ST. JOHN’s – The CBC plan to expand its supper hour news programs from 30 to 60 minutes without increasing local news budgets is a bad idea, says TV watchdog group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.
"We know from the St. John’s experience that you can’t produce a 60 minute news program that people will want to watch on a 30 minute budget. CBC management in Toronto should know this well," said Noreen Golfman, chair of Friends’ Steering Committee, in a press release today.
The CBC regional TV news show in St. John’s was expanded from 30 to 60 minutes in November 2005, but the budget for the local show remained static. Data released this morning by Friends reveals that audience share for the show dropped 15% one year later (16.3 in Fall 2005 vs. 13.8 in Fall 2006), says the FCB release.
"Audiences tuned out when the program was initially cut to 30 minutes and have stayed away even with the 60 minute format working as it is with such a limited budget," Golfman said.
CBC plans to expand 16 local supper hour news programs across Canada to a full hour on a half-hour budget starting in September.
A CBC spokesperson rold Cartt.ca that FCB appears to be making selective use of older and/or inaccurate data and ignoring new data which shows our viewership in the region is generally stable or improving, and "that compared to our private sector competition in the region, we are adequately resourced for what we’re trying to do;
CBC News at Six
2+ Audience Share % (BBM Extended Market Share)
Spring 2006 vs 2007
2006 2007
Saint John/Moncton 3 4
Sydney 3 8
Halifax 5 6
Charlotteown 48 59
St. John’s 18 20
