The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian
public broadcaster
Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...
for both
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
and
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. The English- and French-language service units of the corporation are commonly known as CBC and Radio-Canada, respectively.
Although some local stations in Canada predate the CBC's founding, CBC is the oldest existing broadcasting network in Canada. The CBC was established on November 2, 1936. The CBC operates four terrestrial radio networks: The English-language
CBC Radio One
CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of Ca ...
and
CBC Music
CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...
, and the French-language
Ici Radio-Canada Première
Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) is a Canadian French language, French-language radio network, the news and information service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known as Société Radio-Canada in French), the Public ...
and
Ici Musique
Ici Musique (stylized as ICI Musique) is the French-language music radio service of Canada's national public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (''Société Radio-Canada''). It is the French equivalent of the English CBC Music, a ...
. (International radio service
Radio Canada International
Radio Canada International (RCI) is the international broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Prior to 1970, RCI was known as the CBC International Service. The broadcasting service was also previously referred to as ...
historically transmitted via shortwave radio, but since 2012 its content is only available as podcasts on its website.) The CBC also operates two terrestrial television networks, the English-language
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
and the French-language
Ici Radio-Canada Télé
Ici Radio-Canada Télé (formerly known as Télévision de Radio-Canada) is a Canadian French-language free-to-air television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada), the national pub ...
, along with the satellite/cable networks
CBC News Network
CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is th ...
,
Ici RDI
Ici RDI (stylized ICI RDI) is a Canadian French-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada). The channel began broadcasting on January 1, 1995 as Réseau de l'inform ...
,
Ici Explora
Ici Explora (stylized as ICI Explora) is a Television in Canada, Canadian French language specialty channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada) that focuses on science, environment, nature, an ...
,
Documentary Channel
A documentary channel is a specialty channel which focuses on broadcasting documentaries. Some documentary channels further specialize by dedicating their television programming to specific types of documentaries or documentaries in a specific ar ...
(partial ownership), and
Ici ARTV
Ici ARTV (stylized as ICI artv) is a Canadian French language specialty channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada). The channel broadcasts the arts and culture including music, dance, theatr ...
. The CBC operates services for the Canadian Arctic under the names
CBC North
CBC North ( iu, ᓰᐲᓰ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ, lit=CBC Northwest, translit=, SiiPiiSii Ukiuqtaqtumi; cr, ᓰᐲᓰ ᒌᐌᑎᓅᑖᐦᒡ, label=cr, SiiPiiSii Chiiwetinuutaahch; french: Radio-Canada Nord) is the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora ...
and Radio-Canada Nord. The CBC also operates digital services including CBC.ca/Ici.Radio-Canada.ca,
CBC Radio 3
CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music.
The service, which lanuc ...
,
CBC Music
CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...
satellite radio
Satellite radio is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as a ''broadcasting-satellite service''. The satellite's signals are broadcast nationwide, across a much wider geographical area than ter ...
broadcaster
Sirius XM Canada
Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. (commonly referred to as Sirius XM Canada) is a Canadian radio broadcasting company, which operates as a Canadian affiliate of Sirius XM Radio. The company received approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Te ...
, which carries several CBC-produced audio channels.
CBC/Radio-Canada offers programming in English, French and eight
aboriginal
Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to:
*Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology
* Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area
*One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...
languages on its domestic radio service, and in five languages on its web-based international radio service,
Radio Canada International
Radio Canada International (RCI) is the international broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Prior to 1970, RCI was known as the CBC International Service. The broadcasting service was also previously referred to as ...
(RCI). However, budget cuts in the early 2010s have contributed to the corporation reducing its service via the airwaves, discontinuing RCI's shortwave broadcasts as well as terrestrial television broadcasts in all communities served by network-owned rebroadcast transmitters, including communities not subject to Canada's over-the-air digital television transition.
The CBC's federal funding is supplemented by revenue from commercial advertising on its television broadcasts. The radio service employed commercials from its inception to 1974, but since then its primary radio networks have been commercial-free. In 2013, CBC's secondary radio networks, CBC Music and , introduced limited advertising of up to four minutes an hour, but this was discontinued in 2016.
public broadcasting
Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...
recommended the creation of a national radio broadcast network. A major concern was the growing influence of American radio broadcasting as U.S.-based networks began to expand into Canada. Meanwhile,
Canadian National Railways
The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...
was making a radio network to keep its passengers entertained and give it an advantage over its rival, CP. This, the CNR Radio, is the forerunner of the CBC.
Graham Spry
Graham Spry, CC (February 20, 1900 - November 24, 1983) was a Canadian broadcasting pioneer, business executive, diplomat and socialist. He was the husband of Irene Spry and father of Robin Spry, Richard Spry and Lib Spry.
Life
He was born in ...
and
Alan Plaunt Alan Butterworth Plaunt (March 25, 1904 – September 12, 1941) was a Canadian broadcasting pioneer, journalist and activist.
The son of a wealthy lumber family, Plaunt attended the University of Toronto and University of Oxford and was a keen obse ...
lobbied intensely for the project on behalf of the
Canadian Radio League The Canadian Radio League was a public pressure group led by Graham Spry and Alan Plaunt to mobilize support for the establishment of public broadcasting in Canada.
The League was founded in 1930 in order to lobby for the implementation of the 192 ...
. In 1932 the government of
R. B. Bennett
Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, (July 3, 1870 – June 26, 1947), was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Canada from 1930 to 1935.
Bennett was born in ...
established the CBC's predecessor, the
Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission
The Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC), also referred to as the Canadian Radio Commission (CRC), was Canada's first public broadcaster and the immediate precursor to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Origins
The CRBC was establish ...
(CRBC).
The CRBC took over a network of
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
s formerly set up by a federal Crown corporation, the
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN i ...
. The network was used to broadcast programming to riders aboard its passenger trains, with coverage primarily in central and eastern Canada. On November 2, 1936, the CRBC was reorganized under its present name. While the CRBC was a state-owned company, the CBC was a
Crown corporation
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
on the model of the
British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
, which had been reformed from a private company into a statutory corporation in 1927.
Leonard Brockington
Leonard Walter Brockington (6 April 1888 – 15 September 1966) was a Canadian lawyer, civil servant, public figure, and the first head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Born in Cardiff, Wales, one of seven children, Brockin ...
was the CBC's first chairman.
For the next few decades, the CBC was responsible for all broadcasting innovation in Canada. This was in part because, until 1958, it was not only a broadcaster, but the chief regulator of Canadian broadcasting. It used this dual role to snap up most of the clear-channel licences in Canada. It began a separate French-language radio network in December 1937. It introduced
FM radio
FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...
to Canada in 1946, though a distinct FM service was not launched until 1960.
Television broadcasts from the CBC began on September 6, 1952, with the opening of a station in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
(
CBFT
CBFT-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the French-language service of Ici Radio-Canada Télé. It is owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in Fren ...
), and a station in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
(
CBLT
CBLT-DT (channel 5) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the English-language service of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé outlet CBLFT-DT (channel 25). B ...
) opening two days later. The CBC's first privately owned affiliate television station, CKSO in
Sudbury Sudbury may refer to:
Places Australia
* Sudbury Reef, Queensland
Canada
* Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes)
** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...
, Ontario, launched in October 1953. At the time, all private stations were expected to affiliate with the CBC, a condition that relaxed in 1960–61 with the launch of CTV.
From 1944 to 1962, the CBC split its English-language radio network into two services known as the
Trans-Canada Network
The Trans-Canada Network was the name assigned to the main English-language radio network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to distinguish it from the CBC's second network, the Dominion Network. Today, it is known as CBC Radio One. The Tr ...
and the
Dominion Network
The Dominion Network was the second English-language radio network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from January 1, 1944 to 1962.
It consisted of the CBC-owned CJBC radio station in Toronto and a series of 34 privately owned affiliates ...
. The latter, carrying lighter programs including American radio shows, was dissolved in 1962, while the former became known as CBC Radio. (In the late 1990s, CBC Radio was rebranded as
CBC Radio One
CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of Ca ...
and CBC Stereo as CBC Radio Two. The latter was rebranded slightly in 2007 as
CBC Radio 2
CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...
.)
On July 1, 1958, CBC's television signal was extended from coast to coast. The first Canadian television show shot in colour was the CBC's own ''
The Forest Rangers The Forest Rangers may refer to:
* ''The Forest Rangers'' (TV series), Canadian TV series
*The Forest Rangers (band), band formed to create the soundtrack for TV series Sons of Anarchy
* ''The Forest Rangers'' (film), 1942 film starring Fred MacMur ...
'' in 1963. Colour television broadcasts commenced on July 1, 1966, and full-colour service began in 1974. In 1978, CBC became the first broadcaster in the world to use an orbiting satellite for television service, linking Canada "from east to west to north". The mission of CBC is contribution to the "moral economy of the nation".
Frontier Coverage Package
Starting in 1967 and continuing until the mid-1970s, the CBC provided limited television service to remote and northern communities. Transmitters were built in a few locations and carried a four-hour selection of black-and-white videotaped programs each day. The tapes were flown into communities to be shown, then transported to other communities, often by the "bicycle" method used in
television syndication
Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...
. Transportation delays ranged from one week for larger centres to almost a month for small communities.
The first FCP stations were started in
Yellowknife
Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...
, Northwest Territories,
Lynn Lake
Lynn Lake is a town in the northwest region of Manitoba, Canada, approximately from Winnipeg. The town is the List of towns in Manitoba#List, fourth-largest town in Manitoba in terms of land area. It is centred on the original urban community of ...
, Manitoba, and
Havre-Saint-Pierre
Havre-Saint-Pierre is a town on Pointe-aux-Esquimaux, which is on the Quebec north shore (Côte-Nord) of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada. Located along Route 138 some east of Sept-Îles, it is the largest town and seat of the Minganie RCM, ...
, Quebec, in 1967. Another station began operating in
Whitehorse
Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...
in November 1968. Additional stations were added from 1969 to 1972. Most of the FCP stations were fitted for the Anik satellite signal during 1973, carrying 12 hours of colour programming. Those serving the largest centres signed on with colour broadcasts on February 5, 1973, and most of the others were added before spring. Broadcasts were geared to either the Atlantic time zone (UTC−4 or −3) or the Pacific time zone (UTC−8 or −7) even though the audience resided in communities in time zones varying from UTC−5 to UTC−8; the reason for this was that the CBC originated its programs for the Atlantic time zone, and a key station in each time zone would record the broadcast for the appropriate delay of one, two or three hours; the programs were originated again for the Pacific zone. The northern stations picked up one of these two feeds, with the western NWT stations picking up the Pacific feed. Some in northern areas of the provinces were connected by microwave to their own provincial broadcast centre.
Some of these stations used non-CBC
callsign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
s such as
CFWH-TV
CFWH-TV was the television call sign for the CBC's television station in Whitehorse, Yukon. Commencing transmissions on November 26, 1968, it was one of ultimately six Frontier Coverage Package stations in the Yukon; satellite delivery of colou ...
in Whitehorse, CFYK in Yellowknife, CFFB in Frobisher Bay and CHAK in Inuvik, while some others used the standard CB_T callsign but with five letters (e.g. CBDHT). Uplinks in the North were usually a temporary unit brought in from the south. A permanent uplink was established in Yellowknife, and later in Whitehorse and Iqaluit.
