Several ministers debated an opposition motion for bridge financing and additional funding to the CBC Tuesday in the House of Commons.

“We are now going to see cuts that are so deep that there’s no coming back from,” Charlie Angus, the NDP’s heritage critic said.

The motion, which included recommendations for additional funding, is here.

The motion was carried 136 to 126. That doesn’t mean that the CBC will receive more money, it was an non-binding opposition motion – simply a gesture of support from parliamentarians.

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	Parliament	Posted at 10:58 am (31 Mar 2009)

Conway Fraser, a CBC Radio producer, warns that news coverage in the Sudbury area will be seriously affected by the layoffs.

Fraser and his colleagues protested the cuts on Friday in front of the CBC’s local office.

Fully half of the Sudbury staff are facing layoffs. The final decision on how deep the cuts will be won’t be made until the retirement incentive package runs its course. 

Fraser told the Northern News “he felt as if he had been punched in the stomach,” when he heard about the cuts.

“We kind of thought our share would be a position or two based on the proportion,” he said.

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	Layoffs, North	Posted at 7:38 am (31 Mar 2009)

On the heels of the layoff announcements last week, a petition started at Avaaz to save the CBC.

To date 58,449 people have signed up. The petition reads:

Petition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper: The CBC and Radio Canada are a national treasure, and play a vital role in our culture. We urgently call on you to grant the CBC’s request for a bridge loan to cover its budget shortfall this year, and commit your government to supporting our public broadcasters.

A similar group has also formed on Facebook, the group page says they’ve signed up over a thousand members in the last 48 hours.

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	Asides	Posted at 12:59 pm (30 Mar 2009)

Heritage Minister James Moore confirmed today that the CBC would be receiving the $60 million in annual funding that it has received each year since 2001.

“Yeah, the CBC will be receiving their full allocation, including the $60 million for programming,” Moore said in response to a question from Suhana Meharchand this afternoon. The status of the funding has been up in the air since the federal budget was tabled in January.

The minister also suggested that the government is willing to work in collaboration with CBC/Radio-Canada when it comes to the sale of up to $125 million in assets to help offset next year’s budget shortfall.  The sale of assets requires Cabinet approval.

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	Parliament	Posted at 5:05 pm (26 Mar 2009)

Richard Stursberg, vice-president of CBC English Services, started the town hall meeting on a bitter-sweet note saying “all the work we’ve been doing is actually working.”

“Things are working very well for us. Radio’s share is at an all-time high. Television is doing very well… cbc.ca’s growth is accelerating,” he said.

Nevertheless “we are going to take 400 jobs out of English Services, that’s approximately 10 per cent,” of the workforce he said. Most departments at the CBC, with the exception of CBC.ca, are seeing cuts of some sort.

Stursberg explained the strategy behind the cuts is to try to maintain our success and to avoid “making the future hostage to the present difficulties,” he said.

Specifically some the cuts are:

-On CBC Radio Inside Track, Outfront, The Point, In the Key of Charles and the weekend edition of The Signal are to be cancelled;
-There will be attempts to consolidate parts of Radio 3;
-Smaller regional stations will see cuts that vary;
-The daytime Living programs will be cancelled;
-The one-off TV shows like ‘Test the Nation’ won’t be produced;
-The Border, Being Erica, Little Mosque on the Prairie will have fewer episodes;
-Digital Extensions of some shows will be reduced;
-About 80 jobs will be cut from news, the specific cuts are not finalized;
-The Fifth Estate and Marketplace will face budget reductions;
-Media sales and marketing will see about 22 jobs cut;
-Closure of one-person bureaus in La Ronge, SK, and Thompson, MB;
-Reduced staffing in: Windsor, Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Quebec City, Moncton, Saint John, Sydney, Corner Brook, Labrador, Gander and Grand Falls, NL;
-Reduction or elimination of some sports programming;
-Communications, management, and a number of other department will also see some cuts.

“This is a really horrid situation.” Stursberg said. “It’s a very big cut… I don’t think we can underestimate the severity of what is happening.”

The question and answer period after the announcements sometimes became heated as Stursberg took off his jacket and defended a number of questions about further cuts to the Fifth Estate and Marketplace. 

Others implored CBC employees to maintain solidarity, the situation forces us to ask “what are we all prepared to do?” one employee asked.

