Liberals move to modernize CBC good for TVA A year after CBC president Catherine Tait defended the public broadcaster’s foray into sponsored content in front of the country’s broadcast regulator, the Liberal government has set its sights on moving the CBC away from the advertising business. The Liberals have promised $400 million over four years to make the CBC less reliant on advertising, and are aiming to ensure the public broadcaster’s programming is more distinct from its private sector competition.
“CBC really suffers from a sort of dualistic life as a half public broadcaster, and half of the time it thinks of itself as a commercial broadcaster. And I think that has to end if we’re going to get value from our investment in CBC in the years to come,” said former CRTC vice-chair Peter Menzies.
Private broadcasters have long maintained that CBC shouldn’t be competing with them.
“The CBC likes advertising but doesn’t need it,” said Kevin Desjardins, the president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. “They have an ability to skew the advertising market in a way, because it is not as essential as it is for private broadcasters, where that is the lifeblood of their business model.”