Television programs originating in the north without the help of the south began with one half-hour per week in the 1980s with ''Focus North'' and graduating to a daily half-hour newscast, ''Northbeat'', in the late 1990s. Until then, there were occasional temporary uplinks for such things as territorial election returns coverage; Yukon had the first such coverage in 1985, though because it happened during the Stanley Cup playoffs, equipment was already spoken for, so CBC rented the equipment of
CITV-TV
CITV-DT (channel 13) is a television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. The station is owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, and maintains studios on Allard Way Northwest in the Pl ...
Edmonton to use in Whitehorse that evening.
2011 transition to digital television
The CRTC ordered that in 28 "mandatory markets", full power over-the-air analogue television transmitters had to cease transmitting by August 31, 2011. Broadcasters could either continue serving those markets by transitioning analogue transmitters to digital or cease broadcasting over-the-air. Cable, IPTV, and satellite services are not involved or affected by this digital transition deadline.
While its fellow Canadian broadcasters converted most of their transmitters to digital by the Canadian digital television transition deadline of August 31, 2011, CBC converted only about half of the analogue transmitters in mandatory to digital (15 of 28 markets with CBC TV, and 14 of 28 markets with SRC). Due to financial difficulties reported by the corporation, the corporation published a plan whereby communities that receive analogue signals by re-broadcast transmitters in mandatory markets would lose their over-the-air (OTA) signals as of the deadline. Rebroadcast transmitters account for 23 of the 48 CBC and SRC transmitters in mandatory markets. Mandatory markets losing both CBC and SRC over-the-air signals include
London, Ontario
London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
(metropolitan area population 457,000) and
Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...
,
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
(metro area 257,000). In both of those markets, the corporation's television transmitters are the only ones that were not converted to digital.
On July 31, 2012, CBC shut down all of its approximately 620 analogue television transmitters, following an announcement of these plans on April 4, 2012. This reduced the total number of the corporation's television transmitters across the country to 27. According to the CBC, this would reduce the corporation's yearly costs by $10 million. No plans have been announced to use subchannels to maintain over-the-air signals for both CBC and SRC in markets where the corporation has one digital transmitter. In fact, in its CRTC application to shut down all of its analogue television transmitters, the CBC communicated its opposition to use of subchannels, citing, amongst other reasons, costs. CBC/R-C claims that only 1.7 percent of Canadian viewers actually lost access to CBC and Radio-Canada programming due to the very high penetration of cable and satellite. In some areas (particularly remote and rural regions), cable or satellite have long been essential for acceptable television.
Fallout over the Ghomeshi affair
In 2015, after allegations that CBC Radio host
Jian Ghomeshi
Jian Ghomeshi (born June 9, 1967) is a British-born Persian-Canadian broadcaster, writer, musician, producer and former CBC personality. From 1990 to 2000, he was a vocalist and drummer in the Thornhill-based folk-pop band Moxy Früvous. In ...
had harassed colleagues, Ghomeshi was placed on leave; his employment was terminated in October when the CBC indicated that they had "graphic evidence" that he had injured a female employee. The corporation commissioned an independent investigation. The resulting report by
Janice Rubin Janice may refer to:
* Janice (given name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
* ''Janice & Abbey'', a reality TV series
* Processor codename of the Samsung Galaxy S Advance Android smartphone
* Janice, Łódź Voivodes ...
, a partner at law firm
Rubin Thomlinson LLP
Rubin is both a surname and a given name. Rubins is a Latvian-language form of the name. As a Jewish name, it derives from the biblical name Reuben. The choice is also influenced by the word ''rubin'' meaning "ruby" is some languages.
, discussed employee complaints about Ghomeshi that were not seriously considered by the CBC. Rubin concluded that CBC management had "failed to take adequate steps" when it became aware of Ghomeshi's "problematic behaviour."
Ghomeshi was charged by police on multiple counts of sexual assault but was found not guilty of all but one of these in March 2016. He was to be tried in June on the last remaining charge, relating to a complainant who had also worked at CBC; her name was later revealed to be
Kathryn Borel
Kathryn Borel (born June 23, 1979) is a Canadian writer, editor and radio producer. She was a founding producer of the CBC Radio One show '' Q''. Borel is the author of ''Corked: A Memoir'' (2009).
The CBC apologized to Borel publicly on May 11 in a statement by the head of public affairs Chuck Thompson. "What Ms. Borel experienced in our workplace should never have happened and we sincerely apologize...," he stated. The corporation has also maintained that it had accepted Rubin's report and had "since made significant progress" on a revised policy of improved training and methods for handling bullying and harassment complaints.
The Rubin report "contained several recommendations on how the CBC can change its workplace culture. One of those recommendations included the creation of a work and human rights ombudsperson who employees could use to raise concerns about the workplace." The CBC also severed its relationship "with two top executives, Chris Boyce, the former head of CBC Radio, and Todd Spencer, the head of human resources for English services."
In a ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' article by Jacques Gallant from May 11, 2016, public relations expert Martin Waxman spoke of a "damning indictment" of the CBC which included the following comment. "Yes, they did their inquiry, but if I were the CBC, I would think strongly about what is wrong with the culture and what they can do to repair it," he said. ''The Star'' also quoted employment lawyer Howard Levitt stating that "harassment has not been fully addressed at the CBC," in his estimation. Levitt called the Rubin report a "whitewash" and reiterated his suggestion that a federal commission should conduct a more detailed inquiry into workplace issues at the public broadcaster.
Federal elections and copyright claims
42nd Canadian Parliament: lawsuit threats
During the
2015 Canadian federal election
The 2015 Canadian federal election held on October 19, 2015, saw the Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, win 184 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Trudeau becoming the next prime minister.
The election was held to elect m ...
campaign, the CBC issued
cease-and-desist
A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not disc ...
letters to the
Broadbent Institute
Broadbent Institute is a Canadian progressive and social democratic think tank founded by Ed Broadbent.
History
Broadbent Institute is a Canadian progressive and social democratic think tank. It was founded by Ed Broadbent, the leader of the fe ...
, the
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...
(CPC), the
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...
, and the
New Democratic Party of Canada
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* th ...
, accusing them of using
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
ed footage from CBC news programming in their campaign advertising without permission. The Liberals and NDP complied with the letters, pulling the ads in question, while the Broadbent Institute and the Conservatives persisted. Eventually, however, rather than go to court, the Broadbent Institute and the Conservatives agreed to remove the offending material, and as such, the CBC did not pursue them further for these alleged infractions in 2015.
43rd Canadian Parliament: trial of suit
In October 2019, two weeks before the
2019 Canadian federal election
The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21, 2019. Member of Parliament (Canada), Members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons were elected to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the Fixed election dates in ...
, the CBC sued the CPC for using excerpts from its leaders' debates in campaign material. The CBC petitioned for an
injunction
An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...
against the CPC continuing to use the excerpts as well as seeking an acknowledgement from the CPC and its executive director,
Dustin Van Vugt Dustin may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Dustin, Nebraska
* Dustin Township, Holt County, Nebraska
* Dustin, Oklahoma
Other uses
* Dustin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
* Dustin ...
, that the party had "engaged in the unauthorized use of copyright-protected material." Furthermore, the CBC indicated that the clips in question were "taken out of context and are edited and relied on to make partisan points for the benefit" of the CPC. In response, the CPC stated that 17 seconds of footage had been used and the video in question had been removed before the lawsuit was filed, and expressed "grave concern that this decision was made on the eve of an election that CBC is to be covering fairly and objectively."
Intellectual property academic
Michael Geist
Michael Allen Geist (born July 11, 1968) is a Canadian academic, the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa and a member of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society. Geist was educated at the Univers ...
stated that the use of the footage was likely covered by
fair dealing
Fair dealing is a limitation and exception to the exclusive rights granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. Fair dealing is found in many of the common law jurisdictions of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Fair dealing is an en ...
provisions. CBC President and CEO
Catherine Tait
Catherine Tait (born 1958) is a Canadian business executive who currently serves as the president and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She succeeded Hubert Lacroix for the position after being appointed on April 3, 2018, and begi ...
contends that she does not believe that the use of journalistic material for partisan ads is covered by the "fair dealing" exemption of the Copyright Act.
Resolution: court allows "fair dealing"
On May 13, 2021, the CPC lawsuit was dismissed in the
Federal Court of Canada
The Federal Court of Canada, which succeeded the Exchequer Court of Canada in 1971, was a national court of Canada that had limited jurisdiction to hear certain types of disputes arising under the federal government's legislative jurisdiction. ...
, with
Justice Phelan
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
's clarification that the CPC's use was fair and allowable. The decision made precedent. "Prior to this decision, Canadian jurisprudence held that to meet the requirements of criticism and review, the copyrighted work in use must be critiqued and analyzed. Furthermore, the Court held that for attribution of the source and author, the inclusion of the CBC's logo was sufficient" to meet Copyright Act requirements.
Logos and slogans
The original logo of the CBC, designed by
École des Beaux Arts
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région ...
student Hortense Binette and used between 1940 and 1958, featured a map of Canada (and from 1940 to 1949,
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
) and a thunderbolt design used to symbolize broadcasting.
In 1958, the CBC adopted a new logo for use at the end of network programs. Designed by scale model artist Jean-Paul Boileau, it consisted of the legends "CBC" and "Radio-Canada" overlaid on a map of Canada. For French programming, the "Radio-Canada" was placed on top.
The "Butterfly" logo was designed for the CBC by Hubert Tison in 1966 to mark the network's progressing transition from black-and-white to colour television, much in the manner of the NBC peacock logo. It was used at the beginning of programs broadcast in colour and was used until all CBC television programs had switched to colour. A sketch on the CBC Television program '' Wayne & Shuster'' once referred to this as the logo of the "Cosmic Butterfly Corporation."
The fourth logo, known internally as "the gem", was designed for the CBC by graphic artist
Burton Kramer
Burton Kramer (born 1932) is a Canadian graphic designer and artist who lives and works in Toronto.
Early life and education
Kramer was born in 1932 in New York City. He graduated with a BSc From IIT Institute of Design, The Institute of Desig ...
in December 1974, and it is the most widely recognised symbol of the corporation. The main on-air
identification
Identification or identify may refer to:
*Identity document, any document used to verify a person's identity
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Identify'' (album) by Got7, 2014
* "Identify" (song), by Natalie Imbruglia, 1999
* Identification ( ...
featured the logo kaleidoscopically morphing into its form while radiating outward from the centre of the screen on a blue background. This animated version, which went to air in December 1974, is also known colloquially as "The Exploding Pizza". The appearance of this logo marked the arrival of full-colour network television service. The large shape in the middle is the letter C, which stands for Canada; the radiating parts of the C symbolize broadcasting, and the blue circle the logo was placed in represented the world, so the entire logo, according to Kramer, represented the idea of "Canada broadcasting to the world". The original theme music for the 1974 CBC ident was a three-note woodwind orchestral fanfare accompanied by the voiceover "This is CBC" or "Ici Radio-Canada". This was later replaced by a different, and more familiar 11-note woodwind orchestral jingle, which was used until December 31, 1985.
