OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada vowed to become more digital, more local, and more ambitious in its Canadian programming in a new plan detailing how it will spend the federal government’s reinvestment.
The public broadcaster released its accountability plan Wednesday, in response to Budget 2016 which promised to invest an additional $75M in CBC/Radio-Canada for 2016-2017, rising to $150M in the following years. But it also tasked Minister of Canadian Heritage Joly to work with the public broadcaster to develop an accountability plan on how the funds would be allocated.
According to the aptly named CBC/Radio-Canada Accountability Plan, the Corp. will allot:
– $27M in 2016-17 and $34M in 2017-18 and ongoing to protect select existing programs and services, showcase Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes, and hire new digital creators;
– $36M in 2016-17 and $92M in 2017-18 and ongoing on new Canadian content, including more original radio content, digital content, drama and feature films, Indigenous content and “high profile events that bring Canadians together”;
– $12M in 2016-17 to $24M in 2017-18 and ongoing on more digital services in markets with no current CBC service, create scaleable “pocket bureaus” to improve international coverage, reinvest in CBC recordings of Canadian music performances, boost its investment in the digitization of its archives, and reinvest in select regions “where previous cuts went too deep”.
The plan also includes new performance indicators designed to allow Canadians to measure what the reinvestment in public broadcasting is doing.
"CBC/Radio-Canada's priority is to create more compelling, distinctive Canadian content on all of its platforms," said president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, in a statement. "We look forward to sharing our progress with Canadians in the years ahead."
