Country would lose at least $1.3-billion if government privatizes CBC: report

[Azure]

What would Canada lose if the government privatized the CBC? At least $1.3-billion in economic activity, says a report prepared for the public broadcaster by Deloitte & Touche.

With the same analytical method used to measure the value of the BBC to the British economy, the accounting firm provided the CBC with a clearer gauge of the broadcaster’s impact on the Canadian production industry and greater economy.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle2061938/

I thought the CBC was loosing money every year?

[Nage Waza]

I don't care if we get rid of them and we lose money...they have been badmouthing the west for too long.

[Frank MetaMusil]

I don't care if they lose 10 billion, so long as Hugson, Simpson, and Healy get canned.

[afc wimbledon]

You cannot draw any comparisons between the importance of the BBC, its export market for television, the breaking of actors and writers into the film industry etc, its dominance of the radio market especially in contempory music where most UK bands over the last 40 years were broken out by the BBC to some degree or other.

The CBC would frankly barely be missed in Canada if it closed down tommorow.

[Jacks]

CBC: If you privatize us it'll cost about a billion dollars .... now give us our billion dollar subsidy for this year please.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

You cannot draw any comparisons between the importance of the BBC, its export market for television, the breaking of actors and writers into the film industry etc, its dominance of the radio market especially in contempory music where most UK bands over the last 40 years were broken out by the BBC to some degree or other.

The CBC would frankly barely be missed in Canada if it closed down tommorow.

If you love the BBC that much, .......................... you git.

[Yasa]

The CBC needs to stop being satisfied with mediocre television and production value. They seem to have this mentality that everything needs to be overly Canadian in order for Canadians to enjoy it. There's nothing wrong with making them take place in Canadian cities, but it seems every show tells us how Canadian they are every 15 seconds. Then there's the HNiC theme, commentators and intro graphics. They are just lame. Take some chances, learn to compete and be proud of putting out a good product, not satisfied with adequate.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

If you love the BBC that much, .......................... you git.

Recognising that the BBC is one of the few non american broadcast networks that exports product around the world is hardly an admission of love.
I seem to recall the beachcombers got aired outside of Canada back in the day, but mostly CBC is a purely internal network.

[Slava]

It's not my thing, but Little Mosque on the Prairie went all around the world as well. I don't really get the disdain for CBC...people like George Strombolopolous (or however you spell it), Rick Mercer, Mary Walsh and Roger Abbott are all products of CBC. Programs like This Hour (in it's day), Kids in the Hall, never would've made onto another network, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be produced.

CBC gives talented Canadians a chance to shine and that is worth funding IMO.

[YYC in LAX]

Originally Posted by slava

it's not my thing, but little mosque on the prairie went all around the world as well. I don't really get the disdain for cbc...people like george strombolopolous (or however you spell it), rick mercer, mary walsh and roger abbott are all products of cbc. Programs like this hour (in it's day), kids in the hall, never would've made onto another network, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be produced.

Cbc gives semi-talented, Liberal canadians a chance to shine and that is worth funding imo.

fyp

[Slava]

Why does it have to turn political?^

[YYC in LAX]

Originally Posted by Slava

Why does it have to turn political?^

WHY? Are you seriously asking me that? Because many Western Canadians dislike CBC because of its Liberal bias. This topic is heavily politically weighted.

[troutman]

CBC Radio is the bomb.

[mykalberta]

There is no chance Cons privatize CBC durring this political mandate anyway.

While I am not a fan of the CBC, I dont think privatizing it is the way to go. I just wish their reporting would be a smidge less bias, if need be hire some descent broadcasters from somewhere else who dont have their own personal opinions and agendas at play.

For the election coverage they were better than CTV IMO.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by YYC in LAX

WHY? Are you seriously asking me that? Because many Western Canadians dislike CBC because of its Liberal bias. This topic is heavily politically weighted.

Just to be clear, there are also many MANY Western Canadians that are grown-up, intelligent, and can see through the occasional bit of Liberal bias while enjoying the almost countless benefits of the CBC.

CBC has (without question) the best National News coverage, solid local news coverage, the BEST comprehensive sports coverage imaginable, a number of excellent variety shows, and top quality radio coverage. Just to make it even more impressive, it's all Canadian focused content, provided coast-to-coast in two completely different languages.

