[-] Text Size [+] | Update Donation/Contact Info | Home

   
   

CBC Town Hall Meeting

Mar 25, 2009

Live Blog of Town Hall event where CBC executives lay out a plan to deal with a $171 million budgetary shortfall.

11:46 am EDT
The call has started
CBC President Hubert Lacroix is giving his statement now.
 
11:52 am EDT
CBC's financial problems lead to significant changes
Mr. Lacroix is blaming the global recession for CBC's financial problems. His announcement is pre-recorded. We'll listen for 30 minutes and then there will be a short Q and A session.
 
12:03 pm EDT
Conference call feed is flawed
Unfortunately, the recording of Mr. Lacroix's message is distorted because both the English version and the French version are being presented at the same time making it nearly impossible to discern what he is saying...
 
12:10 pm EDT
Bits and pieces
Despite the messed up audio feed, it was possible to hear that CBC faces a $171 million shortfall. In spite of this, CBC has not asked the government for any additional funding, only a bridge loan. Mr. Lacroix announced that CBC will cut 400 positions and Radio-Canada will cut 300 positions. He also said that there will be no additional American shows on CBC TV and that CBC will tryn to maintain presence in the regions.
 
12:14 pm EDT
According to Richard Stursberg
CBC's Exec VP says CBC Radio will be cut substantially (17% of the total cuts will be borne by Radio). He also says no stations will be closed but they will be reducing their programming capacity. CBC will be looking for volunteers first before issuing pink slips in mid-May. There will be more detail about the cuts and how they will play out across the country tomorrow.
 
12:18 pm EDT
Radio Canada
$51 million is the french language side of the cut
 
12:20 pm EDT
Questions
The first one is from Calgary but the technical difficulties seem to be continuing...
 
12:21 pm EDT
Next Question
more technical difficulties...
 
12:24 pm EDT
Question 1
If you trying to raise $125 million in assets sales, what happens if you don't raise that much from the assets you plan to sell? CBC will try to raise money through the sale and lease back of real estate and Mr. Lacroix is confident they will raise the target amount.
 
12:26 pm EDT
Question 2
What will cuts do to audience levels? Mr. Stursberg thinks the cuts will slow CBC's TV audience growth and stall radio audience growth.
 
12:28 pm EDT
Question 3
What is the shortfall on salary funding? There is a $7.5 million salary funding shortfall as a result of a cut in government funding for salaries at CBC.
 
12:30 pm EDT
Question 4
How does CBC maintain a level of diversity in the workforce? CBC hopes to protect its younger employees by encouraging older employees to leave voluntarily.
 
12:33 pm EDT
Question 5
Q -If the CBC's financial problem is centred on CBC English TV, why do the cuts affected CBC's other services? A - The problem actually is across the CBC, not just E-TV.
 
12:37 pm EDT
Question
Q - Will exec bonuses be canceled in the circumstances? A - The senior exceutives will get 50% of their bonuses when they meet their objectives and the senior execs will contribute $4million in cuts to their salary and bonuses.
 
12:47 pm EDT
Wrap-up
the announcement is now over. Due to the garbled nature of most of the announcement, we have probably missed some important details, and more announcements by CBC are planned for tomorrow to explain how the cuts will play out across the country.