TORONTO – CBC Television Executive Vice-President Richard Stursberg is defending the corporation’s decision to pre-empt The National newscast for eight Tuesdays this summer to air a U.S. reality show, saying the CBC needs the ad revenues and the program will ultimately help promote Canadian talent.
There has been strong public reaction against the CBC’s decision to move The National, albeit temporarily, to simulcast the ABC music reality show The One, where aspiring singers attend a music academy and receive professional training to turn into stars.
In a statement, Stursberg defended the move on several fronts.
CBC’s primetime TV schedule is “overwhelmingly Canadian” from 7 p.m. to midnight almost every night, he stressed. “No private broadcaster can make the same claim,” he said.
The show will “build a platform” for the Canadian version of The One that the CBC will air this fall, he said. “The show has already enjoyed incredible success in Québec, as Star Académie, and we felt that an English Canadian version would be an excellent vehicle for showcasing new Canadian talent.”
Economics was also a factor, Stursberg said. “By simulcasting the U.S. version this summer we will also generate some much-needed revenue for the CBC at a time of the year when the viewing of Canadian news and programming falls off.”
The National is not disappearing, he stressed. “Despite the hue and cry, this is a case of much ado about little. Canadians are not being denied access to The National. For viewers in Ontario and points east, it will be moved out of its regular time slot on just eight Tuesday nights this summer. For audiences west of Ontario, viewing is not affected at all.” Viewers can also catch the newscast at its regular times (9 and 10 p.m.) on Newsworld, and at 11 p.m. on the main CBC network.
Stursberg implied that airing an American show that will build interest in a Canadian version to come later will help the CBC fulfill its mandate to broadcast Canadian content. “The greatest cultural challenge English Canada faces is providing Canadians with homegrown programming that they actually want to watch. We are the only country in the industrialized world where its citizens prefer to watch another country’s programming. Only the CBC can help to resolve this considerable cultural issue because only the CBC has the shelf space in its schedule to make Canadian programming available in deep primetime when the greatest number of Canadians are watching television.”
Stursberg used his statement to also react to the Senate report on news media issued this week that recommended, among other things, the CBC TV eventually stop accepting advertising and stop competing with private broadcasters in sports. Unless there is a radical reversal in the corporation’s steadily declining Parliamentary appropriation, that can’t happen, he said. “The simple fact is that without commercial revenues to complement its parliamentary appropriation, the CBC cannot survive.”
In terms of government support, the BBC is funded by more than $120 Canadian per person, while the CBC gets about $32 per person, he stated. This means that CBC Television must get commercial revenues, which account for more than half its budget. Audience shares are important as every share point lost costs around $25 million in lost revenue, Stursberg said.
