The case for making CBC ad free — a true public broadcaster

While a number of recommendations made by the federal Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislation Review (BTLR) panel continue to be eviscerated for their contemplated invasion of the internet, it’s worth pointing out that there are also some pretty good ideas proposed in that report.

Most compelling is the idea of weaning the CBC off advertising revenue and, over the next five years, having it convert itself into a true public broadcaster on all its platforms.

Currently, the CBC offers its radio services free from advertising. Radio One is particularly popular, typically ranking at or near the top of drive show ratings in most if not all major cities.

According to their most recent submission to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), CBC/Radio Canada brings in about $300 million in advertising. A great deal of that advertising appears to be of the bargain basement variety, particularly on CBC Newsnet.

Even this revenue appears to be in a state of irreversible decline. The response to that by the CBC, naturally, is to seek foreign programming to build audiences in the most desired advertising markets such as the GTA. At which point sensible people throw their hands in the air and wonder: what, then, is the actual point of the CBC?

So, as the BTLR panel suggests, wean the CBC off advertising dollars over the next five years, by all means, caveats applying.

The first is that the money the CBC loses should be replaced by a similar amount — less the cost savings incurred by eliminating its advertising department. This should — combined with the five-year commitment — give it a stable amount of indexed funding and avoid any distress.

Next is that, similar to the BBC, it should be allowed to earn online revenue from its websites when they are viewed outside of Canada and through foreign distribution of any programming that it produces or co-produces. Both of these provide incentives for the production of quality programming without distorting domestic decisionmaking and the blurred lines between public service and commercial operation that seem to have so bedevilled it in recent decades.

The fixed five-year funding terms should — if not eliminate — at least mitigate questions regarding whether all or parts of the Corp’s annual allocation depends on good — or depending on your point of view, bad — journalistic behaviour.

Other recommendations regarding mandate, de-specifying references to which platforms the public broadcaster is to operate upon and the composition of its board (mandate regional representation and political diversity please) are generally non-contentious.

One that is questionable involves the call for the CRTC to adopt the role of “overseeing all of (the CBC’s) contentrelated activities.” Given the CBC’s traditional hesitation to contemplate the CRTC as its master, this looks unlikely to be an idea that ends well.

The clearly more appropriate governance model is for the CBC board to be the one holding its executives to account for the performance of the broadcaster/content distributor as it seeks to achieve its mandate. If the CBC is to be judged by political appointees, better it be the ones appointed specifically to do so.

But other than that, the BTLR panel — battered as it must feel — deserves a tip of the hat for some helpful advice regarding how to make the CBC a truly public broadcaster.

Peter Menzies is a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and a former CRTC vice chair of telecommunications. His opinions are always his own.