CBC

[lovemondays]

The CBC has been in the news a great deal lately due to significant budget cuts and resulting layoffs.  The powers that be in Ottawa axed $115 million over 3 years in the 2012 budget.  Additionally, a $60 million fund for programming which was automatically renewed annually, will now be lumped in with the overall operating budget and therefore subject to annual shrinkage.  

For those non-Canadians, the CBC is a crown corporation (i.e. federally funded), that serves as the national broadcaster for both television and radio.  It proves news and programming in English, French and 8 (yup, eight) aboriginal languages daily.  The network's revenues are derived from federal monies, advertising and sponsorships.  The CBC took a massive hit to its advertising revenue when it lost the rights last year to broadcast "Hockey Night in Canada" to another network.  This week the CBC has announced that it will be cutting 657 jobs over 2 years with more likely to come.  Historically, the CBC has had difficulty attracting the key 25-54 age demographic that is key to attracting lucrative advertising $$.

Fortunately for us, Murdoch Mysteries is CBC's current top scripted show.  That means for now, CBC would be cutting off its nose to spite its face if it cancelled MM.  However, the budget cuts also mean that the network will not be able to increase the production budget for MM.  The CBC has announced its fall lineup and MM is firmly in place. 

[snacky]

Jun 1, 2014 23:33:40 GMT lovemondays said:

The CBC has been in the news a great deal lately due to significant budget cuts and resulting layoffs. 

For those non-Canadians, the CBC is a crown corporation (i.e. federally funded), that serves as the national broadcaster for both television and radio. The network's revenues are derived from federal monies, advertising and sponsorships. The CBC took a massive hit to its advertising revenue when it lost the rights last year to broadcast "Hockey Night in Canada" to another network. Historically, the CBC has had difficulty attracting the key 25-54 age demographic that is key to attracting lucrative advertising $$.
 
However, the budget cuts also mean that the network will not be able to increase the production budget for MM.  The CBC has announced its fall lineup and MM is firmly in place. 

This sounds like a late breaking wave of the "culture wars" that have been going on in the U.S. since the 1980s. Our conservatives have been steadily shrinking the budgets of, and actively trying to "de-fund" public arts organizations like the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, PBS (our public television station - no commercials, but in recent years it has begun to incorporate some business "sponsorship"), NPR (radio), etc. When I was in school I caught the distinct racist whiff of this effort: since scholarships and grants were being routed toward minorities, the deprived white males wanted to take away the endowments all together. This was disguised under an avalanche of complaints that the dismantling of the traditional "center" by "relativism" and "multiculturalism" meant there was no money for anyone.

Actually it's all been going into the pockets of the 1%, who don't vote in the taxes to fund these public organizations, so the money doesn't get redistributed back to organizations promoting the public good.

By the way, thank you for explaining how the CBC is funded. I thought it sounded like PBS, but I was confused by the loss of the hockey contract and the crisis over advertising. Also the way they campaign for MM looks a lot like network television in the US. They are a very strange hybrid of PBS and CBS, much like your court system mixes US and British concepts, hahahaha. XD

Glad to hear MM is safe. While it would be great to have a bigger budget, MM has been doing fine on the budge they have. (I hope they don't skimp on the wedding dress, though! D:) We can all pitch in to help them stealth advertise and make sure MM remains an asset on CBC's books. Maybe they will hand out bonuses at a later date if MM does well.

[lovemondays]

Stealth marketing is exactly what we need, along with a solid US network pickup. In my opinion the powers that be really messed up by changing the name. "The Artful Detective", IMO should send the target demographic running away, particularly the male population. I'm actually embarrassed by that title.

We get PBS here in Toronto so I am familiar with their fundraising initiatives. I've actually supported them. CBC doesn't do that. Not sure exactly where their sponsorships come from, but it's not done like PBS, at least not in this market.