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	Layoffs, The Media Landscape	Posted at 2:10 pm (26 Mar 2009)

Some details are starting to emerge about the cost-cutting measures announced yesterday.

• The Current will have their budget cut by 10 per cent;
• In Windsor, the French radio morning show and Saturday show will be cancelled, to be replaced by regional inserts into  Toronto programming;
• Overnight French network music programming currently produced out of Windsor, Edmonton and Vancouver will be eliminated;
• French Regional radio noon shows will be replaced by a new national show – it’s not yet known where this program will originate;
• On the French Services TV side, the regional noon news program out of Ottawa will be cancelled;
• The French supper-hour regional Téléjournal program will be reduced from 60 minutes to 30 for the summer season The program Zeste will be put on hiatus.

I should say none of this has been verified, and it’s coming from various sources. I’m sure there will be more details shortly.

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	Labour/CBC Unions	Posted at 12:33 pm (26 Mar 2009)

CBC executives updated staff this morning about the state of CBC finances, announcing 800 layoffs.

“I wish I could be standing here in better circumstances,” CBC President Hubert Lacroix said, but “these are tough times for the public broadcaster.” He said, “we need $171 million to balance our budget, which will mean 800 positions.”

The plan is to raise about $125 million through the sale of assets he said. It’s based on the assumption that the government will allow the CBC to keep the proceeds of those sales. But even with those sales, balancing the books “still results in 800 positions,” Lacroix said.

Lacroix also said that the most senior managers would see a minimum 20 per cent reduction in take home pay, through bonus cutbacks, and the corporate level will face a five per cent cut across the board.

The layoffs would start over the summer months, and finish by the beginning of September.

Richard Strusberg, Vice-President of English Services, said “We’re going to have to cut as many as 400 people,” in English Services. He said he wants to maintain Radio One’s and Radio Two’s share without introducing advertising on radio. He also doesn’t want to lose the gains made in English Television or online. Another 363 cuts will come on the French side, and 70 corporate service positions.

But English television will feel the cuts slightly more than English radio, however “the beef of the schedule remains largely intact,” he said.  “About 20 per cent” of the cuts will fall on the regions Stursberg added. The rest will come from the network.

Canadian Media Guild’s president Lise Lareau blamed the layoffs on the federal government. “At a time when Ottawa is supposed to be providing stimulus to the Canadian economy and ensuring that people maintain employment, cutting 800 jobs is the wrong approach to take.”

Tomorrow all of the managers will meet with the areas that are effected, “but it will be impossible to say exactly who will go and who will stay,” Stursberg said because of the uncertainty about the voluntary retirement package and how many people might take them.

Another town hall for English services will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m.

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	Layoffs, The Media Landscape	Posted at 10:36 am (25 Mar 2009)

CBC President Hubert Lacroix just sent this out:

Join the Senior Executive Team and me on Wednesday, March 25 at 11:45 a.m. ET for an overview of our financial situation, strategy and the changes to come.  This presentation will be high-level and strategic, rather than operational. You can expect your Vice-Presidents and their management teams to start rolling out specific operational announcements within 24 hours of this briefing with more information about how the changes relate to your component specifically.

If you can’t make it in person, you can watch it on internal TV, dial in, or watch a feed on the intranet. Communications will send out the details shortly.

Gulp.

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		Posted at 12:28 pm (24 Mar 2009)

Greg Gutfeld, the host of a Fox News show that mocked Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan and the Canadian military has apologized, saying his segment was misunderstood. 

The segment appeared on the internet over the weekend following the deaths of four soldiers in Afghanistan. Below is The National’s coverage from last night, a story from cbc.ca is here. 

The apology was issued after Defence Minister Peter MacKay demanded one yesterday.

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	Asides	Posted at 7:29 am (24 Mar 2009)

Over the last few weeks the CBC has received a ton of criticism and attention in the media, culminating with Heritage Minister James Moore’s comments from last week that the CBC should “stop chasing revenues and eyeballs.”

On Saturday, Kirstine Layfield, the executive director of programming for CBC Television, responded to some of the criticism.

People say the CBC is chasing eyeballs. Personally, I have never met an eyeball. I have met Canadians from across our great country who have eyes — and ears and hearts and minds. They have a thirst to understand their world from a Canadian perspective and a desire to hear their own stories and music. This is the audience of the CBC.

