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From: acton@ubc-cs.UUCP (Donald Acton)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Re: Nationalization/Crown Corps.
Message-ID: <1151@ubc-cs.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 12-Jul-85 01:46:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: ubc-cs.1151
Posted: Fri Jul 12 01:46:01 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 12-Jul-85 06:45:29 EDT
References: <1121@ubc-cs.UUCP> <1110@mnetor.UUCP> <1135@ubc-cs.UUCP> <1252@mnetor.UUCP>
Reply-To: acton@ubc-cs.UUCP (Donald Acton)
Distribution: can
Organization: UBC Department of Computer Science, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Lines: 92
Summary: 

I realize it is not normal to post facts to Usenet but a few concerning the
CBC are in order. All of these figures are from the 1983-84 annual report
of the CBC for the year ending March 31 1984. For that period of 
time the CBC's total budget was $979,416,000 of which the federal government
provided $815,253,000. In addition the federal government provided
$33,000,000 in interest free loans. The CBC's report claimed that they
employed `about 12,000' people full time. (Yup, that is how the CBC reported
its employement figures.)

In article <1252@mnetor.UUCP> sophie@mnetor.UUCP writes:
>Wait a minute there!  CBC was never meant to be a profit-making
>operation.  It is a service operation providing information, ideas,
>entertainment to people. 

Originally the CBC was created to regulate (yes regulate) access to the
airwaves and to provide a radio service. One of the goals of the radio
service was to "protect" us from domination by U.S. radio. Sort of 
sounds like the CRTC and its attitude to U.S. TV signals.

According to a government report entitiled "An evaluation of the Canadian
Broadcasting System", additional goals of the system now include 
safeguarding, enriching and strengthening the political, social and
economic fabric of the nation. Freedom of speech is unquestioned except
where it conflicts with the law or the above mentioned goals. (The above
is paraphrased from the report.) These conditions apply to all broadcasters
including the CBC.

This suggests to me that yes indeed the purpose of the CBC has never been 
to make a profit. Instead it and the associated broadcast acts are attempts
by the government to try and influence the way we think and to enshrine 
the legality of this intervention in law. (No wonder I have heard of people
in West Vancouver calling the CBC the Communist Broadcasting Corporation.)
Fortunately for us, events transpired that prevented this from happening 
and instead the CBC became a big sink whole for government money.

>From what I have heard so far, CBC radio programs are also the most
>professional, informative and intelligent in North America.  I don't
>watch enough TV to know about CBC TV vs other networks. 

This, of course, is personal preference. I personally do not listen 
to CBC radio because I don't like it. I seldom watch CBC productions on TV
for the same reason, but they do produce a couple of good shows. The CBC TV
news appears to be produced by a bunch of navel-gazers who think the centre
of the universe lies between Toronto and Ottawa. How else could you explain
five minutes of drivel concerning some fight between two Toronto area
mayors over a trivial problem that the people of Toronto probably didn't care
about let alone the rest of the nation?

>Given the
>cuts in CBC's budget, it is amazing that they are still managing to
>produce such high-quality programs. 

As I recall the CBC's budget was cut by between $80 and $90 million dollars
which is a drop in the bucket compared to their total expenditures. If the
shows they produce are so great and of such high quailty they should have 
no problem selling the programs directly to another network or time to 
advertisers to make up the difference. But hold on a sec, maybe the CBC
is producing high quality stuff that nobody wants. I bet we could build
some real fancy high quality buggy whips in a government factory too but
who would use them?  Just because the product goes off and pollutes the
airwaves instead of piling up in a warehouse doesn't mean that it is 
being used. Given the massive amount of government money required
to sustain the CBC octopus I would suggest that this is indeed the case. 
I have never seen a set of audience ratings for the Vancouver area where 
either CBC AM or FM radio had any sort of audience compared to the 
other stations. As far as TV is concerned the CBC's six o'clock news
is constantly hammered by BCTV's Newshour.  Any of the CBC's programs
that draw a decent audience can usually be found on a U.S. station. (Except
for perhaps hockey games and I am sure that CTV would love to broadcast
some of them.) 

The question then becomes one of should the general population of 
Canada be asked to provide a service that only an elite few make use of? 
My answer is no. If I had my way the only government subsidized function 
of the CBC would be to forward radio signals (not necessarily CBC radio)
to those communities that can't get anything else. TV to isolated regions
is not an issue since you can just point a dish at the appropriate satellite
and pick up BCTV or some other station. 

>  These operations provide many
>intangible benefits to society that can even be eventually translatable
>in $$$$$$$$$$$, but do not have to be if they contribute to the overall
>happiness of people.  

There are lots of events that I participate in that contibute to my happiness
and to that of lots of other people who do the same but we don't expect the
government to foot the bill for those activities. Like lots of people in 
the Vancouver area I like to ski and it sure would be nice if the government
would provide free lift tickets for my favourite mountain but it is hardly
something a reasonable person would expect. 

Donald Acton