The updated one-colour version of the gem/pizza logo, created by Hubert Tison and Robert Innes, was introduced on January 1, 1986, and with it was introduced a new series of computer graphic-generated television idents for CBC and Radio-Canada. These idents consisted of different background colours corresponding to the time of day behind a translucent CBC gem logo, accompanied by different arrangements of the CBC's new, synthesized five-note jingle. The logo was changed to one colour, generally dark blue on white, or white on dark blue, in 1986. Print ads and most television promos, however, have always used a single-colour version of this logo since 1974.
In 1992, CBC updated its logo design to make it simpler and more red (or white on a red background). The new logo design, created by Swiss-Canadian design firm Gottschalk + Ash, reduces the number of geometric sections in the logo to 13 instead of the previous logo's 25, and the "C" in the centre of the logo became a simple red circle. According to graphic designer Todd Falkowsky, the logo's red colour also represents Canada in a symbolic way. With the launch of the current design, new television idents were introduced in November that year, also using CGI. Since the early 2000s, it has also appeared in white (sometimes red) on a textured or coloured background. It is now CBC/Radio-Canada's longest-used logo, surpassing the original incarnation of the Gem logo and the CBC's 1940 logo.
CBC television slogans have been periodically updated:
* 1966: "Television is CBC"
* 1970: "When you watch, watch the best"
* 1977: "Bringing Canadians Together"
* 1980: "We Are the CBC"
* 1984: "Look to us for good things" (general) / "Good to Know" (news and public affairs)
* 1986–1989: "The Best on the Box"
* 1989–1992: "CBC and You"
* 1992–1994: "Go Public" / "CBC: Public Broadcasting" (to emphasize that CBC is a public broadcaster)
* 1995–2001: "Television to Call Our Own" and "Radio to Call Our Own"
* 2001–2007: "Canada's Own"
* 2007–2014: "Canada Lives Here"
* 2009–present: "Mon monde est à Radio-Canada, SRC" (English translation: My world is on Radio-Canada)
* 2011 and 2016: "Yours to Celebrate" (French: "Un monde à célébrer") (for the CBC's 75th and 80th anniversaries)
* 2014–present: "Love CBC" / "Fall for CBC"
Jeanne Sauvé
Jeanne Mathilde Sauvé (; April 26, 1922 – January 26, 1993) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as Governor General of Canada, the 23rd since Canadian Confederation.
Sauvé was born in Prud'homme, Saskatchewan, and educate ...
,
Adrienne Clarkson
Adrienne Louise Clarkson (; ; born February 10, 1939) is a British Hong Kong, Hong Kong-born Canadian journalist who served from 1999 to 2005 as Governor General of Canada, the List of Governors General of Canada#Governors General of Canada, 1 ...
, and
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean (; born September 6, 1957) is a Canadian stateswoman and former journalist who served from 2005 to 2010 as governor general of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation. She is the first Haitian Canadian and black person ...
, as well as future
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
René Lévesque
René Lévesque (; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Québécois politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to attempt ...
.
Knowlton Nash
Cyril Knowlton Nash (November 18, 1927 – May 24, 2014) was a Canadian journalist, author and news anchor. He was senior anchor of CBC Television's flagship news program, '' The National'' from 1978 until his retirement in 1988. He began his care ...
, whose career at the CBC spanned the years between 1965 and 1992, was a beloved and trusted news anchor for the news programme '' The National''.
Peter Mansbridge
Peter Mansbridge (born July 6, 1948) is a British-born Canadian retired news anchor. From 1988 to 2017, he was chief correspondent for CBC News and anchor of '' The National,'' CBC Television's flagship nightly newscast. He was also host of CB ...
then took over the reins at the premiere Canadian news broadcast until July 1, 2017. For a time Mansbridge shared the anchor position with
Wendy Mesley
Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries.
In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...
, who was forced to retire after a 38-year career under a cloud for inappropriate use of language in two closed editorial meetings.
A staple in Canadian living rooms since 1952 is the weekly Saturday night broadcast ''
Hockey Night in Canada
CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...
''. Personalities like
Foster Hewitt
Foster William Hewitt, (November 21, 1902 – April 21, 1985) was a Canadian radio broadcaster most famous for his play-by-play calls for ''Hockey Night in Canada''. He was the son of W. A. Hewitt, and the father of Bill Hewitt.
Biography
...
,
Dick Irvin
James Dickinson "Dick" Irvin Jr. (or II) (July 19, 1892 – May 16, 1957) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. He played for professional teams in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, the Western Canada Hockey League, and th ...
,
Harry Neale
Harold Watson Neale (born March 9, 1937) is a Canadian retired NCAA, NHL and WHA coach and general manager, and ice hockey broadcaster.
Coaching career
Following his playing career, Neale got his head coaching start at Hill Park Secondary Schoo ...
were amongst the light-blue jacketed commentators of the 20th century. Ron MacLean had many great moments with
Don Cherry
Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...
in the second intermission ''
Coach's Corner
''Coach's Corner'' is a commentary and analysis segment that aired from 1982 to 2019 during the first intermission of the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (HNIC) television broadcast of National Hockey League (NHL) games. It featured Don Cherry, and ...
'' until a slip of the tongue caused the latter's fall from grace in the aftermath of a broadcast on
Remembrance Day
Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in t ...
Government of Canada
The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
launched a review of the ''Broadcasting Act'' as well as the '' Telecommunications Act'', and the CBC mandate is subject to updating following the review's completion. CBC also submitted a paper to the Review Panel entitled "Our Culture, Our Democracy: Canada in the Digital World", which included various recommendations regarding the strengthening of
public broadcasting
Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...
within the global broadcasting market. The Review Panel submitted its final report and recommendations on January 29, 2020.
Management
As a
crown corporation
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
, the CBC operates at
arm's length
The arm's length principle (ALP) is the condition or the fact that the parties of a transaction are independent and on an equal footing. Such a transaction is known as an "arm's-length transaction".
It is used specifically in contract law to ar ...
(autonomously) from the government in its day-to-day business. The corporation is governed by the ''Broadcasting Act'' of 1991, under a board of directors and is directly responsible to
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
through the
Department of Canadian Heritage
The Department of Canadian Heritage, or simply Canadian Heritage (french: Patrimoine canadien), is the department of the Government of Canada that has roles and responsibilities related to initiatives that promote and support "Canadian identity ...
. General management of the organization is in the hands of a president, who is appointed by the
Governor General of Canada
The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...
advice
Advice (noun) or advise (verb) may refer to:
* Advice (opinion), an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct
* Advice (constitutional law) a frequently binding instruction issued to a constitutional office-holder
* Advice (p ...
of the Prime Minister.
According to ''
The Hill Times
''The Hill Times'' is a Canadian twice-weekly newspaper and daily news website, published in Ottawa, Ontario, which covers the Parliament of Canada, the federal government, and other federal political news. Founded in 1989 by Ross Dickson and Jim ...
'', a clause in
Bill C-60
''An Act to amend the Copyright Act'' (Bill C-60) was a proposed law to amend the '' Copyright Act'' initiated by the Government of Canada in the First Session of the Thirty-Eighth Parliament. Introduced by the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Mi ...
—an
omnibus
Omnibus may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Omnibus'' (film)
* Omnibus (broadcast), a compilation of Radio or TV episodes
* ''Omnibus'' (UK TV series), an arts-based documentary programme
* ''Omnibus'' (U.S. TV series), an educational progr ...
budget implementation bill introduced by the government of
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
in 2013—"appears to contradict a longstanding arm's-length relationship between the independent CBC and any government in power." The clause allows the "prime minister's cabinet to approve salaries, working conditions and collective bargaining positions for the CBC."
Board of directors
In accordance with the ''
Broadcasting Act
Broadcasting Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom that relates to broadcasting. The Bill for an Act with this short title will usually h ...
'', a board of directors is responsible for the management of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The board is made up of 12 members, including the chair and the president and CEO. A current list of directors is available from the Canadian
Governor in Council
The King-in-Council or the Queen-in-Council, depending on the gender of the reigning monarch, is a constitutional term in a number of states. In a general sense, it would mean the monarch exercising executive authority, usually in the form of ap ...
here.
, the CBC's board of directors page lists:
*
Michael Goldbloom
Michael Goldbloom (born 1953) is a Canadian lawyer, publisher, and academic administrator. He is the former publisher of the ''Toronto Star'', Canada's largest newspaper by circulation.
Early life and education
Born in Montreal, Quebec, as th ...
*
Catherine Tait
Catherine Tait (born 1958) is a Canadian business executive who currently serves as the president and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She succeeded Hubert Lacroix for the position after being appointed on April 3, 2018, and begi ...
(president and CEO)
* Guillaume Aniorté
* Suzanne Guèvremont
* René Légère
* Sandra Mason
* Jennifer Moore Rattray
* François R. Roy
* Rita Shelton Deverell
* Sandra Singh
* Bill Tam
* Marie Wilson
Presidents
* 1936–1939:
Leonard Brockington
Leonard Walter Brockington (6 April 1888 – 15 September 1966) was a Canadian lawyer, civil servant, public figure, and the first head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Born in Cardiff, Wales, one of seven children, Brockin ...
* 1940–1944:
René Morin
Louis-Simon-René Morin (July 27, 1883 – July 16, 1955) was head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation during World War II from 1940 to 1944, and was the first francophone and native-born Canadian to head the CBC.
Born in Saint-Hyacint ...
A.W. Johnson
Albert Wesley "Al" Johnson (October 18, 1923 – November 9, 2010) was a Canadian civil servant, former president of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, professor in the department of political science at the University of Toronto, and a ...
* 1982–1989:
Pierre Juneau
Pierre Juneau, , (October 17, 1922 – February 21, 2012) was a Canadian film and broadcast executive, a one-time member of the Canadian Cabinet, the first chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and ...
* 1989:
William T. Armstrong William T. (Bill) Armstrong (1929 – March 25, 2005) was president of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from August to October 1989 following the retirement of Pierre Juneau
Pierre Juneau, , (October 17, 1922 – February 21, 2012) was a ...
* 1989–1994:
Gérard Veilleux Gérard Veilleux, OC (born 1942) was president of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from 1989 to 1993. He became president of Power Communications in 1994.
Born in East Broughton, Quebec, he received a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1963 fro ...
* 1994–1995:
Anthony S. Manera Anthony (Tony) Manera was President of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from 1993 to 1995. He joined the CBC as Vice-President of Human Resources in 1985 and was appointed Senior Vice President in 1986. He resigned from the Presidency of the C ...
