EIGHT HUNDRED POSITIONS.
400 English, 400 French. Across all services. That's about 10% of the workforce.
Layoffs begin in Summer, complete by September
No additional U.S. programming, No commercials on radio.
National Radio will be cut substantially...lot more repeats.
$50 million cut to programming budget
$175 Million shortfall.
No station closures, yet.
$125 Million worth of assets to be sold to make up one time shortfall.
83% of cuts to TV, 17% to Radio.
Senior managers take minimum 20% cut including bonuses.
bit of math I don't understand exactly -- apparently before today, regional costs were 40% of budget. They're getting a cut of 20%.
More as it develops... but this is deep, broad, and brutal.
UPDATE 4:33 PM: MSM coverage here and here.
9 comments:
What a ridiculous example of elitist-think!
Wouldn't it be easier to not sell any assets or maybe not have to destroy so many careers and just run some fricken advertising!?!
What noble tradition are they really protecting anyway?
Or are their news and radio people so easily influenced that the proximity of commerce might sway their journalistic principles?
Okay, I'm not sure I'm understanding this right.
Is Jim right in his assessment of this situation? Boiling it down, did this happen because the CBC refused to run Ads? (That doesn't seem... sensible to me. But again, I dunno - I just read Jim's response and went 'whaaaa...?')
Feel free to let loose with the cat-o-nine tails.
Oh for the love of God, can't anyone even go to Lunch anymore.
Brando, take the paper bag, now breathe into it...now exhale.
Uncle Jimmy, I know in these times we all want to rage and vent. But I have it on good authority that even the discussion of advertising on the CBC at the pre stage went like this.
Ad agencies: Um. Do you think the problem right now isn't sufficient places to ADVERTISE?
End of discussion. The slump being what it is, the politics of getting into encroachment on Private Radio what it is, and the fact that we are talking 171 million dollars THIS YEAR, Advertising was no magic bullet. Plus, once you dig down into the muck of it...CBC radio listeners are happy. The programs do well, the morning shows are number one in a lot of markets, and rocking the boat of the thing that works might not have been the best way to approach.
And that's before we get to the whole 'arm's length can't have ads influencing what we make type thing.'
According to Hubert, labor is 60% of the CBC's costs. A shortfall that high and you have to cut jobs, and programming pure and simple.
And the other thing if I'm reading the coverage right, the 158 million dollar shortfall they went to the govt with (which becomes 171 when you add in some strategic investment money for new media -- which the CBC probably shouldn't be cutting right now) is DEPENDENT on that 125 million asset sale, dig? So without it, you're looking at, well...I'm an artist -- what's 171 plus 125?
This is brutal. Let us make no mistake. And it's political. The Cons hate the CBC and they don't care if they get flak for hating the CBC because it looks good for their base and anyone who loves the CBC wasn't going to vote for them anyway.
There's plenty of time to pile on when we hear actual deets. But I'm not going to freak out because they decided they were "too good" for advertising. That's not what's going on, and to suggest it is is to be one more person back seat driving the CBC.
one of these days hopefully we'll get a government who'll take a serious look at that crazy mandate that's vague and you could fly a plane through and make some rational decisions. But for now. Ugh... not a great day.
Yeah, not freaking out here but as I'm still finding my way though this story - well, I see numbers like that and my mind kind of kicks into Fight or Flight mode.
Trying to stay calm and/or collected yet there's a whole bigger picture I'm just not seeing yet.
But thanks for the clarification, man. Much appreciated.
Sad thing Brando, it's not the first big cut - and it won't be the last.
Okay, don't fully trust my math either, but I believe your figures actually need to be reversed. The total is $171M of which $125M is assets, leaving $46M to come out of operating costs or about 50K for each of the 800 people lost.
Obviously, most don't make that much and some of those cuts are coming from the exec 20% deduction and production.
But my point was that there are companies who would love to be associated with "The National" or interested in targeting the CBC radio demographic.
My Gawd, the Birkenstocks revenue alone would have been massive. ;)
The incredible synchronicity the CBC has achieved between some of their offerings and the online community would also be very attractive to many brands as is their already successful online re-purposing of hockey for Punjabi and Mandarin audiences.
Saying there's already ample shelf space is simply not the way ad buyers work -- although it probably makes a good argument if you didn't really want to sell the ad time in the first place.
I'm not saying they could have solved the whole problem with ads, but there was the potential to save some jobs and production -- maybe a lot of them -- and it.
And when times change and 11 of 12 Canadians don't access the CBC at all -- maybe you need to try a few new things.
But instead of asking for more money from parliament like they've always done, I don't think I've seen CBC management even try to come up with some alternatives.
Oh and in case you missed it -- the CBC still has lots of money for some people -- courtesy today's NY Times:
"A spokesman for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said that the conviction would not change its plans to air a second season of “Triple Sensation,” a reality series in which Mr. Drabinsky and four other panelists look for young stars who can sing, act and dance."
Also failing to mention there will be nowhere for the winner to sing,act or dance at the CBC once the show is over.
I thought I'd read that the feds said no to ads on CBC radio, as they said no to purchasing US programming and no to a loan. This government wants their demise and has found a way to make that happen.
And costs - at the CBC, post costs three times what it does in the real world. So there are some real issues to be addressed there.
I think, too, they have done themselves a disservice by turning their backs on the kinds of programming that actually brought them viewers in that million range - stories from history and myth.
Even the BBC knows that while it, too, programs "popular" fare, it always has a raft of literary adaptations, of great pieces of history (even if it's not their own, like Rome), subjects that no other broadcaster will do. And they do these very, very well.
And, if memory serves, this is not the first major shake-up at the Mother Corp and, hopefully, it won't be the last.
Hoping it'll never be the last, and that the next one will be one that we'll celebrate instead of being enraged over. No "monkey's paw" scenarios involved, either.
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