CBC Cuts 657 jobs and $130 Million

By Stephen Pate – BREAKING NEWS – CBC/Radio Canada President Hubert Lacroix is announcing cuts of $130 million annually.  Considering Hockey Night in Canada losses may exceed $200 million, more cuts are on the way.

CBC/Radio Canada is eliminating 657 positions over 2 years and CBC/Radio Canada will no longer compete for professional sports rights.

CBC/Radio Canada cancels planned expansion of regions, including London, Ont.

Breaking – CBC to cut 657 jobs, will no longer compete for professional sports rights

Funding shortfalls and revenue losses have forced CBC/Radio-Canada to cut $130 million from its budget this year, a move that will eliminate 657 jobs over the next two years and take the network out of competing for the rights to broadcast professional sports, the public broadcaster says.

“Very tough and controversial choices needed to be made and were made,” CBC president and CEO Hubert T. Lacroix said in a townhall meeting with staff Thursday.

Lacroix said CBC could no longer compete against private broadcasters that have specialty sports channels and multiple media platforms. The result will mean “substantially reducing” the size of the sports department and covering fewer sporting events, including amateur sports. But the CBC will still compete for sporting events of national significance, like the Olympics.
Among the cuts, English Services will slash $82 million from its budget and eliminate 334 full-time jobs.

Radio will also reduce some of its live music performances and some local musical performance shows will be cancelled or consolidated into regional shows.

Losing the rights to broadcast Hockey Night in Canada to Rogers was a significant loss, but only one of the factors leading to Thursday’s announced changes.

CBC has been coping with a loss of $115 million in federal government funding over three years that was announced in the 2012 federal budget.

Meanwhile, a softening of the advertising market and CBC’s poor performance in attracting the important 25-54 age demographic to its prime-time TV schedule represented a $47-million hit to the network’s revenue.

Projected advertising sales for Radio 2 and Espace Musique have also fallen short, resulting in a $13-million loss.

As well, fixed-cost increases of $42 million and a $30-million funding freeze from the federal government added pressures to the broadcaster’s budget.  From CBC Alerts and CBC.ca

Follow me on Twitter at @sdpate or on Facebook at NJN Network, OyeTimes and IMA News Buzz.

By Stephen Pate, NJN Network