CBC to destroy broadcast archives once digitized

OTTAWA — A charitable group dedicated to preserving the country’s broadcasting heritage is calling on the CBC to stop destroying original television and radio broadcast materials as it moves to digitize the content.

The Canadian Broadcast Museum Foundation says the public broadcaster’s English service earlier this month began destroying acetate transcriptions, as well as audio and video recordings that span eight decades, after converting the master copies into a digital format.

The foundation asked the CBC earlier this year for time to find a suitable space to archive and preserve the material, but says it was turned down.

It notes that Radio-Canada, the public broadcaster’s Frenchlanguage service, intends to retain its master recordings after making digital copies.

The CBC acknowledges it started this month to destroy original recordings that had been converted and would continue to do so until the end of June.

But a spokesperson for the broadcaster says it was being done only after the content was digitized under its own, strict archiving guidelines.

“Our focus is on preservation of content and if we do not digitize this content, it will be lost,” said Chuck Thompson, head of public affairs for CBC English Services.

The foundation planned to store the CBC’s archival content in the decommissioned underground NORAD base in North Bay, but it couldn’t meet a March 31 deadline earlier this year to transfer the materials and asked Heritage Minister Melanie Joly to delay destruction.