Layfield also addressed some of funding issues, ratings, and competition with the privates. Her full comment is here. It’s worth a read.

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	Executives, Media Coverage	Posted at 10:45 am (23 Mar 2009)

The announcement that the CBC will freeze executives salaries and cut executive bonuses in half has not gone over well with CBC staffers.

“This means that the compensation for each of our eighty or so top managers will on average be reduced by 10 to 20 per cent next year,” CBC President Hubert Lacroix wrote on Wednesday.

Lise Lareau, president of the Canadian Media Guild, told the Globe the clawback “rang the wrong way” to many people. Most CBC staffers don’t receive performance and incentive bonuses, “What’s a bonus?” a commentator on this blog asked. ”You remember that time there was half a sandwich left in that boardroom and you got to it first? That was your 2008 bonus,” another replied. 

The reaction was covered in a story by the Canadian Press last night.

CBC spokesman Marco Dube explained that cutting the bonuses and freezing salaries will save the about $1 million this year. Based on those figures, even if the bonuses were eliminated entirely the savings wouldn’t likely amount to more that a couple million dollars a year, which would help, but it’s a long way from addressing a revenue shortfall that stands between $150 and $200 million.

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	Executives, Media Coverage	Posted at 8:18 am (20 Mar 2009)

In a note to staff last night CBC President Hubert Lacroix said the board of directors has approved a plan to sell “enough assets to finance our way through this without deeper cuts.”

Lacroix said he would provide an high-level update to staff on Wednesday March 25th, with specific announcements within 24 hours after that.

Nevertheless Lacroix did share a few specifics:

* No ads on radio;
* No more American programming on English TV;
* Executive salaries are frozen, bonus payouts are cut in half;
* New voluntary retirement incentives, aka a package.

Lacroix added that he will not comment on speculative stories that appear in media until the 25th and 26th in order to inform staff of any changes first.

The big question is what assets could the CBC sell to raise what’s expected to be around $200 million? Local stations don’t appear to be an option, there’s no appetite for that right now. Real Estate might have some assets, but I don’t know of any worth $200 million.

The president’s full memo is available to CBC staff here.

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	Board of Directors, Executives	Posted at 9:05 am (19 Mar 2009)

Heritage Minister James Moore confirmed yesterday the federal government is considering tax and regulatory changes to make the broadcasting environment “more forgiving” for private broadcasters.

The discussions seem to be focused on CanWest, which is flirting with bankruptcy. 

The CBC and private broadcaster have been lobbying the government for changes to the regulatory system that would allow the main networks to charge carriage fees. The cable channels already charge carriage fees. 

There’s more at the Globe’s site here.

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	The Media Landscape	Posted at 7:32 am (19 Mar 2009)

After a two-day meeting the CBC’s board of directors approved a budget that includes deep cuts in an attempt to grapple with a $200 million shortfall.

There were no further details about the size of the cutbacks. 

CBC President Hubert Lacroix said last month that the current shortfall could be as high as $145 million. Add to that another $60 million in annual funding from the federal government that was not in this year’s budget, and the shortfall ends up being over $200 million. That shortfall is more than 10 per cent of the entire CBC budget, and would represent significant cutbacks. 

Heritage Minister James Moore gave an interview to CBC Radio yesterday. He the CBC has some “difficult decisions to make in the near future.”

He also said when Canadians “turn on the CBC they expect to see Canadian drama, Canadian arts, Canadian kids programming, Canadian news and Canadian content, not American game shows.”

Moore also said he doesn’t favour adding commercials to CBC Radio. 

For an article from cbc.ca see here.

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	Executives, Layoffs, Parliament	Posted at 7:40 am (18 Mar 2009)

A new poll indicates half of Canadians support some emergency financial help for the CBC.

The Harris-Decima poll found that 50 per cent of Canadians were in favour of helping the CBC, while 41 per cent were opposed. The poll was conducted between March 12th and 15th.

Over the last several months CBC executives were considering asking the federal government for some sort of bridge financing to weather the recession. However the government recently indicated there will be no additional financing for the CBC, leading to speculation of large layoffs.

The CBC board of directors is currently wrapping up two days of meetings to decide what to do to balance the books. A series of meetings with senior management will follow later this week to outline the direction.

For more on the poll see here.

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	Board of Directors, The Media Landscape	Posted at 4:50 pm (17 Mar 2009)