* 1995–1999:
Perrin Beatty
Henry Perrin Beatty (born June 1, 1950) is a Canadian corporate executive and former politician, who served as a Progressive Conservative of the House of Commons from 1972 to 1993, and as a cabinet minister from 1979 to 1980 and again from 1984 ...
* 1999–2007:
Robert Rabinovitch
Robert Rabinovitch (born March 1, 1943) is a Canadian public servant and businessman who was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
* 2008–2018:
Hubert T. Lacroix
Hubert T. Lacroix (born July 13, 1955) is a Canadian lawyer who last served as the President and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the national public radio and television broadcaster, from 2008 until 2018.
Born in Montreal, Qu ...
* 2018–present:
Catherine Tait
Catherine Tait (born 1958) is a Canadian business executive who currently serves as the president and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She succeeded Hubert Lacroix for the position after being appointed on April 3, 2018, and begi ...
Vince Carlin
Vincent A. Carlin is a retired Canadian journalist. He was the ombudsman of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from January 2006 to December 2010, serving a five-year term with the corporation. Carlin has since been succeeded by Mr. Kirk Lap ...
(January 2006 – December 2010)
*
Kirk LaPointe
Kirk LaPointe (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian journalist.
Early life
LaPointe was born in Toronto, where he was raised by a single mother in what he describes as poverty conditions. He was educated at New Toronto Secondary School and Ryers ...
(November 2010 – 2012)
*
Esther Enkin
Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chose ...
(January 1, 2013 – December 2018)
*
Jack Nagler
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
(January 2019 – present)
French (Radio-Canada)
*
Bruno Gauron
Bruno may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname
* Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880)
* Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...
(1992)
*
Mario Cardinal
is a character (arts), character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in ...
(1993–1997)
*
Marcel Pépin
Marcel may refer to:
People
* Marcel (given name), people with the given name Marcel
* Marcel (footballer, born August 1981), Marcel Silva Andrade, Brazilian midfielder
* Marcel (footballer, born November 1981), Marcel Augusto Ortolan, Brazilian ...
Julie Miville-Dechêne
Julie Miville-Dechêne (born July 10, 1959) is a Canadian senator and former journalist.
She is a former journalist and broadcaster with Radio-Canada and spent 25 years as a public affairs correspondent for the network in Washington, D.C., Toron ...
(April 1, 2007 – July 2011)
* Pierre Tourangeau (November 14, 2011 – April 2016)
* Guy Gendron (April 1, 2016 – 2021)
Financing
For the fiscal year 2006, the CBC received a total of $1.53 billion from all revenue sources, including government funding via taxpayers, subscription fees, advertising revenue, and other revenue (e.g., real estate). Expenditures for the year included $616 million for English television, $402 million for French television, $126 million for specialty channels, a total of $348 million for radio services in both languages, $88 million for management and technical costs, and $124 million for "
amortization
Amortization or amortisation may refer to:
* The process by which loan principal decreases over the life of an amortizing loan
* Amortization (accounting), the expensing of acquisition cost minus the residual value of intangible assets in a system ...
of property and equipment." Some of this spending was derived from amortization of funding from previous years.
Among its revenue sources for the year ending March 31, 2006, the CBC received $946 million in its annual funding from the federal government, as well as $60 million in "one-time" supplementary funding for programming. However, this supplementary funding has been repeated annually for a number of years. This combined total is just over a billion dollars annually and is a source of heated debate. To supplement this funding, the CBC's television networks and websites sell advertising, while cable/satellite-only services such as CBC News Network additionally collect subscriber fees, in line with their privately owned counterparts. CBC's radio services do not sell advertising except when required by law (for example, to political parties during federal elections).
CBC's funding differs from that of the public broadcasters of many European nations, which collect a
licence fee
A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence f ...
, or those in the United States, such as
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
and
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
, which receive some public funding but rely to a large extent on voluntary contributions from individual viewers and listeners. A
Nanos Research
Nanos Research (previously SES Research) is a Canadian public opinion and research company that was established in 1987 by Nik Nanos
Nik Nanos (born in 1964 as Nikita James Nanos) is a Canadian public opinion pollster, entrepreneur, public speake ...
poll from August 2014 conducted for Asper Media (''
National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
'', ''
Financial Post
The ''Financial Post'' was an English Canadian business newspaper, which published from 1907 to 1998. In 1998, the publication was folded into the new ''National Post'',"Black says Post to merge with new paper". ''The Globe and Mail'', July 23, ...
'') showed 41% of Canadians wanted funding increased, 46% wanted it maintained at current levels, and only 10% wanted to see it cut.
The network's defenders note that the CBC's mandate differs from private media's, particularly in its focus on Canadian content; that much of the public funding actually goes to the radio networks; and that the CBC is responsible for the full cost of most of its prime-time programming, while private networks can fill up most of their prime-time schedules with American series acquired for a fraction of their production cost. CBC supporters also point out that additional, long-term funding is required to provide better Canadian dramas and improved local programming to attract and sustain a strong viewership.
According to the
Canadian Media Guild
The Canadian Media Guild (CMG) is a trade union representing employees at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (outside Quebec and New Brunswick), the Canadian Press, Thomson Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Netw ...
, the $115-million deficit reduction action plan cuts to CBC which started with the 2012 budget and were fully realized in 2014, amounted to "one of the biggest layoffs of content creators and journalists in Canadian history." The 2014 cuts combined with earlier ones totalled "3,600 jobs lost at CBC since 2008. The CMG asked the federal government to reverse the cuts and to repeal Clause 17 of omnibus budget bill C-60 "to remove government's interference in CBC's day-to-day operations."
In September 2015, the Canadian Media Guild announced that the CBC planned to sell all of its properties across Canada to gain a temporary increase in available funds. Media relations manager Alexandra Fortier denied this and stated that the corporation planned to sell only half of its assets.
In September 2015,
Hubert Lacroix
Hubert T. Lacroix (born July 13, 1955) is a Canadian lawyer who last served as the President and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the national public radio and television broadcaster, from 2008 until 2018.
Born in Montreal, Qu ...
, then-president of CBC/Radio-Canada, spoke at the international public broadcasters' conference in
Munich, Germany
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
. He claimed for the first time that public broadcasters were "at risk of extinction." The Canadian Media Guild responded that Lacroix had "made a career of shredding" the CBC by cutting one quarter of its staff—approximately 2,000 jobs since 2010 under Lacroix's tenure. More than 600 jobs were cut in 2014 in order "to plug a $130-million budget shortfall." Isabelle Montpetit, president of Syndicat des communications de Radio-Canada (SCRC), observed that Lacroix was hand-picked by Stephen Harper for the job as president of the CBC. For the fiscal year 2015, the CBC received $1.036 billion from government funding and took 5% funding cuts from the previous year.
In 2015, the Liberal Party was returned to power. As part of its election platform, it promised to restore the $115 million of funding to the CBC that was cut by the Harper Government, over three years, and add $35 million, for a total extra funding of $150 million.
On November 28, 2016, the CBC issued a request for $400 million in additional funding, which it planned to use towards removing advertising from its television services, production and acquisition of Canadian content, and "additional funding of new investments to face consumer and technology disruption". The broadcaster argued that it had operated "
nder Nder may refer to:
* Alioune Mbaye Nder (born 1969), Senegalese singer
*N'Der
N'Der (also spelled Nder or Ndeer) is a small town on the western shore of the Lac de Guiers, in northern Senegal. It was the third and last capital of Waalo until the a ...
a business model and cultural policy framework that is profoundly broken," while other countries " eapedthe benefits of strong, stable, well-funded public broadcasters."
Services
News
CBC News is the largest broadcast newsgathering operation in Canada, providing services to CBC radio as well as
CBC News Network
CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is th ...
, local supper-hour newscasts, CBC News Online, and
Air Canada
Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada by the size and passengers carried. Air Canada maintains its headquarters in the borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and ...
's in-flight entertainment. Recent CBC News services are also proving popular, such as news alerts to mobile phones and PDAs. Desktop news alerts, e-mail alerts, and digital television alerts are also available.
Radio
CBC Radio has five separate services: three in English, known as
CBC Radio One
CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of Ca ...
,
CBC Music
CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...
, and
CBC Radio 3
CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music.
The service, which lanuc ...
; and two in French, known as ''
Ici Radio-Canada Première
Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) is a Canadian French language, French-language radio network, the news and information service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known as Société Radio-Canada in French), the Public ...
'' and ''
Ici Musique
Ici Musique (stylized as ICI Musique) is the French-language music radio service of Canada's national public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (''Société Radio-Canada''). It is the French equivalent of the English CBC Music, a ...
''. Over the years, a number of CBC radio transmitters, with a majority of them on the
AM band
Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytim ...
, have either moved to FM or have shut down completely. The CBC plans to phase out more CBC AM transmitters across Canada. This goal however remains to be seen in light of the CBC budget cutbacks.
CBC Radio One and Première focus on
news
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...
and information programming, though they also air some music programs, variety shows, and comedy; in the past, they aired some sports programming as well. Both of these services used to broadcast primarily on the AM band, but many stations have moved over to FM. CBC Music and ''Ici musique'' is found exclusively on FM, airing arts and cultural programming, with a focus on music. CBC Radio 3, found only online and on
satellite radio
Satellite radio is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as a ''broadcasting-satellite service''. The satellite's signals are broadcast nationwide, across a much wider geographical area than ter ...
, airs exclusively-independent Canadian music.
CBC Radio also operated two
shortwave
Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...
Northern Quebec Northern Quebec (french: le nord du Québec) is a geographic term denoting the northerly, more remote and less populated parts of the Canadian province of Quebec.Alexandre Robaey"Charity group works with Indigenous communities to feed Northern Quebe ...
on a static frequency of 9.625
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
; and the other,
Radio Canada International
Radio Canada International (RCI) is the international broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Prior to 1970, RCI was known as the CBC International Service. The broadcasting service was also previously referred to as ...
, provided broadcasts to the United States and around the world in eight languages. Both shortwave services were shut down in 2012 due to budget cuts; the Sackville transmitter site was dismantled in 2014. Additionally, the Radio One stations in St. John's and
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
operated shortwave relay transmitters, broadcasting at 6.16 MHz. Some have suggested that CBC/Radio-Canada create a new high-power shortwave
digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
**Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
radio service for more effective coverage of isolated areas.
In November 2004, the CBC, in partnership with
Standard Broadcasting Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Heraldic flag, Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology) ...
and
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings.
Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Sirius ...
, applied to the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
(CRTC) for a licence to introduce satellite radio service to Canada. The CRTC approved the subscription radio application, as well as two others for satellite radio service, on June 16, 2005.
Sirius Canada
Sirius Canada was a Canadian company, a partnership between Slaight Communications, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Sirius Satellite Radio, which was one of three services licensed by the CRTC on June 16, 2005 to introduce satellite ra ...
launched on December 1, 2005, with a number of CBC Radio channels, including the new services
CBC Radio 3
CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music.
The service, which lanuc ...
and '' Bande à part''.
