CBC job, budget cuts could further hasten public broadcaster’s death

It'll be a couple of years before we see the full effect of the latest massive downsizing at CBC and Radio-Canada, but clearly the public broadcaster's presence on the media landscape will continue to shrink.

CBC president Hubert Lacroix revealed on Thursday that the corporation will cut 657 full-time positions, pull out of competition to broadcast pro sports (NHL hockey is already on its way out), cut amateur sports coverage and cancel planned expansions, including a new station in London, Ont.

The belt-tightening is part of an effort to cope with $130 million in budget cuts as a result of declining support from the federal government with no meaningful increase in advertising revenue.

Although CBC has more than 8,000 full-time, contract and temporary employees, the job cuts are significant, and bound to crater the already poor morale among the corporation's employees.

As the Toronto Star points out, this is the third round of job cuts in five years. CBC axed 800 jobs in 2009 to try to cut spending by $171 million and lost another 650 in 2012 after the federal budget reduced the broadcaster's appropriation for the fourth straight year.

[ Related: CBC cuts 657 jobs and slashes $130 million from its budget ]

While CBC's radio services are widely respected and popular, its English TV network has struggled to find a niche in the competitive environment of well-funded commercial networks and specialty channels. With less money for programming and the loss of pro sports it's difficult to see how its leaders can arrest the steady slide.

The reflex will be to rage at the Conservative government for not supporting the CBC. But the fact is the trend to choke off its public funding began more than two decades ago, as this chart released Thursday by Friends of Canadian Broadcasting illustrates.

The corporation received more than $1.7 billion (adjusted to 2014 dollars) in its 1990-91 operating grant from the Progressive Conservatives under Brian Mulroney. The sharpest declines came under Jean Chretien's Liberals as then-Finance Minister Paul Martin slashed spending to stem the government's tide of red ink.

This 1999 article in the Ryerson Review of Journalism characterized the bleak outlook at the CBC's English radio service during the Liberal-induced austerity as jobs disappeared along with familiar programming.

Things largely stabilized at the lower level at the turn of the century before beginning to slide again when Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives took power.

This week's cuts were announced by Lacroix via corporation-wide televised town hall.

"This is the third time I have to stand up before you in these circumstances, and, I have to tell you, I hate doing this," he said, according to speaking notes posted on the CBC's corporate web site. "I imagine you feel the same way."

That's a ludicrously obvious understatement delivered to an already shell-shocked staff.

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It could be argued the CBC's workforce was somewhat bloated in the 1970s and '80s but it's hardly true today. A shrinking staff's workload has increased while at the same time they're required to service an expanded array of media platforms in TV, radio and various online streams, and in two languages.

Lacroix said the funding crisis goes deeper than the decision by the NHL to sign an exclusive broadcast deal with Rogers Communications last fall, which will eventually deprive the CBC of both eyeballs and advertising revenue.

The overall TV ad market has softened for all broadcasters, he said, and CBC's prime time viewership has shrunk in the key 25 to 45-year-old group as much of the network's current lineup of shows flopped.

Add to that a disappointing return from advertising for Radio 2 and Espace Musique music services, plus Ottawa's shrinking financial commitment and things became dire, Lacroix said.

[ Related: Rogers blockbuster NHL deal a dark day for TSN, CBC ]

The CBC's pull-back from sports does not include so-called "signature events," such as the Olympics, though Lacroix said the broadcaster will find new ways of handling them, including partnerships.

It remains to be seen if a loss of expertise from buyouts and layoffs will make it harder for the CBC to actually produce such events.

The CBC is trying to hold the line on its news operations, among the most extensive in the country, including maintaining regional news-gathering capability. But Lacroix said the regions will have to pull their resources more and in some cases cut local programs in favour of regional, network or syndicated shows.

Lacroix also signaled that more restructuring could be on the way.

"I have to tell you that our challenges go far beyond balancing the 2014/2015 budget," he said. "When we look to 2015/2016 and beyond, we still have a lot of work to do to achieve financial sustainability."