The future looks bleak for the CBC as we know it. The public broadcaster is facing a 12 per cent ($115 million) cut in its government funding and, two years down the road, the probable loss of the television service's flagship Hockey Night in Canada, which brings in about half the corporation's advertising revenue and provides about 400 hours a year of "Canadian content," a hole which will have to be filled.
Though the revenue shortfall will be most evident in the television service, CBC Radio will inevitably have to share in the pain as management scours the corporation for ways to cut costs.
In late January, a small team gleaned from the ranks of Vancouver-based citizens' organizations OpenMedia.ca and Leadnow.ca took the wraps off an exciting new project called Reimagine CBC. The goal was simple, but ambitious: to spark a massive brainstorm on the future of public media in Canada by asking Canadians how the CBC, as a public broadcaster, could be reimagined as a leader in participatory, innovative and engaging media production.
Though the CBC is far from perfect, I have heard news, deeply alarming, that the Harper government is looking at cutting all funding to the CBC. This was floated by MP Dean Del Mastro on November 23rd. He's the Heritage Minister's parliamentary secretary. James Moore, the Heritage Minister, then failed to deny that these plans are in the works.
