After realizing that Canadians just don’t care about the CBC anymore, the broadcaster is planning to shift its services to digital format, eventually ceasing traditional TV and radio broadcasting in a desperate ploy to remain relevant.
CBC president and CEO Catherine Tait recently sat down with The Globe and Mail to profess the news broadcaster’s dismal problem of losing relevance with its audience. In an effort to remain young and hip, she said CBC’s content will eventually all be online, as an increasing number of Canadians opt for streaming services whilst the broadcaster is “sitting here loyally broadcasting over the airwaves.”
“If we’re going to be audience first we have to be digital first,” she explained. “We get up every day and say, ‘What do our audiences want, and where are they?’ And they’re on digital in increasing numbers. And so if we are not there we’re no longer relevant.” Tait added that the largest demographic of CBC’s audience is over the age of 55, meaning that young people and newcomers to Canada are opting to view content online.
However, Tait said the shift to online content will likely take some time, given that it’ll require “broadband ubiquity” to ensure that its entire audience— regardless of their location or financial status— has adequate internet access. Tait also didn’t waste time during the interview to throw shade at the Conservatives’ call to halt government funding to the CBC, calling Pierre Poilievre’s “Defund the CBC” campaign merely a ploy to boost political donations.
“They have an online fundraising campaign, which very specifically says ‘We’ll save you a billion dollars, please send in $20,'” Tait said. Last year, the federal government pumped $1.24 billion into CBC/Radio-Canada, amounting to around 66% of the broadcaster’s funding. “I think they feel that CBC is a mouthpiece for the Liberal government,” she added.
Back in July, Poilievre vowed to defund the CBC if he becomes prime minister, insisting that the move would save Canadian taxpayers billions of dollars. According to the Conservative leader, the only benefit of a public broadcaster is to provide viewers with content that otherwise isn’t widely available on the market. However, “almost everything the CBC does can be done in the marketplace these days because of technology,” explained Poilievre.
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