Saying it faces a “financial crisis,” CBC/Radio-Canada will not proceed with its television drama strategy or proposed HDTV transition if “additional new funding” is not provided by the federal government, according to the CBC’s five-year Corporate Plan, released this week.
     For the past five years, the CBC has relied on annual $60 million grants, but those grants have always been disbursed as special “one time only” payments. “If this funding is not made permanent,” the Plan states, “Cuts will have to be made to existing services. In the absence of additional new funding, several initiatives will not be able to proceed as planned. In particular, CBC Television’s drama strategy, the proposed HDTV transition, and the regional expansion plan all require additional funding.”
     The CBC also stated that it plans to ask the Minister of Finance to let it take loans out to enhance its ability to meet its mandate. According to the Broadcasting Act, the Corporation can borrow up to $25 million dollars, provided the projects funded generate enough revenue to achieve a positive rate of return.
     In addition, over the next five years, the CBC says it plans to:

• Add full-length regional morning and afternoon shows on CBC Radio One in Kitchener, Red Deer, Hamilton, Barrie, Kingston, Nanaimo, Kelowna, Chilliwack, Saskatoon, Peterborough, Cranbrook, and Kamloops.

• Explore the viability of establishing a foundation to which Canadians could offer direct financial support to key CBC|Radio-Canada programming initiatives
• Commission drama series based first upon research about what “specific audience segments” want to see on television
• Focus on comedy and performing arts, commissioning three new half-hour comedy series
• Program television using emerging forms of narrative, including single-camera shooting, mockumentaries, and animation for adults.
• Revitalise Canada Now, its national-regional supper hour news program, by increasing coordination and cooperation between the regional programs

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	Drama, Financial