theMediaman.com

Today, I only have enough time to write in my journal, or do my workout. I should be walking the two miles my heart needs to stay healthy. Lately I’ve noticed a lot of unusual happenings through the CBC and I’m compelled to write about it instead of doing a cardiovascular workout. Sorry, Heart. At least I’m not doing this as I eat KFC.

One of the biggest proponents of kicking CBC out of the competitive broadcasting market, Issy Asper, died in 2003. After that, it seemed the debate about whether or not CBC should be allowed to compete for broadcasting quality on the same level as Canwest and CTV all but disappeared. A lot of the arguing that CBC shouldn’t be showing Hollywood films and professional sports died down. I’m curious who’s fault it is that the Board members got a little too comfortable in their seats.

Recapping the last year…

A CBC worker strike. Postponed seasons and nearly ending the CFL season before it started. When CBC broadcast the games as direct camera feeds, it turned out viewers liked it as much or more than with all the frivolous eye- and ear-candy. It was a rather long strike, given the magnitude of its effect, but that wasn’t the end of the signs of discontent.

There have been a LOT of job postings for CBC. That can simply mean that they’re having a stretch of prosperity. It can also mean that a lot of employees are leaving vacant spots behind for better jobs and more appreciation in the industry.

CBC has enjoyed phenominal reviews for their coverage of the Olympics year after year. With a bit of a surprise attack, CTV banded with Rogers to win the Canadian broadcasting rights for 2008. Following that, Brian Williams joined the CTV family… and shortly afterwards had the remainder of his contract with the CBC terminated. From reports, it doesn’t sound like it was a friendly handshake sort of meeting.

It doesn’t even sound like the Mighty Peter Mansbridge has seniority. They’re pushing off CBC’s 10 o’clock news flagship program, “The National” so that they can air an American Idol rip-off on Tuesdays. He’s not happy about it, but I doubt he’s going to “Pull a Brian Williams”… I was trying to inject a clever pop-culture term there, but it just sounds rude. Sorry.

In addition to moving George Stroumboulopoulos’ “The Hour” on to the network from the 8:00 & 11:00 home on CBC Newsworld, and putting it simply at 11:00 pm on CBC, the network is restructuring itself to a younger audience. I haven’t found details on how the postponed “National” and “The Hour” are going to share traffic. I assume they’ve already figured all this out. I’m not going to say CBC’s reach for a younger audience won’t work… it could, and I hope it does. However, they’ve tried this before (poor Ralph Benmergui). It failed miserably.

This time, they seem to be alienating their established audience by pushing around the schedule to accomodate yet another Reality TV show. Also, if George is supposed to bring in the younger viewers, how many 15 year olds will stay up until midnight in order to watch a news program?

Apparently the Canadian Senate attributes this to CBC’s need to compete in the commercial market for advertising dollars. Their solution is to pump up funding 40% to cover the 400 million CBC will lose by removing ads from their broadcasts. At the same time, they’ll have to remove professional sports (including NHL?) from their lineup.

The Conservatives seem to be staying out of this. They don’t like the CBC or the Senate, so I think they’re happy to let them fight it out. The media isn’t so happy about it, since the Senate’s also proposing a manditory government approval on any media merger that claims over 35% of the market. So now CTV and Canwest need to take CBC’s side without looking like they’re defending them. Currently, they’re just playing up the whole “both sides are acting childish” angle.

The CBC is positioning itself for the younger audience, but they’re not going to get it with this lineup. Again, they’re going to make the effort by alienating the established audience. That’s not even the worst of it.

There seems to be a self destruction happening within CBC HQ. The uppers are not playing nice with the peons. It’s been simmering out of the public eye for perhaps longer than we realize, but it’s obviously reaching a point where the internal mess will spill out for all to see.