says are inaccurate articles.
“Pure North has repeatedly requested that the CBC change its reporting to publicize accurate facts, and Pure North has supported its request with multiple pieces of scientific research and practice guidelines for medical practitioners which supports Pure North’s practices and operations.
“But CBC has refused to retract, correct, or apologize for its inaccurate reporting which it continues to publish on the Internet.”
Read the full story here.
Pure North S’Energy Foundation is seeking $6 million in damages from the national broadcaster and two of its reporters, Charles Rusnell and Jennie Russell.
In its statement of claim, filed in Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench, True North says it has repeatedly asked the CBC to remove from the Internet what it says are inaccurate articles.
“Pure North has repeatedly requested that the CBC change its reporting to publicize accurate facts, and Pure North has supported its request with multiple pieces of scientific research and practice guidelines for medical practitioners which supports Pure North’s practices and operations.
“But CBC has refused to retract, correct, or apologize for its inaccurate reporting which it continues to publish on the Internet.”
Read the full story here.
CBC’s Marketplace apologizes
CBC-TV’s Marketplace is apologizing for errors in an episode about supplements and vitamins.
The apology comes in a lengthy post on CBC’s website and Facebook page.
Marketplace says it relied on a Michigan lab to test samples of a popular vitamin C product and several protein powders last summer.
The current affairs show was trying to test the accuracy of the manufacturers’ claims and found the vitamin and protein content to be lacking.
But “Marketplace” now says “the lab got some of the results wrong.”
The show says it apologizes to the companies involved, as well as viewers.
See the full story here.
The apology comes in a lengthy post on CBC’s website and Facebook page.
Marketplace says it relied on a Michigan lab to test samples of a popular vitamin C product and several protein powders last summer.
The current affairs show was trying to test the accuracy of the manufacturers’ claims and found the vitamin and protein content to be lacking.
But “Marketplace” now says “the lab got some of the results wrong.”
The show says it apologizes to the companies involved, as well as viewers.
See the full story here.
CBC Criticized By CRTC Chairman
Jean-Pierre Blais spared no criticism of the government and the communications industry Tuesday in his final speech as chairman of Canada’s telecom and broadcast regulator, blasting both for trying to preserve the status quo despite the disruptive force of broadband.
Blais went out with a bang, lobbing barbs at wireless providers, cabinet, Minister of Cultural Heritage Mélanie Joly, media creators, broadcasters and the CBC during the lengthy address.
As for the CBC, he said it plays a critical role in providing trustworthy information in the digital space, but should focus on news instead of commentary and “stop chasing clicks.”
Read the full story here.
Blais went out with a bang, lobbing barbs at wireless providers, cabinet, Minister of Cultural Heritage Mélanie Joly, media creators, broadcasters and the CBC during the lengthy address.
As for the CBC, he said it plays a critical role in providing trustworthy information in the digital space, but should focus on news instead of commentary and “stop chasing clicks.”
Read the full story here.
CBC Direction Questioned
In 2014, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation released a five-year plan entitled
A Space For Us All. The plan outlined a bold new vision for the Canadian public broadcaster,
placing digital mobile content at the forefront of the corporation’s priorities.
This article examines the shifting priorities of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation against established principles of public broadcasting. It also interrogates the relationship between mobile digital media and legal obligations of the public broadcaster under current Canadian broadcasting regulation.
Drawing upon Canadian broadcasting history, contemporary data and recent examples from sport and politics in Canada, the article questions this new direction for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and argues that despite the significant new opportunities in mobile digital media, traditional broadcasting methods remain the dominant tool to reach mass audiences and will provide a significant forum for public information and debate for the foreseeable future.
Read the complete article here.
This article examines the shifting priorities of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation against established principles of public broadcasting. It also interrogates the relationship between mobile digital media and legal obligations of the public broadcaster under current Canadian broadcasting regulation.
Drawing upon Canadian broadcasting history, contemporary data and recent examples from sport and politics in Canada, the article questions this new direction for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and argues that despite the significant new opportunities in mobile digital media, traditional broadcasting methods remain the dominant tool to reach mass audiences and will provide a significant forum for public information and debate for the foreseeable future.
Read the complete article here.
CBC is secretive and misleading
CBC claims to be open, transparent and accountable for the $1 billion dollars in taxpayers' money it receives. The $1 billion is spent on English and French radio and TV and miscellaneous other services.
If more funding is needed to serve Canadian audiences, especially in TV, CBC needs to be far more transparent about how it spends its money and explain more convincingly why more dollars are required. The problem: CBC is too secretive and misleading.
Read the full story here.
If more funding is needed to serve Canadian audiences, especially in TV, CBC needs to be far more transparent about how it spends its money and explain more convincingly why more dollars are required. The problem: CBC is too secretive and misleading.
Read the full story here.
CBC Sports on the brink of extinction
CBC Sports, once a vital department, is now on the brink of extinction.
The conventional wisdom is this latest bloodbath — the third major staff reduction in five years — was precipitated by the loss of Hockey Night in Canada, the venerable franchise Rogers will control starting this fall.
The truth is, existential threats have been gathering like storm clouds over the CBC for more than a decade, especially in the fiercely competitive arena of sports media.
It’s easy to forget the Grey Cup was broadcast on the CBC for more than a quarter century until TSN gained control in 2008. That was the same year TSN assumed coverage of the Brier and Scotties in curling.
In 2015, Bell Media becomes the exclusive Canadian broadcaster of the FIFA World Cup. Since 2007, CBC Sports has lost the Toronto Raptors, Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto FC and, after Thursday, any hope for long-term survival.
There is a reason Brian Williams, once the face of CBC Sports, jumped to TSN.
Read the full story here.
The conventional wisdom is this latest bloodbath — the third major staff reduction in five years — was precipitated by the loss of Hockey Night in Canada, the venerable franchise Rogers will control starting this fall.
The truth is, existential threats have been gathering like storm clouds over the CBC for more than a decade, especially in the fiercely competitive arena of sports media.
It’s easy to forget the Grey Cup was broadcast on the CBC for more than a quarter century until TSN gained control in 2008. That was the same year TSN assumed coverage of the Brier and Scotties in curling.
In 2015, Bell Media becomes the exclusive Canadian broadcaster of the FIFA World Cup. Since 2007, CBC Sports has lost the Toronto Raptors, Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto FC and, after Thursday, any hope for long-term survival.
There is a reason Brian Williams, once the face of CBC Sports, jumped to TSN.
Read the full story here.
CBC’s Ombudsman Reminds CBC News That Its Job Is Journalism, Not Opinion
Esther Enkin, CBC’s Ombudsman, has just reminded CBC News that the job of CBC’s journalists is …. journalism, not opinion-making.
Enkin was responding to a formal complaint from a CBC.ca reader about what he felt were “inflammatory & divisive & discriminatory” comments that CBC journalist Neil Macdonald recently made about Donald Trump’s supporters.
In her formal opinion, the Ombudsman makes it clear that “expressing opinion is prohibited by CBC policy” and that Macdonald’s remarks read “like opinion” and were “unnecessary in the context of this piece.”
Read the full story here.
Enkin was responding to a formal complaint from a CBC.ca reader about what he felt were “inflammatory & divisive & discriminatory” comments that CBC journalist Neil Macdonald recently made about Donald Trump’s supporters.
In her formal opinion, the Ombudsman makes it clear that “expressing opinion is prohibited by CBC policy” and that Macdonald’s remarks read “like opinion” and were “unnecessary in the context of this piece.”
Read the full story here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)