In some areas, especially national or provincial parks, the CBC also operates an AM or FM transmitter rebroadcasting weather alerts from the
Meteorological Service of Canada
The Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC; french: Service météorologique du Canada – SMC) is a division of Environment and Climate Change Canada, which primarily provides public meteorological information and weather forecasts and warnings ...
's
Weatheradio Canada
Weatheradio Canada (french: Radiométéo Canada) is a Canadian weather radio network owned and operated by Environment and Climate Change Canada's Meteorological Service of Canada division that is an official partner of the U.S. National Weather ...
service.
Long-range radio plan
The CBC's long-range radio plan (LRRP) was developed by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
(CRTC) in collaboration with the CBC to identify those FM frequencies that would likely be required to deliver the CBC's radio services to the maximum number of Canadians. The CBC is not subject to any conditions or expectations concerning its LRRP. The CBC noted that Première Chaîne (now
Ici Radio-Canada Première
Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) is a Canadian French language, French-language radio network, the news and information service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known as Société Radio-Canada in French), the Public ...
) and
CBC Radio One
CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of Ca ...
were available to about 99% of the Canadian population. The CBC stated that it plans to maintain its radio service but has no plans to grow the coverage area. It described the LRRP as a planning vehicle and indicated that it would no longer use it. Given reductions in public funding to the CBC and given that Première Chaîne and Radio One are available to the vast majority of Canadians, the Commission considers that the CBC's plan to maintain current coverage and discontinue the LRRP is reasonable. Accordingly, the Commission accepted the CBC's proposal to discontinue the LRRP.
''Radio Guide''
Beginning in 1981, CBC radio launched the monthly magazine ''Radio Guide'', which included
CBC Radio
CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...
program listings alongside feature content, such as profiles of musicians and writers and behind the scenes looks at CBC programs. The magazine was released both by subscription and as a newsstand title. In 1984, due to budgetary pressures at the CBC, the magazine began accepting paid advertising from outside clients; in 1985, due to further budget cuts, the magazine was discontinued as a standalone title, and instead became a supplement in '' Saturday Night''. In 1988, the magazine was sold to Core Group Publishers of Vancouver, and continued in this format until 1997, when it was discontinued due to a declining subscriber base.
Television
The CBC operates two national broadcast television networks:
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
in English, and
Ici Radio-Canada Télé
Ici Radio-Canada Télé (formerly known as Télévision de Radio-Canada) is a Canadian French-language free-to-air television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada), the national pub ...
in French. Like private broadcasters, both of these networks sell advertising, but offer more Canadian-produced programming. All CBC television stations are owned and operated by the CBC itself and carry a common schedule, aside from local programming and other
regional variation
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
(such as the
CBC North
CBC North ( iu, ᓰᐲᓰ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ, lit=CBC Northwest, translit=, SiiPiiSii Ukiuqtaqtumi; cr, ᓰᐲᓰ ᒌᐌᑎᓅᑖᐦᒡ, label=cr, SiiPiiSii Chiiwetinuutaahch; french: Radio-Canada Nord) is the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora ...
stations in
Nunavut
Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...
, the
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
, and the
Yukon
Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
carrying an additional newscast in the
Inuktitut
Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...
language and a weekly
Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...
program), and
CBET-DT
CBET-DT (channel 9) is a CBC Television station in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The station's studios are located on Riverside Drive West and Crawford Avenue (near the Detroit River) in Downtown Windsor, and its transmitter is located near Concessi ...
in Windsor amending its non-primetime schedule at various points due to program rights conflicts with
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
stations.
Both CBC's English and French networks previously had a number of private affiliates owned by third-party owners. However, the majority of them have either been bought by the CBC and subsequently shut down during the transition to digital television, or have switched to other networks and program services. The only remaining privately owned affiliate of any CBC-owned network is Ici Radio-Canada Télé affiliate
CKRT-DT
CKRT-DT, virtual and VHF digital channel 7, was an Ici Radio-Canada Télé- affiliated station licensed to Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, Canada. Owned by the Simard family and their company, Télé Inter-Rives, it was sister to Noovo affiliate ...
in
Rivière-du-Loup
Rivière-du-Loup (; 2021 population 20,118) is a small city on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec. The city is the seat for the Rivière-du-Loup Regional County Municipality and the judicial district of Kamouraska. Its one of ...
(which is part of a triplestick also containing private affiliates for Quebec's two private networks).
One of the most popular shows is the weekly Saturday night broadcast of
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
games. In English, the program is known as ''
Hockey Night in Canada
CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...
'', and in French, it was called ''
La Soirée du hockey
''La Soirée du hockey'' (literally translated to ''The Night of Hockey'') was a Canadian ice hockey television show. It was the French language Radio-Canada equivalent of the English Canadian CBC show ''Hockey Night in Canada''. The show used "T ...
''. Both shows began in 1952. The French edition was discontinued in 2004, though Radio-Canada stations outside of Quebec simulcast some Saturday night games produced by RDS until 2006. The network suffered considerable public embarrassment when it lost the rights to the show's
theme music
Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
following a protracted lawsuit launched by the song's composer and publishers. In 2013, the exclusive national media rights to the NHL were acquired by
Rogers Media
Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties, such as the Citytv and Omni Television terrestrial television stations, Sportsnet, ...
, although Rogers would reach an agreement with the CBC to license the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' brand for use in its
coverage
Coverage may refer to:
Filmmaking
* Coverage (lens), the size of the image a lens can produce
* Camera coverage, the amount of footage shot and different camera setups used in filming a scene
* Script coverage, a short summary of a script, wri ...
of Saturday-night games, and
broker
A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...
a version of the broadcasts to CBC at no charge.
The CBC also wholly owns and operates three specialty television channels—the news channels
CBC News Network
CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is th ...
and
Ici RDI
Ici RDI (stylized ICI RDI) is a Canadian French-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada). The channel began broadcasting on January 1, 1995 as Réseau de l'inform ...
, and the French-language network
Ici Explora
Ici Explora (stylized as ICI Explora) is a Television in Canada, Canadian French language specialty channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada) that focuses on science, environment, nature, an ...
. It also owns a managing interest in the Francophone arts service
ARTV
Ici ARTV (stylized as ICI artv) is a Television in Canada, Canadian French language specialty channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada). The channel broadcasts the arts and culture includin ...
, and
Documentary Channel
A documentary channel is a specialty channel which focuses on broadcasting documentaries. Some documentary channels further specialize by dedicating their television programming to specific types of documentaries or documentaries in a specific ar ...
.
CBC provides viewers with interactive on-demand television programs every year through digital-cable services like
Rogers Cable
Rogers Cable Inc. is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, primarily in Southern & Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Ro ...
.
Children's programming air under the commercial-free preschool programming block called
CBC Kids
''CBC Kids'' is a Canadian children's block on CBC Television. The block was launched as Hodge Podge Lodge in 1987 and contains programming targeted at children. The block airs on weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Saturdays from 6:00 a.m. ...
. In French, the children's programming block is ''Zone Jeunesse'' on
ICI Radio-Canada Télé
Ici Radio-Canada Télé (formerly known as Télévision de Radio-Canada) is a Canadian French-language free-to-air television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada), the national pub ...
.
Online
The CBC has two main websites: ''CBC.ca'' is in English and was established in 1996; and ''Radio-Canada.ca'' is in French. The websites allow the CBC to produce sections that complement the various programs on television and radio.
In May 2012, as part of an initiative to improve its service in "underserved" markets, the CBC launched a
CBC Hamilton CBC Hamilton is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's digital-only local news operation serving the city of Hamilton, Ontario, which launched on May 9, 2012. The operation currently consists of a Hamilton-focused section within the national CBC.c ...
news operation for
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...
. With the Hamilton area already within the broadcast range of CBC Radio and CBC Television's services in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, the outlet focuses exclusively on digital content, including a section of the CBC News website oriented towards the market. CBC Hamilton reporters have occasionally filed reports for the CBC's television news output, in the event of major stories centred upon the city.
Also in 2012, the corporation launched
CBC Music
CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...
, an
internet radio
Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...
service that produces and distributes 40 music-related channels, including the existing audio streams of CBC Radio 2 and
CBC Radio 3
CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music.
The service, which lanuc ...
."CBC launches free digital music service" ''
Ottawa Citizen
The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
History
Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...
'', February 13, 2012. In October 2019, the CBC launched a successor to the CBC Music platform known as CBC Listen, which encompasses the CBC's radio, music, as well as
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
Established in 2002, CBC Merchandising operates retail locations and ''CBCshop.ca''; its educational sales department, CBC Learning, sells CBC content and media to educational institutions; as well as licensing brands such as ''
Hockey Night in Canada
CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...
'' (whose branding is still owned by the CBC) and ''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Origi ...
'' (as a Canadian
licensee
A licensee can mean the holder of a license or, in U.S. tort law, a licensee is a person who is on the property of another, despite the fact that the property is not open to the general public, because the owner of the property has allowed the li ...
under arrangement from
ITV Studios
ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcas ...
).
Miscellaneous
CBC Records
CBC Records was a Canadian record label owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which distributed CBC programming, including live concert performances, in album and digital format(s)."CBC Records is the corporation's biggest h ...
is a Canadian
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
that distributes CBC programming, including live concert performances and album transcripts of news and information programming such as the
Massey Lectures
The Massey Lectures is an annual five-part series of lectures given in Canada by distinguished writers, thinkers and scholars who explore important ideas and issues of contemporary interest. Created in 1961 in honour of Vincent Massey, the former ...
, in album format. Music albums on the label, predominantly in the classical and jazz genres, are distributed across Canada in commercial record stores, while albums containing spoken word programming are predominantly distributed by the CBC's own retail merchandising operations.
CBC provides news, business, weather and sports information on
Air Canada
Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada by the size and passengers carried. Air Canada maintains its headquarters in the borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and ...
's inflight entertainment as ''Enroute Journal''.
Unions
Unions representing employees at CBC/Radio-Canada include:
*
Canadian Media Guild
The Canadian Media Guild (CMG) is a trade union representing employees at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (outside Quebec and New Brunswick), the Canadian Press, Thomson Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Netw ...
(CMG) represents on-air, production, technical, administrative and support staff outside of Québec and Moncton.
* Association of Professionals and Supervisors (APS)*
*
American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a 501(c)(5) trade union, labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in New ...
(AFM)*
*
Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is a Canadian trade union representing performers in English-language media. It has 25,000 members working in film, television, radio, and all other recorded media. The orga ...
(performers; ACTRA)
*
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada, known as simply the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE or ...
(stagehands; IATSE)
*
Writers Guild of Canada
The Writers Guild of Canada is an organization representing more than 2,500 professional writers working in film, television, radio, and digital media production in Canada. Members of the Guild write dramatic TV series, feature films, Movies of th ...
(WGC)*
* ''Association des réalisateurs'' (AR)
* ''Syndicat des communications de Radio-Canada'' (SCRC)
* ''Société des auteurs de la radio, de la télévision et du cinéma'' (SARTeC).
* ''Syndicat Canadien de la fonction publique, Conseil des sections locales, Groupe des employé(e)s de bureau et professionnel(le)s'' (SCFP).
