Source : Toronto Star

In a rare moment of public disclosure, CBC president Robert Rabinovitch told a parliamentary committee this week that the public broadcaster could lose $20 million on the NHL lockout.

After saying that was substantially less than the $60 million loss reported in some media circles, Rabinovitch told a standing committee on Canadian Heritage, "I can't pretend that that's not significant."

Double negative aside, Rabinovitch told only part of the story.

There are unconfirmed estimates the CBC lost about $20 million on the Athens Olympics. And although 4 million viewers are expected to watch tomorrow's Grey Cup game, many in the TV business believe the CBC will lose money on its overall CFL coverage.

So why, many are asking, is the public network using public money to play in the high-risk game of high-level sports?

"It's an irresponsible use of taxpayers' dollars," says FAN 590 host Bob McCown, a long-time critic of the public network's role in the sports world.

That's a sentiment echoed by Canada's private broadcasters, who have long contended that the CBC has created an uneven playing field because it doesn't have to turn a profit.

"Part of our challenge is to figure out how you make your business thrive and grow in a somewhat unusual environment," says Rogers Sportsnet president Doug Beeforth.

But others say that although the CBC may lose money on some sports, it's the overall sports revenue that has kept it afloat after a series of crippling government cutbacks.

"You have to put any losses against what they would have lost had they not been carrying things like NHL hockey," says Ian Morrison, spokesperson for the lobby group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

Because the CBC, despite being funded by tax dollars, won't reveal its financial dealings, the public doesn't really know where its money is going. As a crown corporation, it's not even subject to freedom of information legislation.

Although there are many critics, the CBC has a lot of backers.

"I would shudder to think where we would be in this country without the corporation playing a huge role in the promotion and development of sports and the creation of quality television," says John Shannon, head of Leafs TV.

Despite being fired by the CBC four years ago, Shannon is one of its staunchest defenders.

"Their mandate allows them to not have everything on a television show that walks and talks tied to a sponsor," he says. "That's something the private networks can't do."

Even the federal Conservative heritage critic couldn't bring herself to call for the CBC to get out of the sports business, as many others have done.

Bev Oda says when it comes to amateur sports and the Olympics, broadcasters must meet several criteria, such as giving exposure to all sports and providing Canadians with the coverage they want.

"If all those things are equal, and they never are, and as long as Canadians were going to be given what they wanted I would question if there's a need to use taxpayers' dollars," she says, adding, "but in the private sector, there are often other incentives."

Those other incentives include the need to make a profit. That's why, for example, TSN uses an ESPN feed for some of its NHL games instead of supplying its own cameras and announcers.

Morrison says in a perfect world, the CBC wouldn't be competing in the market and gambling with taxpayer dollars.

But outside forces, mainly funding cuts, have forced the CBC to become "addicted to sports."

"But like an addiction, it's beyond their control," he says.

"They've had to find alternatives and in NHL hockey they've found something that fills that need ... and can subsidize other programming."

While the English-language CBC's annual operating budget of $550 million seems sufficient, it's barely two-thirds what the network received in 1990.

Without the profits produced by properties such as the NHL, when it's operating, the CBC would be a network dominated by inexpensive documentaries and news coverage.

But, some say, that's what a public broadcaster should be.

"The CBC's role should be to do things like news and the kind of amateur sports and cultural programs that other networks won't carry," McCown says. "It has no business competing against private networks for big-time sports."

The CBC, not surprisingly, disagrees.

"We see sport as having a very significant role in the lives of Canadians and as such has a place in the public broadcasting service," says Nancy Lee, executive director of CBC television sports.

"The Olympics, the CFL and NHL reflect Canadians. The teams are very important to Canadians and therefore very important to us."

Few would dispute that and satisfying all the needs of Canadian viewers, from opera buffs to Don Cherry fans, is indeed part of the CBC's mandate under the Broadcast Act.

There certainly is evidence that sport helps keep the CBC's head above water.

According to the network, even though sports comprises only 12 per cent of its programming, it delivers 25 per cent of its audience and 40 per cent of its ad revenue.

"Sometimes they do make money and sometimes they don't," Lee says. "But overall, they help our bottom line."

How much help Lee won't say.

Is talk of losses on the Athens Games accurate?

"It's a five-Games deal and the overall business plan was based on five Games," Lee says. "We've done three and there are two to go."

That means taxpayers won't know until 2008 whether the CBC's $165 million (U.S.) investment in the last Games package (1998-2008) made or lost money. And maybe not even then, since CBC is under no legal requirement to tell.

Lee cites confidentiality agreements for the CBC's reluctance to provide such figures.

"We're operating a business and you can't get in that marketplace and divulge that information," she says. "Without question, in terms of being fiscally responsible, we cannot afford to be anything but that.

"There's a level we will pay ... and a level we just can't compete with. We can't afford not to be responsible. We've got a lot of shareholders out there."

While the private broadcasters have called foul for years, Lee says the CBC wins many rights deals simply because it can provide something other networks can't: acres of air time.

The CBC can air 50 nights of NHL playoffs every spring and 18 hours a day of Olympics coverage. "We can do that as a public broadcaster and others can't," she says.

But the CBC's boast of being available to all Canadians may not be valid much longer. With the growth of cable and satellite, channels such as TSN already reach 80 per cent of viewers.

That's why there was so much outrage when the CBC outbid TSN for the big curling events, claiming it could deliver a larger potential audience. Since TSN had aired most of the curling for 20 years, there likely wasn't one fan in the country who didn't subscribe to the cable channel.

Predictions the CBC will lose money on its curling deal certainly won't assuage that anger.

© The Toronto Star