Source : Toronto Star

Wayne and Shuster may be going British; Broadcaster's website signs ad deal with AOL

The cash-strapped CBC is heading down new avenues for increasing revenue by contracting out more of its functions.

One deal, with AOL Canada Inc., involves the popular website CBC.ca while the other potential revenue-generator would outsource a major Canadian cultural asset.

The Canadian Media Guild, which represents the 5,500 workers who were recently locked out, said that it has learned that CBC is exploring contracting out to BBC its valuable historical program archives.

"CBC denies they're negotiating with the BBC, but they're not denying they're talking," said the guild's Glenn Gray, adding that CBC has been discussing the deal for eight months.

If it were outsourced, it would mean CBC's library of everything from old news footage to Wayne and Shuster reruns (but excluding sports programming) would come under foreign control. BBC would not only decide how much Canadian producers and filmmakers would pay for Canadian cultural material but would also retain control of the licensing of that material.

Critics insist that these archives are cultural assets the Canadian taxpayer has bought and paid for — and they should remain Canadian owned and controlled. What's more, they should be used to generate more Canadian cultural assets, by being repackaged into new programs.

"If you're a Canadian filmmaker and you need footage of Pierre Trudeau, you would have to call BBC," said CBC media co-ordinator Roy Harris, who has worked in the archives for 20 years.

He said that the unit, which employs two people, is profitable.

"Any other company would be dancing on the table," he added. "So maybe they'll save $100,000 on salaries but there will be other costs."

A call to CBC resulted in no comment yesterday.

Yesterday AOL Canada announced that it has bagged an "exclusive third-party advertising representation partnership" with CBC to work with the broadcaster on its English-language website, CBC.ca.

AOL will handle third-party advertising sales representation, search syndication and content integration.

"In order to continue providing our audience with the best possible news, information and entertainment experience possible, we decided to integrate additional commercial inventory by partnering with an experienced interactive sales partner," said a news release from Claude Galipeau, CBC's executive director for digital programming and business development.

© Toronto Star