* ''Société professionnelle des auteurs-compositeurs du Québec'' (SPACQ)
* ''Syndicat des technicien(ne)s et des artisan(e)s du réseau français'' (STARF).
* ''Union des artistes'' (UDA)
Labour issues
During the summer of 1981 there was a major disruption of CBC programming as the technicians union, the
National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians
The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET-CWA) is a labor union representing employees in television, radio, film, and media production. A division of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), NABET represents abou ...
, went on strike. Local newscasts were cut back to the bare minimum. This had the effect of delaying the debut of '' The Journal'', which had to wait until January 1982.
The CBC has been affected by a number of other labour disputes since the late 1990s:
* In early 1999, CBC English- and French-network technicians in all locations outside
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
and
Moncton
Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...
, members of the
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, abbreviated CEP in English and SCEP in French, was a largely private sector labour union with 150,000 members, active from 1992 to 2013. It was created in 1992 through the merger of three u ...
, went on strike. The
Canadian Media Guild
The Canadian Media Guild (CMG) is a trade union representing employees at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (outside Quebec and New Brunswick), the Canadian Press, Thomson Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Netw ...
was set to strike as well, but the CBC settled with both unions.
* A similar dispute, again involving all technicians outside Quebec and Moncton, occurred in late 2001 and concluded by the end of the year.
* In spring 2002, on-air staff in Quebec and Moncton (again, on both English and French networks) were locked out by local management, leaving, among other things, NHL playoff games without commentary on French television.
2005 lock-out
On August 15, 2005, 5,500 employees of the CBC (about 90%) were
locked out
Lock(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
*Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance
*Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lock ...
by CBC CEO
Robert Rabinovitch
Robert Rabinovitch (born March 1, 1943) is a Canadian public servant and businessman who was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
in a dispute over future hiring practices. At issue were the rules governing the hiring of contract workers in preference to full-time hires. The locked-out employees were members of the
Canadian Media Guild
The Canadian Media Guild (CMG) is a trade union representing employees at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (outside Quebec and New Brunswick), the Canadian Press, Thomson Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Netw ...
, representing all production, journalistic and on-air personnel outside Quebec and Moncton, including several foreign correspondents. While CBC services continued during the lock-out, they were primarily made up of repeats, with news programming from the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
and newswires. Major CBC programs such as '' The National'' and ''
Royal Canadian Air Farce
The Royal Canadian Air Farce was a comedy troupe that was active from 1973 to 2019. It is best known for their various Canadian Broadcasting Corporation series, first on CBC Radio and later on CBC Television. Although their weekly radio series ...
'' were not produced during the lock-out; some non-CBC-owned programs seen on the network, such as ''
The Red Green Show
''The Red Green Show'' is a Canadian television comedy that aired on various channels in Canada, with its ultimate home at CBC Television, and on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States (airing on more than 100 PBS affiliates a ...
'', shifted to other studios. Meanwhile, the locked-out employees produced podcasts and websites such as ''CBCunplugged.com''.
After a hiatus, talks re-opened. On September 23,
Joe Fontana
Joseph Frank Fontana (born January 13, 1950) is an Italian-born Canadian politician. He was a Liberal member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1987 to 2006, and mayor of London, Ontario from 2010 until his 2014 convictions for fraud and ...
, the federal minister of labour, called Rabinovitch and Arnold Amber—the president of the CBC branch of the
Canadian Media Guild
The Canadian Media Guild (CMG) is a trade union representing employees at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (outside Quebec and New Brunswick), the Canadian Press, Thomson Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Netw ...
—to his office for talks aimed at ending the dispute. Late in the evening of October 2, 2005, it was announced that the CBC management and staff had reached a tentative deal which resulted in the CBC returning to normal operations on October 11. Some speculated that the looming October 8 start date for the network's most important television property, ''
Hockey Night in Canada
CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...
'', had acted as an additional incentive to resolve the dispute.
While all labour disputes resulted in cut-back programming and numerous repeat airings, the 2005 lock-out may have been the most damaging to CBC. All local programming in the affected regions was cancelled and replaced by abbreviated national newscasts and national radio morning shows.
BBC World
BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...
(television) and
World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
(radio), as well as Broadcast News feeds, were used to provide the remainder of original news content, and the CBC website consisted mainly of rewritten wire copy. Some BBC staff protested against their material being used during the CBC lock-out. "The
NUJ
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 38,000 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). ...
and
BECTU
The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU), formerly the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union, became a sector of the Prospect trade union in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2017 following th ...
will not tolerate their members' work being used against colleagues in Canada," said a joint statement by BBC unions. The CMG questioned whether, with its limited Canadian news content, the CBC was meeting its legal requirements under the ''
Broadcasting Act
Broadcasting Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom that relates to broadcasting. The Bill for an Act with this short title will usually h ...
'' and its CRTC licences.
Galaxie
Stingray Music is a Canada-based international multi-platform audio service that broadcasts continuous streaming music and other forms of audio on multiple channel feeds. The service is owned by Stingray Digital.
While a song is playing on the ...
(which CBC owned at the time) supplied some music content for the radio networks. Tapes of aired or produced documentaries, interviews and entertainment programs were also aired widely. Selected television sports coverage, including that of the
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
, continued, but without commentary.
As before, French-language staff outside of Quebec were also affected by the 2005 lock-out, although with Quebec producing the bulk of the French networks' programming, those networks were not as visibly affected by the dispute apart from local programs.
International broadcasts
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
,
Ici Radio-Canada Télé
Ici Radio-Canada Télé (formerly known as Télévision de Radio-Canada) is a Canadian French-language free-to-air television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada), the national pub ...
,
CBC News Network
CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is th ...
, and all other CBC channels can be received through cable and satellite TV channel providers across Canada, such as
Bell Satellite TV
Bell Satellite TV (french: Bell Télé; formerly known as Bell ExpressVu, Dish Network Canada and ExpressVu Dish Network and not to be confused with Bell's IPTV Bell Fibe TV, Fibe TV service) is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite ...
,
Telus
Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voi ...
Optik TV
Telus Optik TV is a product of Telus Communications, a subsidiary of Telus Corporation, that provides IPTV service in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec. The service offers over 630 digital channels, including more t ...
,
Rogers Cable
Rogers Cable Inc. is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, primarily in Southern & Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Ro ...
Cogeco
Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications and media company. Its corporate offices are located at 1 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec. The company is structured into three strategic business units (SBU); Cogeco Connexion, Breezeline ( ...
, and other smaller TV providers. The CBC and Radio-Canada channel signals can also be obtained free of charge, over-the-air, through antenna receivers in Canada's largest markets as well as in some border states along the Canada–U.S. border; however, CBC is not obtainable as a "
free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...
" (FTA) channel on FTA satellites (signals are encrypted on the Anik space satellites and require a dedicated satellite receiver).
Caribbean
Several
Caribbean Countries
This is a list of sovereign states and dependent territories in the Caribbean.
In a general sense, the Caribbean can be taken to mean all the nations in and around the Caribbean Sea that lie within an area that stretches from The Bahamas in th ...
carry feeds of CBC TV, including in:
*
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
, on the coral wave (Cable Bahamas) television system in the Northern Bahamas (Channel 8).
*
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
,
**on the
Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation
The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is a public radio and television broadcaster, located in The Pine, St. Michael in Barbados. It was founded in 1963 as Radio Barbados. The CBC falls under the ministry and jurisdiction of the Prim ...
-owned cable system ''
Multi-Choice TV
Multi-Choice TV (MCTV) is a television service provider in Barbados. It is a Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS) or DVB-C wireless microwave-based broadcast subscription television provider. They offer a variety of packages which c ...
'' (Channel 703); and
**on the
Columbus Communications
Columbus Communications was a cable television, telephone, and Broadband speed Internet service provider. Operating as a regional media company, Columbus is currently financially based in Barbados and provides services in Grenada, Jamaica, Trinid ...
-owned cable system ''
FLOW Barbados
FLOW is one of many trade names of the Caribbean former telecommunications Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), now known as Flow used to market cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the company. Flow also re ...
'' (Channel 132).
*
Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, mapsize2 =
, map_caption2 =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name =
, e ...
, on the CableVision digital cable service.
*
Grenada
Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...
, carried on
Columbus Communications
Columbus Communications was a cable television, telephone, and Broadband speed Internet service provider. Operating as a regional media company, Columbus is currently financially based in Barbados and provides services in Grenada, Jamaica, Trinid ...
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
, distributed in areas served by ''
FLOW Jamaica
FLOW is one of many trade names of the Caribbean former telecommunications Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), now known as Flow used to market cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the company. Flow also re ...
''.
*
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
, on the
Columbus Communications
Columbus Communications was a cable television, telephone, and Broadband speed Internet service provider. Operating as a regional media company, Columbus is currently financially based in Barbados and provides services in Grenada, Jamaica, Trinid ...
Trinidad Ltd. (CCTL) television system.
United States
CBC radio and television stations can be received over-the-air and have a significant audience in U.S. border communities such as Bellingham and
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, Washington;
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
;
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
; and
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...
. Farther from the border, some American fans of the network have acquired Canadian
IP address
An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...
es to stream its sports broadcasts. Some CBC programming is also rebroadcast on local public radio, such as
New Hampshire Public Radio
New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) is the National Public Radio member network serving the state of New Hampshire. NHPR is based in Concord and operates eight transmitters and six translators covering nearly the whole state, as well as portions of ...
,
Vermont Public Radio
Vermont Public Co. is the public broadcaster serving the U.S. state of Vermont. Its headquarters, newsroom, and radio studios are located in Colchester, with television studios in Winooski. It operates two statewide radio services aligned with ...
and the
Maine Public Broadcasting Network
The Maine Public Broadcasting Network (abbreviated MPBN and branded as Maine Public) is a state network of public television and radio stations located in the U.S. state of Maine. It is operated by the Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation, whic ...
. CBC television channels are available on cable systems located near the Canada–U.S. border. For example, CBET
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
is available on cable systems in the Detroit, Michigan, and
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...
, areas; much of the rest of the state of Michigan receives CBMT Montreal on cable.
CBUT
CBUT-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBUFT-DT (channel 26). Both stations share ...
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
is broadcast on
Comcast
Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
in the Seattle area. At night, the AM radio transmissions of both CBC and Radio-Canada services can be received over much of the northern portion of the United States, from stations such as CBW in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
.
On September 11, 2001, several American broadcasters without their own news operations, including
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
, carried the CBC's coverage of the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
in New York City and
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
In the days after September 11, C-SPAN carried CBC's nightly newscast, '' The National'', anchored by
Peter Mansbridge
Peter Mansbridge (born July 6, 1948) is a British-born Canadian retired news anchor. From 1988 to 2017, he was chief correspondent for CBC News and anchor of '' The National,'' CBC Television's flagship nightly newscast. He was also host of CB ...
. The quality of this coverage was recognised specifically by the
Canadian Journalism Foundation
Founded in 1990, The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) is a non-profit organization that promotes Canadian journalism by celebrating journalistic achievement through an annual awards program; by operating journalism websites, J-Source.ca (Eng ...
