Is there a future for the CBC?

This question came up over and over during the eight week lock out. Since the lock out ended though it seems to have almost completely gone away. Yes there is still a hearing coming up in which the Heritage Committee will question senior CBC executives but the question "Is there a future for the CBC" will not be answered in that hearing. Members of senior management will talk about the CBC, it's present status and their actions up to and during the lock out but nothing they say will answer the question about the future. The lock out may have brought some of these questions to the forefront, but it did not create the questions - they have been there for a long time.

The CBC has many challenges ahead. This is especially true for television but radio and the internet will have their challenges too. A way must be found for the CBC to become commercial free (or become just another broadcaster - without a mandate) and increase it's available funds at the same time. The CBC must find a way (in keeping with it's mandate) to acquire more Canadian content to replace the BBC (news, Coronation Street etc), American movies and other foreign content. The CBC must find a way to become more relevant and regional.

Technology, in all media, will present huge challenges as well: It won't be long before all content (radio, television, and internet) produced by anyone, anywhere in the world, ever - will be available on demand and commercial free, 24/7/365 to all consumers via their televisions, desk tops, lap tops, cell phones, and other devices and the CBC will have to compete for eyes and ears in this environment - with or without Government subsidies, but almost surely without ad revenue.

The CBC is currently locked in a cycle of diminishing revenue, downsizing, increased foreign content and labour disruptions and until some questions about the CBC's future are answered, until strategies are developed to meet the coming challenges and meet them in a way that makes the CBC more successful than it is now - the cycle is likely to continue.

It has been disappointing to see how little response there has been on publicbroadcasting.ca to any of this. Hopefully it will not take another crisis for people to begin talking about these issues. I don't know how many more of those the CBC can withstand.