Plan A

Over the past several months, I and many others have been very critical of the CBC. Some of this is deserved, but the reality is that the CBC is what it is and faces the limitations that it does. When push comes to shove I am an advocate for the CBC and for public broadcasting in general.

PBCA is now going to seek to try something new. A internet based national public broadcaster (or more appropriately public netcaster) without the limitations of the CBC. For example, as long as we stick to the internet we do not need a tower, massive infrastructure, a government imposed mandate (we'll write our own) or a license from the CRTC.

Below is an outline for plan A - it is obviously still subject to change, but is based on the discussion so far.

Content

The content on PBCA will be 100% Can Con (audio, video, text, and more) - by Canadians, for Canadians (though not always exclusively about Canadians). It will all be free, and published under some form of Creative Commons licence. Content creators will have full control of their work. This means full editorial control and ownership. PBCA will retain the right to distribute and promote any work in it's archives, but other than that the owner will retain full rights to redistribute, and/or to take their project elsewhere.

PBCA will also be as real as possible. Every effort will be made to include viewpoints from a wide variety of viewpoints, regions, lifestyles, ages, and groups. Only hate speech will be excluded. While PBCA will not be biased, most of the content will in one way or another. Everyone has their biases. Some hide them better than others. Since PBCA's contributors will have complete editorial control over their work, they will not be asked to conceal their biases, on the contrary they will be encouraged to be up front about them.

Organization

The plan is to set PBCA up as a not-for-profit co-operative, with revenues (above expenses) shared among the members. It will be operated democratically, with each member of the co-operative acting as an equal shareholder. Some form of day-to-day management will likely be elected, but can quickly be unelected if members lose confidence. It will also be decentralized. While it is possible that, should it succeed, PBCA will require offices or small studios at some point, it will not be headquartered anywhere.

Revenue

While PBCA's content will always be free, it will depend largely on donations, and smaller forms of revenue such as Google ads and possible a Cafe Press shop. But under no circumstances will PBCA accept funding that compromises it's content and mission or that turns any control of the organization over to other interests.

Advocacy

PBCA will continue to advocate for public broadcasting, and public broadcasters, as well as issues around free speech, a free press, more open copyright laws, and other issues of interest to public broadcasting.

This plan is not finalized yet, and will take quite some time to get underway once it is, but should PBCA be successful, it could be of tremendous benefit to other public (and even private) broadcasters and netcasters - first of all because it will be an advocate, but also because, as mentioned above in content, others will be free to take PBCA's ideas, content, and even talent. This is not an attempt to compete, nor is it an attempt to diminish others, it is an attempt to promote ideas, talent and above all the Canadian voice.

Please distribute this message widely and if you have any interest, on any level, in any capacity in helping with the idea, Join the discussion or drop me an email