; editor-in-chief
Tony Burman
Tony Burman (born 13 June 1948) is a Canadian broadcaster, journalist and university official. Starting in the 1960s, Burman has worked as a journalist, in print, radio, television, and online. For most of this time (35 years), he was at the Can ...
later accepted the Excellence in Journalism Award (2004), for "rigorous professional practice, accuracy, originality and public accountability," on behalf of the service.
C-SPAN has also carried CBC's coverage of major events affecting Canadians, including:
Canadian federal election
This article provides a summary of results for Canadian general elections (where all seats are contested) to the House of Commons, the elected lower half of Canada's federal bicameral legislative body, the Parliament of Canada. The number of s ...
s, key proceedings in
Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the ...
, Six days in September 2000 that marked the
death and state funeral of Pierre Elliott Trudeau
The death and state funeral of Pierre Trudeau took place in September 2000. Pierre Trudeau was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from 1968 to 1984, with a brief interruption in 1979–1980. Trudeau died on September 28, 2000. His casket ...
U.S. presidential election
The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not direc ...
s (e.g. in
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
, C-SPAN picked up ''The National'' the day after the election for the view from Canadians), state visits and official visits of
American presidents
The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government an ...
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
stations also air some CBC programming. However, these programs are syndicated by independent distributors, and are not governed by the PBS "common carriage" policy. Other American broadcast networks sometimes air CBC reports, especially for Canadian events of international significance. For example, in the early hours after the Swissair Flight 111 disaster,
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
aired CBC's live coverage of the event. Also in the late 1990s,
CNN Headline News
HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the network primarily carries true crime programming.
The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982 by Turner Broadcasting as CNN2 (later renamed Headline News ...
aired a few CBC reports of events that were not significant outside Canada.
Newsworld International and Trio
From 1994 to 2000, the CBC, in a venture with Power Broadcasting (former owner of CKWS in Kingston), jointly owned two networks:
#
Newsworld International
Newsworld International (NWI) was an American news-oriented cable and satellite television network that operated from June 1994 to July 2005. The network carried a mix of newscasts from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and other internation ...
(NWI), an American cable channel that rebroadcast much of the programming of CBC Newsworld (now known as
CBC News Network
CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is th ...
).
# Trio, an arts and entertainment channel.
In 2000, CBC and Power Broadcasting sold these channels to
Barry Diller
Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American businessman. He is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. Diller was inducted into the Television Hall of ...
's
USA Networks
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. Diller's company was later acquired by
Vivendi Universal
Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...
, which in turn was partially acquired by
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
to form
NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States.
NBCUniversal is primari ...
. NBCUniversal still owns the Trio brand, which no longer has any association with the CBC (and became an Internet-only broadband channel which was later folded into
Bravo
Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels
*Bravo (band), a Russian rock band
* Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984
*Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...
.) The channel was shut down and was replaced with the NBCUniversal channel Sleuth (later known as
Cloo
Cloo (stylized as cloo) was an American pay television channel owned and operated by NBCUniversal which aired programming originally dedicated to the crime and mystery genres, though it often fell out of this format in its later years with a mor ...
).
However, the CBC continued to program NWI, with much of its programming simulcast on the domestic Newsworld service. In late 2004, as a result of a further change in NWI's ownership to the INdTV consortium (including
Joel Hyatt
Joel Z. Hyatt (born Joel Hyatt Zylberberg; May 6, 1950) is an American entrepreneur and former politician. He founded Hyatt Legal Services, in which capacity he became a household name for many years, as he was featured in his firm's nationwide ...
Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
), NWI ceased airing CBC programming on August 1, 2005, when it became
Current TV
Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a smalle ...
. Current later folded and became
Al Jazeera America
Al Jazeera America was an American pay television news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network. The channel was launched on August 20, 2013, to compete with CNN, HLN, MSNBC, Fox News, and in certain markets RT America. It was Al Jazeera' ...
on August 20, 2013.
International broadcast of radio programs
Some CBC Radio One programs, such as ''
Definitely Not the Opera
''Definitely Not the Opera'' (or simply ''DNTO'') was a magazine-style radio program focusing on aspects of pop culture and storytelling, that aired on CBC Radio One on Saturday afternoons from 1994 until 2016. The show's running time varied ove ...
'', ''
WireTap
Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...
As It Happens
''As It Happens'' is a Canadian interview show that airs on CBC Radio One in Canada and various public radio stations in the United States through Public Radio Exchange. Its 50th anniversary was celebrated on-air on November 16, 2018. It has been ...
'', also air on some stations associated with
American Public Media
American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and oper ...
or
Public Radio International
Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States.
PRI was one of the main providers of programm ...
. Some of the CBC's radio networks are available to
SiriusXM
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius S ...
subscribers in the United States, including CBC Radio One (a special feed that exclusively contains CBC-produced content and no regional programs) and Première (a simulcast of its Montreal flagship
CBF-FM
CBF-FM is a French-language Canadian radio station licensed to Montreal, Quebec.
Owned and operated by the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, it transmits on 95.1 MHz from the Mount Royal candelabra tower with an effective radia ...
), CBC Radio 3, and music-oriented services exclusive to SiriusXM.
Controversies
Allegations of bias
Several outlets and politicians over many years have accused
CBC News
CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...
of bias. Surveys have found the Canadian public perceives a centre-left/Liberal Party bias in CBC News coverage.
Falun Gong and ''Beyond the Red Wall''
In November 2007, the CBC replaced its documentary about
persecution of Falun Gong
The persecution of Falun Gong is the antireligious campaign initiated in 1999 by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to eliminate the spiritual practice of Falun Gong in China, maintaining a doctrine of state atheism. It is characterized by ...
members in China, ''Beyond the Red Wall: Persecution of Falun Gong'', at the last minute with a rerun episode regarding President
Pervez Musharraf
General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...
in Pakistan. The broadcaster had said to the press that "the crisis in Pakistan was considered more urgent and much more newsworthy," but sources from within the network itself had stated that the Chinese government had called the
Canadian Embassy
This is a list of diplomatic missions of Canada. Canada has an extensive diplomatic network maintained by Global Affairs Canada.
Overview
As a Commonwealth country, Canada's diplomatic missions in the capitals of other Commonwealth countries are ...
and demanded repeatedly that the program be taken off the air. The documentary in question was to air on Tuesday, November 6, 2007, on
CBC Newsworld
CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is th ...
, but was replaced. The documentary aired two weeks later on November 20, 2007,Beyond the Red Wall: The Persecution of Falun Gong ''Cbc.ca,'' November 20, 2007. after editing.
CBC President's comparison of Netflix's influence to colonialism
In January 2019 CBC President
Catherine Tait
Catherine Tait (born 1958) is a Canadian business executive who currently serves as the president and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She succeeded Hubert Lacroix for the position after being appointed on April 3, 2018, and begi ...
came under fire for comparing
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
to colonial
imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and parts of
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. Tait did not offer an apology and
Heather Mallick
Heather Mallick (born 1959) is a Canadian columnist, author and lecturer. She has been a staff columnist for the ''Toronto Star'' since 2010, writing a news column on Saturday and on the opinion page on Monday and Wednesday. She writes about femi ...
defended her comparison. Tait's comments made American headlines with J.J. McCullough of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' suggesting that "the state-sponsored" corporation shielded her from criticism and that the Canadian industry "was built in part as a bulwark against American influence." Canadian TV critic John Doyle, who has long criticized what he perceives as the low standards of Canadian programming, claimed that CBC had a problem of complacency rather than imperialism.
Closed captioning
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
was an early leader in broadcasting programming with
closed captioning
Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio por ...
for the
hearing impaired
Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken l ...
, airing its first captioned programming in 1981. Captioned programming in Canada began with the airing of ''
Clown White
A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms.
History
The most ancient clowns have been found in t ...
'' in English-language and French-language versions on CBC Television and Radio-Canada, respectively. Most sources list that event as occurring in 1981, while others list the year as 1982.
In 1997, Henry Vlug, a deaf lawyer in Vancouver, filed a complaint with the
Canadian Human Rights Commission
The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) was established in 1977 by the government of Canada. It is empowered under the ''Canadian Human Rights Act'' to investigate and to try to settle complaints of discrimination in employment and in the pro ...
(CHRC) alleging that an absence of captioning on some programming on CBC Television and
Newsworld
CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is th ...
infringed on his rights as a person with a disability. A ruling in 2000 by the
Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (french: Tribunal canadien des droits de la personne, link=no) is an administrative tribunal established in 1977 through the ''Canadian Human Rights Act''. It is directly funded by the Parliament of Canada and i ...
, which later heard the case, sided with Vlug and found that an absence of captioning constituted discrimination on the basis of disability. The Tribunal ordered CBC Television and Newsworld to caption the entirety of their broadcast days, "including television shows, commercials, promos and unscheduled news flashes, from sign on until sign off."
The ruling recognized that "there will inevitably be glitches with respect to the delivery of captioning," but that "the rule should be full captioning." In a negotiated settlement to avoid appealing the ruling to the
Federal Court of Canada
The Federal Court of Canada, which succeeded the Exchequer Court of Canada in 1971, was a national court of Canada that had limited jurisdiction to hear certain types of disputes arising under the federal government's legislative jurisdiction. ...
, CBC agreed to commence 100% captioning on CBC Television and Newsworld beginning November 1, 2002. CBC Television and Newsworld are apparently the only broadcasters in the world required to caption the entire broadcast day. However, published evidence asserts that CBC is not providing the 100% captioning ordered by the Tribunal.
In 2004, Canadian retired senator
Jean-Robert Gauthier
Jean-Robert Gauthier, (October 22, 1929 – December 10, 2009) was a Canadian politician.
A chiropractor by training, he entered politics as trustee on a local school board. He was elected to the House of Commons of Canada to represent t ...
, a hard-of-hearing person, filed a complaint with the CHRC against Radio-Canada concerning captioning, particularly the absence of real-time captioning on newscasts and other live programming. As part of the settlement process, Radio-Canada agreed to submit a report on the state of captioning, especially real-time captioning, on Radio-Canada and RDI. The report, which was the subject of some criticism, proposed an arrangement with Cité Collégiale, a college in Ottawa, to train more French-language real-time captioners.
English-language specialty networks owned or co-owned by CBC, including documentary, have the lower captioning requirements typical of larger Canadian broadcasters (90% of the broadcast day by the end of both networks' licence terms).
ARTV
Ici ARTV (stylized as ICI artv) is a Television in Canada, Canadian French language specialty channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada). The channel broadcasts the arts and culture includin ...
, the French-language specialty network co-owned by CBC, has a minimum captioning requirement of 53%.
2013 Radio-Canada rebranding
On June 5, 2013, the CBC announced that it would be phasing out the Radio-Canada brand from its French-language broadcast properties, and unifying them under names prefixed with "''Ici''" ('this is' or literally 'here'). For instance, the CBC planned to re-brand '' Télévision de Radio-Canada'' as "''Ici Télé''", ''
Première Chaîne
A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition.
