Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
There are over 30 million people in this country. How many are really watching those shows and how many really benefit from it? Road to Avonlea could be the greatest show ever made but if only 2% of the population is watching it what's the benefit to taxpayers as a whole propping it up?
|
The benefits to taxpayers are that there is a chance to watch quality television on a Canadian station (where you would watch commercials from Canadian companies rather than US companies); the Canadian artists can develop their talents freely rather than trying to emulate the formulaic crap that is much of US TV; the Canadian viewers can watch shows that are relevant to them; the Canadian taxpayer can benefit from the shows being filmed in Canada, the actors/cameramen/writers/producers/stuntmen/etc. being employed in Canada; etc., etc., etc..
I agree that it would be preferable if people would quit watching the crap on a lot of the main US networks and watch more "quality Canadian" television, but I don't think that pulling the plug on CBC will accomplish that. I also don't think that it helps when the Government of Canada (oops, the Harper Government, I forgot that this taxpayer supported entity took "Canada" out of their name) continually insults and belittles the CBC for political purposes.