What’s on TV, eh? Not much that is Canadian
International Herald Tribune – August 20, 2005
Ian Austin, N.Y. Times
The million or so Canadians who watch the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s flagship evening news program, "The National," were treated to something a little different this past week.
After the lockout of about 5,300 of its employees, the broadcaster offered a BBC newscast instead of "The National." Light on Canadian content, the BBC World program offered, among other things, an in-depth look at an unusually large number of dolphins frolicking off the coast of Wales.
Since the lockout began Monday, the CBC has replaced all its English-language services, including two radio networks, a television network, cable channels, Web sites and local stations, with a mix of reruns, elegiac classical music and sometimes less-than-relevant foreign programming.
"Traditional CBC viewers who don't have access to BBC World on digital will find the BBC news a novelty for - perhaps - a few minutes," wrote John Doyle, the television critic of The Toronto Globe and Mail. "But as soon as the reports about soccer and cricket start, they are bound to be alienated and frustrated. They will probably turn to some other news service to find out what is actually going on in Canada."
While viewers of "The National" may be faintly amused, others are watching more anxiously. The government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corp. has many programs that attract significant, sometimes market-leading, audiences. News and sports programming, particularly hockey, on CBC Television are important advertising outlets for many leading Canadian companies that are now reassessing where to spend their money.
"Our clients who have CBC News as part of their campaigns are looking for compensation," said Sunni Boot, president and chief executive of ZenithOptimedia Canada, an ad-buying house with headquarters in Toronto. "While it can have international content, news has to be domestic. Dolphins off the coast of Wales - forget it."
The contract dispute between the CBC and the Canadian Media Guild centers on the broadcaster's desire to expand the number of jobs that can be filled by contract employees, rather than permanent workers.
Currently about 28 percent of the CBC's English-service employees are on contract or in temporary and freelance positions. (Employees at the CBC's Quebec operation are covered by separate labor agreements and remain at work.)
Jason MacDonald, a spokesman at the CBC's head office in Ottawa, said that pressure on traditional broadcasting from the Internet means that the broadcaster must have greater labor flexibility.
"This isn't about eliminating a permanent work force," MacDonald said. "We recognize that the majority of our employees will be permanent. It's about addressing a changing broadcasting world. With new, experimental shows that may not work out, does it make sense to have a permanent employee for whom you have no work?"
But Arnold Amber, president of the CBC branch of the Canadian Media Guild, said that a contract negotiated in 1996 already gives the CBC the ability to use contract workers initially on new projects. Amber contends that before negotiations collapsed Sunday night, a negotiating proposal from the CBC had the potential to convert half the jobs held by union members into contract positions.
"We believe that people working together, doing the same job, should have the same rights and privileges," Amber said from Toronto, the CBC's English broadcasting base. "The health of public broadcasting rests on people actually being able to build a career."
"We wouldn't be asking what we're asking for if the contract gave us the flexibility we need," MacDonald said.
While it was the CBC's decision to disrupt its own operations, the lockout comes at a difficult time for the broadcaster. It lost 20 million Canadian dollars, or $16.4 million, from the lockout by the National Hockey League last year, which took away the CBC's single-biggest generator of ads and audience from October to June, the length of the hockey season.
The CBC receives about two-thirds of its budget from the federal government, which substantially cut its contribution a decade ago.
While there are no immediate plans to extend domestic news beyond limited headline reports, the CBC still plans to broadcast games of the Canadian Football League and the National Hockey League. The coverage, however, is unlikely to resemble traditional game broadcasts. This week, the CBC said that rather than turn its managers into amateur announcers, it would broadcast only the audio its microphones picked up off the field or the rink.
Some viewers might actually welcome the absence of running commentary. Chris McCracken, the senior director of broadcasting for the Canadian Football League, however, said the league found the idea unacceptable and was negotiating with the broadcaster to provide some sort of commentary for a game this weekend.
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