A country as large as Canada NEEDs a well funded CBC!!

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by jawagord

Who else but the CBC would come up with gems like this:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04...-no-caucasian/

Um...the casting company?

“We were asked to seek a cast of diversity. We mistakenly took that to mean that the production was not seeking Caucasian actors. This was a mistake that was made entirely by the casting company.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04...-no-caucasian/

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

And it is not at all just a french translation of the English counterpart.

This is important to note. I can't stand the English CBC TV service anymore. The French TV service on the other hand, is top-notch quality.

I do enjoy the English CBC radio service, despite the obvious drop in quality it has suffered as of late.


The CBC is necessary, but in it's current form, it is mostly shite.

[manny_santos]

On the English side, CBC's mainstay is undoubtedly sports, with news on the side. I think they need to get out of the amount of drama programming they do these days. I could care less if American programming were added in prime time, it could only help their revenues to fund the news division and produce the other shows they are good at. Trying to do 100% Canadian programming on low funding just doesn't work, I'd rather see 50% Canadian programming and have it be the best quality it can be.

The public funding should go to the radio service more than anything, and it should be funded more than it is. Television needs to be partially self-sufficient but it needs American programming to keep the good Canadian programming on the air and reduce reliance on government funding.

[casper]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

On the English side, CBC's mainstay is undoubtedly sports, with news on the side. I think they need to get out of the amount of drama programming they do these days. I could care less if American programming were added in prime time, it could only help their revenues to fund the news division and produce the other shows they are good at. Trying to do 100% Canadian programming on low funding just doesn't work, I'd rather see 50% Canadian programming and have it be the best quality it can be.

The public funding should go to the radio service more than anything, and it should be funded more than it is. Television needs to be partially self-sufficient but it needs American programming to keep the good Canadian programming on the air and reduce reliance on government funding.

I agree in part. There are several parts to CBC.

CBC News, Documentaries, Public Affairs, etc. is about providing a venue for Canadian to talk to each other and servers a public good to inform and provide a venue to debate issues that affect Canadians. I would be ok with public funding for that activity and a CBC that performed that function.

Fiction programming about the love affair of people working for an airline in the arctic; a cop show or convincing Kevin OLearly to invest in the next board game is entertainment. Why can we not leave that to the private sector and the National Film Board. If we want to ensure that the private provide networks develop some of that in Canada mandate they spent a certain percentage of their budget on Canadian development programs and run it in prime time.

The next question is how is it delivered. A good percentage of the population obtain their TV over cable or satellite. I can still an argument for the CBC to have over air broadcast with all the extra costs of transmitters and repeaters in every community.

[TallBob]

Everybody I know in the states (it's a lot) loves, for some reason the BBC broadcasts and I'm from the US. But nobody has even heard of the CBC!! I, for one, would think Canadian broadcasts/entertainment would be well received in the US! IMO

[kw5150]

If you dont listen to BBC, you need to NOW. I do everyday, for the last 8 years or so.

It is a completely different world on there. Hardly any mainstream at all, within reason.

The CBC should be like this, but better!!

All of the genres are amazing, though they may not have country now that I think about it.

[kw5150]

Is there a good CBC house radio station on friday nights? How about upbeat rock during the day as well?

Lol, I guess I better check it out tomorrow......haha.

I do watch cbc news if i want great coverage or hockey, always.

[SignalHillHiker]

They had an interesting story today. I would've liked more detail!

Genetic mutation shared by Newfoundland, German, Danish families

Researchers studying a genetic mutation, which causes sudden cardiac death, may have discovered a genetic link between German, Danish and Newfoundland families.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfou...rmany-430.html

[kwoldtimer]

Geez, as if Newfoundlanders haven't had to put up with enough over the years, now they're mutants!

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Geez, as if Newfoundlanders haven't had to put up with enough over the years, now they're mutants!

And our cool superpower is...

...sudden cardiac death.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

And our cool superpower is...

...sudden cardiac death.

Such drama queens!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I'd start by consolidating CBC's English and French language television service into a single bilingual broadcaster.

I really have a hard time seeing how this could be done.