A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...
'' as "''Ici Première''", and move its French-language website from '' Radio-Canada.ca'' to ''ici.ca''. Radio-Canada vice-president
Louis Lalande
Louis Lalande is the current executive vice president of French language services at Société Radio-Canada. Lalande was appointed on January 16, 2012, after serving as interim, since September 16, 2011.
Lalande has been with SRC for thirty years ...
stated that the new name complemented its multi-platform operations, while also serving as an homage to the broadcaster's historic
station identification
Station identification (ident, network ID or channel ID or bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and broadcast network, networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name (sometimes known, ...
slogan since the 1930s, "''ici Radio-Canada''" ('this is Radio-Canada').
The announcement was criticized by politicians (such as
Minister of Canadian Heritage
The minister of Canadian heritage (french: ministre du patrimoine canadien) is the minister of the Crown who heads Canadian Heritage, the department of the Government of Canada responsible for culture, media, sports, and the arts.
History
The po ...
James Moore), who felt that the new "Ici" brand was too confusing, and that the CBC was diminishing the value of the Radio-Canada name through its plans to downplay it. The re-branding was also criticized for being unnecessary spending, reportedly costing $400,000, in the midst of budget cuts at the CBC. On June 10, in response to the criticism,
Hubert Lacroix
Hubert T. Lacroix (born July 13, 1955) is a Canadian lawyer who last served as the President and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the national public radio and television broadcaster, from 2008 until 2018.
Born in Montreal, Qu ...
apologized for the decision and announced that the new brands for its main radio and television networks would be revised to restore the Radio-Canada name alongside Ici, such as "''Ici Radio-Canada Première''".
In March 2013, the CBC also filed a
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
lawsuit against Sam Norouzi, founder of
CFHD-DT
CFHD-DT (channel 47) is an independent multicultural television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, owned by Sam Norouzi and his family. The station's studios are located on Christophe Colomb Avenue in Montreal's Ahuntsic district, at the home ...
—a new multicultural station in Montreal—seeking to have Norouzi's registration on the name "ICI" (as an abbreviation of "International Channel/Canal International") cancelled because it was too similar to its own "Ici"-related trademarks. Despite Norouzi's trademark having been registered prior to the registration of CBC's, the corporation argued that Norouzi's application contained incorrect information surrounding his first use of the name in commerce, and also asserted the long-time use of "Ici Radio-Canada" as part of its imaging. Norouzi stated that he planned to fight the CBC in court.
Suspension of local newscasts during the COVID-19 pandemic
On March 18, 2020, in the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, CBC News suspended all of its English-language local newscasts (excluding those carried by
CBC North
CBC North ( iu, ᓰᐲᓰ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ, lit=CBC Northwest, translit=, SiiPiiSii Ukiuqtaqtumi; cr, ᓰᐲᓰ ᒌᐌᑎᓅᑖᐦᒡ, label=cr, SiiPiiSii Chiiwetinuutaahch; french: Radio-Canada Nord) is the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora ...
, which include an English-language newscast and a second in
Inuktitut
Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...
), replacing them in their time slots with
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
s of
CBC News Network
CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is th ...
. The CBC stated that this was done in order to pool its local resources to CBC News Network as a "core news offering." An employee memo suggested that a lack of staff at the
Canadian Broadcasting Centre
The Canadian Broadcasting Centre, also known as the CBC Toronto Broadcast Centre, is an office and studio complex located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It serves as the main broadcast and master control point for the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora ...
and "much stricter newsgathering protocols" were another factor in the decision. CBC News editor-in-chief Brodie Fenlon similarly stated that the broadcaster had decided to consolidate news production because their outbreak had "place incredible demands on our staff and our infrastructure", and not all jobs associated with television production were capable of being done remotely. These consolidations only affect news programming on CBC Television;
CBC Radio
CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...
and
Ici Radio-Canada Télé
Ici Radio-Canada Télé (formerly known as Télévision de Radio-Canada) is a Canadian French-language free-to-air television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada), the national pub ...
have continued to carry local content.
The CBC's decision faced criticism for its lack of clear justification, and resulting reduction of local news coverage during a major news event—especially in markets where CBC's local newscasts are the only news programming specific to the region (such as
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
, which resulted in criticism of the move by
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
Dennis King
Dennis King (born Dennis Pratt, 2 November 1897 – 21 May 1971) was an English actor and singer.
Early years
Born on 2 November 1897 in Coventry, Warwickshire, or Birmingham, England, King was the son of John and Elizabeth King Pratt. He ...
). The
Canadian Media Guild
The Canadian Media Guild (CMG) is a trade union representing employees at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (outside Quebec and New Brunswick), the Canadian Press, Thomson Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Netw ...
stated that the decision "flies in the face of past experience which has proven time and again that in times of significant events, Canadians trust and rely on CBC news coverage, particularly for its widespread coverage of regional and local impact, something no other Canadian network can match." ''
Montreal Gazette
The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
'' media writer Steve Faguy questioned whether this change was in compliance with the individual stations' CRTC licences, as all CBC stations are required to produce local newscasts daily, and a minimum amount of local programming per-week.
In an editorial for ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', former CTV News president Robert Hurst stated that it was unusual for a journalistic operation to cut back on its operations during a crisis, and suggested that decision was the culmination of "decades of CBC News mismanagement" and low ratings in comparison to competitors (such as CTV, Global, and Citytv) in most markets. The ''Toronto Star'' similarly wrote that the CBC had "decided to bail on local communities across the country".
On March 24, the CBC announced that it would introduce "an expanded 30-minute local news segment on CBC News Network" beginning March 25, and would "make every effort to have all of the dedicated local shows back up on the main network".
CBC Tandem and branded content
Since 2016, the CBC has utilized
branded content In marketing, branded content (also known as branded entertainment) is Content (media), content produced by an advertiser or content whose creation was funded by an advertiser. In contrast to content marketing (in which content is presented first an ...
, publishing advertisements that are designed to look, read or sound similarly to news produced by the CBC itself. In 2020 the CBC formally launched a division called Tandem that focused its branded content marketing efforts, promising corporate clients they can "leverage" the CBC's reputation by aligning their message with the "trust Canadians have in our brand". Over 500 current and former employees called on CBC management to end Tandem, saying "in an era of 'fake news,' where misinformation is already rife, it undermines trust...what's worse, it uses anadians'tax dollars to do it." In November 2020 former employees requested that the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
investigate Tandem as part of the public broadcaster's upcoming licence renewal, concerned the content blurs the lines between advertising and news, adding that "Canadians have a right to a national public broadcaster that puts their news and information needs ahead of the desires of corporate clients."
Private sector media criticized the CBC's ability to dominate the Canadian advertising market, using taxpayer-funded subsidies to unfairly compete with local newspapers and broadcasters, driving them out of business.
CBC President and CEO Catherine Tait states that the CBC has since put "guardrails" in place that will ensure there is no confusion between CBC journalism and commercial advertising.
The CRTC integrated its investigation of Tandem into its hearings on the renewal of CBC's federal broadcast licences, ultimately renewing the CBC's licence from 2022 to 2027 and approving the Tandem program. The CRTC required that the CBC must establish, maintain, and publicize their guidelines on branded content as well as measure whether branded content is confusing to Canadians.
The CRTC decision has been criticized as allowing the CBC to disregard its mandate as a public broadcaster, transforming into a "publicly funded commercial broadcaster."
Kenneth Muzik verdict
On December 15, 2021, Manitoba Bench Justice Herbert Rempel ordered the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to pay investment advisor Kenneth Wayne Muzik nearly $1.7 million in damages for a story it had aired in June 2012 featuring a former client, William Worthington, who complained about the performance of his investment portfolio. Muzik was represented by William Gange of Gange Collins Holloway. In March 2022, Rempel ordered CBC to pay nearly $300 thousand to cover Muzik's legal fees.
See also
*
*
*
CBC Museum
The CBC Museum was dedicated to the preserving the physical heritage and archival materials relating to the history of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It was located in the Canadian Broadcasting Centre at 250 Front Street   ...
*
Concentration of media ownership
Concentration of media ownership (also known as media consolidation or media convergence) is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media. Contemporary research demonstrates in ...
*
List of public broadcasters by country
This is a list of public broadcasters by country.
Major broadcasters
Africa Algeria
*Établissement public de télévision — Algeria
** TV 1: Arabic Channel
** TV 2: French Channel
** TV 3: News Channel
** TV 4: Tamazigth Channel
** TV ...
*
List of public service radio stations
This article contains the names of public service broadcasters and their radio channels. "Public service broadcaster" is a term for a very diverse range of mass media organizations. They are maintained or owned by the government of a country, s ...
*
Media in Canada
The media of Canada is diverse and highly regionalized. News media, both print and digital and in both official languages, is largely dominated by a handful of major media corporations. The largest of these corporations is the country’s natio ...
*
Public Francophone Radios
The Public Francophone Radios (French: ''Radios francophones publiques'') is a group of French-speaking radio broadcasters comprising Radio France, Radio Canada, the Radio Télévision Suisse and RTBF.
It produces programmes such as ''L'actualité ...
*
Réseau de l'information
Ici RDI (stylized ICI RDI) is a Canadian French-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada). The channel began broadcasting on January 1, 1995 as Réseau de l'inform ...
References
Further reading
* Allen, Gene, and Daniel J. Robinson, eds. ''Communicating in Canada's Past: Essays in Media History'' (University of Toronto Press, 2009)
* Graham, Sean. "A Canadian Network? The CBC and Television, 1936–1939." ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'' (2014) pp: 1–19.
* Ménard, Marion. ''CBC/Radio-Canada: Overview and Key Issues'' (Library of Parliament publication No. 2013-92; 2013 online 11 pages
* Murray, Gil. ''Nothing on but the radio: a look back at radio in Canada and how it changed the world'' (Dundurn, 2003); Popular history
* Peers, Frank W. ''The politics of Canadian broadcasting, 1920–1951'' (University of Toronto Press, 1969)
* Taras, David. ''Digital Mosaic: Media, Power, and Identity in Canada'' (University of Toronto Press, 2015)
* Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth. "Empire and broadcasting in the interwar years: towards a consideration of public broadcasting in the British dominions." ''Critical Arts'' (2015) 29#1 pp: 77–93.
* Weir, Earnest Austin. ''The struggle for national broadcasting in Canada'' (McClelland and Stewart, 1965)
Primary sources
*
In French
* Bergeron, Raymonde, and Marcelle Ouellette. ''Voix, visages et legends: Radio-Canada 1936–1986''. Montreal, Que.: Entreprises Radio-Canada, 1986. ''N.B''.: The subtitle appears on front cover. 256 p., ill. with b&w ports.
* Witmer, Glenn Edward, and Jacques Chaput, eds. ''50 .e. Cinquanteans de radio: Radio-Canada, 1936–1986''. Montreal, Que.: Entreprises Radio-Canada, 1986. 47 p., amply ill., chiefly with b&w photos.