Canada’s public broadcaster, CBC, has announced that it will be cutting 600 jobs, which accounts for 10 percent of its workforce in response to financial challenges caused by a decline in television ad revenues and competition from digital news outlets.
The job cuts will be implemented over the next 12 months with the first round of cuts taking place shortly. CBC President and CEO Catherine Tait stated that the organization has been facing significant declines in its business but can no longer manage these without making staff reductions.
The cuts will involve 250 jobs at the English-language CBC, 250 at French-language Radio-Canada, and 100 support staff positions. Additionally, 200 vacant positions will also be eliminated. The broadcaster will also be reducing its English and French programming budgets for the upcoming fiscal year, resulting in fewer new television series, episodes, and digital original series.
This move is aimed at offsetting a budget shortfall of CAN$125 million (US$92.3 million). The Radio-Canada’s workers’ union described it as a “dark day” for the broadcaster and for access to information.
CBC has been hit hard by the decline in television advertising revenues. As a result, CBC had previously frozen job creation and announced that those who left the company would not be replaced. The organization assured that it is working to minimize the impact of these measures.
The financial struggles faced by CBC are not unique, as many media outlets in Canada and around the world are experiencing similar challenges. In related news, Canada and Google reached an agreement where Google will pay compensation to Canadian media companies for distributing their content, providing an annual financial support of $100 million indexed to inflation.
This is the first major budget reduction CBC has faced since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took office in 2015.
