Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ubc-cs.UUCP Path: utzoo!utcsri!ubc-vision!ubc-ean!ubc-cs!acton 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