A person would have to be pretty insecure in their beliefs to be fearful of the CBC's big, bad, left-wing bias.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

A person would have to be pretty insecure in their beliefs to be fearful of the CBC's big, bad, left-wing bias.

You don't have to be afraid of something to be disinclined to pay money for it.

[WilsonFourTwo]

^ Understood.

I made a fairly straightforward argument why the CBC is valuable to ALL Canadians, despite an occasional bias.

I would love to hear a similar argument from the other side of the issue, but that hasn't happened yet. The argument is typically "Lefty Bias Sucks! Peter Mansbridge is a Commie!" with little or no substance.

As a Conservative that LOVES the CBC, I have a hard time understanding that opinion.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

I made a fairly straightforward argument why the CBC is valuable to ALL Canadians, despite an occasional bias.

I guess you could call it "occasional"- seeing as they don't show show bias during the Rollie Ollie Pollie show; and some commercials.

I also think the CBC could have greater value if they were a lot less biased. Especially during the first rounds of the playoffs with the election around the corner. All I wanted to do is watch hockey; not listen to them tell me how Ignatief would be the best Prime Minister ever.

[transplant99]

I have to wonder why any modern and technologically advanced nation like Canada even needs to entertain the thought of a government subsidized media chain.

The CBC served a purpose at one time in that they reached almost all of canada when those remote areas had nothing else to inform and entertain them. those days are long long long gone.

It just serves no purpose any longer. Any decent talent/show/whatever will still find a place on the TV or radio dials as good content makes money. I do know that the number of the farcicly bad programs produced by CBC and supported by taxpayer dollars exponentially outweighs the good things they do these days...and its been that way for many years now.

I dunno...I guess I just cant grasp any reason to keep it around beyond an outlet for a very very small group of canadian actors/writers etc to show their craft.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

^I would love to hear a similar argument from the other side of the issue, but that hasn't happened yet.

I'll give it a shot. I'm a conservative who does appreciate/support the arts (regular seats at the CPO, etc).

I truly believe that the vast majority of the things of value the CBC produces would get picked up by private broadcasters, or continued without gov't support by a privatized CBC. In such a case, we'd get the same benefits without paying the substantial cost of the CBC.

I'll go through the benefits you've listed.

1) The best national news coverage:
This is kind of a tough one, since that's pretty subjective. The other networks already provide national news coverage, and IMO they did a better job covering the election, especially on election night itself. This one area where the bias is a problem, and I'd love to see what a privatized CBC would do here. Maybe there is a market for left-wing biased news in Canada, and I don't have an issue with that. But I don't want to pay gov't subsidies for it.

2) Solid local news coverage.
Sure, but why are we paying for something we can get in similar quality from the private sector at no public cost. It's hard to argue the CBC provides better local news than the other channels. It's local election coverage here in Calgary was borderline non-existant. The (private) shaw channel did a much better job.

3) Best comprehensive sports coverage
There is so much competition here that this would mostly/completely get picked up privately. HNIC would stay, as would baseball and the CFL. The CBC has to bid outlandish sums of money to get the Olympics, so we'd still get that coverage as well. The huge number of specialty sports channels looking for content means current CBC events would have no trouble finding a home.

4) Variety shows.
I'm not sure what exactly you're referring to here (is it 22 minutes or George Stroumboulopoulos?) but I'm quite certain a privatized CBC would keep these, and similar type programming could/would be provided privately. This is an area where (if it's important to Canadians) it could be mandated through CRTC requirements. That at least wouldn't come at a direct cost to the taxpayer. I have a feeling we'll see more Canadian content move this way, as it's much cheaper than producing other types of shows, like scripted dramas.

5) Radio coverage
The CRTC currently limits (dramatically) the number of radio licenses in a given market, to prevent new entrants from infringing on the markets of the existing stations. Keeping the CBC to add variety is trying to solve a problem created by excessive gov't intervention with more gov't intervention. (...then we'll bring in snakes!)

If the CRTC got out of the way, we'd have a variety of additional stations catering to niche markets. There's plently of spectrum available.

I guess the "straightforward" thrust of my argument is that all of the value we get from the CBC we would or could be getting without it, which makes it's cost redundant. Since the cost is significant, we'd be better off without it. The money saved could then be used on deficit reduction, or tax cuts once the economy turns around.