COMMENTARY: Is multicasting the answer for the CBC?

I’M NOT THE FIRST HACK to write that CBC Television’s mandate is the reason why it suffers so much in the court of public opinion – and in practice. It’s mandate, broadly, is to be all things to all Canadians – in both official languages, no less. So, while it airs some hugely popular programming like Hockey Night In Canada and some of the recent mini-series and made-for-TV movies which often attract over a million viewers, it also airs some stuff that so few people watch, like Zed, or the former Opening Night (it once broadcast a live Opera performance...