Perhaps a better start would be to have mandatory subtitles in the other official language on each network's programming.

And perhaps a lot more co-productions that can be broadcast on either network.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by casper

The next question is how is it delivered. A good percentage of the population obtain their TV over cable or satellite. I can still an argument for the CBC to have over air broadcast with all the extra costs of transmitters and repeaters in every community.

I think that nowadays, over-the-air doesn't need to be in every single community, but it should be available in all major cities and towns. Cities the size of London and Saskatoon simply don't have CBC available over-the-air anymore, and you have to shell out the big bucks either to access it on cable or through high-speed Internet. I think CBC grossly underestimated the number of people who are migrating away from cable and satellite a year ago. Of course not everyone leaving cable/satellite is setting up antennas, but judging by the comments sections on any news story about cable/satellite in the Globe & Mail and National Post, it seems there is a lot of interest in OTA.

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I really have a hard time seeing how this could be done.

Perhaps a better start would be to have mandatory subtitles in the other official language on each network's programming.

And perhaps a lot more co-productions that can be broadcast on either network.

Having the CBC and Radio-Canada use the same television studio would save on labour costs, technology costs, travel costs, and various forms of rental costs. I think it would be smart to consolidate both, in terms of national broadcasting, in Montreal. These steps, taken to save money in the long-term, would help to justify a short-term investment in the CBC and Radio-Canada for newer technology.

I would also support subtitles and co-productions.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I really have a hard time seeing how this could be done.

Perhaps a better start would be to have mandatory subtitles in the other official language on each network's programming.

And perhaps a lot more co-productions that can be broadcast on either network.

SABC does it (or used to when I lived in Cape Town back in the '90s) without problem. They alternated daily programming between English and Afrikaans. Some "chat" programs were done in "passive bilingual" format, with each host and others speaking their own language. I can't recall how they did the evening news, whether it alternated or whether there were two programs.

Since not many watch CBC all the time and since its easy to record your programs nowadays, I think they could pull it off. They could save a bomb, but there are too many vested interests that would resist to the bitter end.

If nothing else, there could be a "consolidated" evening national news hours with the English and French networks reporting the same news. Some of the bilingual reporters already appear on both programs, for example on international stories.

[93JC]

Originally Posted by kw5150

Is there a good CBC house radio station on friday nights? How about upbeat rock during the day as well?

Lol, I guess I better check it out tomorrow......haha.

http://music.cbc.ca/#/radio2/

Radio 2 plays all sorts of music. It's 102.1 FM in Calgary. Try listening to podcasts of their programs to get an idea of if there's anything you like. Just about everything they have is available as a podcast.

You can also listen to Radio 3, available online and on satellite radio, which has its own programming.


I listen to Radio One (99.1 FM/1010 AM in Calgary) just about every weekday, and I love it precisely because it's something that a private radio network could never provide: commercial-free general interest programs. Something pleasant and thought-provoking to listen to during the day. The closest thing private radio networks have is "talk radio" (e.g. CHQR (770 AM) in Calgary), which mostly consists of some asshole yelling about society going to hell in a handbasket for seven minutes, then five minutes of a bunch of assholes trying to sell you something (commercials), then back to the asshole ranting and raving about the depravity of the world and the stupidity of liberals and such.

And don't even get me started on most radio stations' "morning shows". *shudder*


(If you want to listen to Radio One podcasts, or streamed online, you can do that too.)

[vid]

CBC2 plays a lot of really good music these days. Every night I check it and I've discovered quite a few new artists through that station. I considered switching to it but it doesn't have local news and weather, so I only really listen to it if I am actually listening to the radio.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by RyeJay

Having the CBC and Radio-Canada use the same television studio would save on labour costs, technology costs, travel costs, and various forms of rental costs. I think it would be smart to consolidate both, in terms of national broadcasting, in Montreal. These steps, taken to save money in the long-term, would help to justify a short-term investment in the CBC and Radio-Canada for newer technology.

I would also support subtitles and co-productions.

CBC and Radio-Canada already share studios for news programming. Even if they centralized a lot of stuff in Montreal they would still need a facility in Toronto anyway for local news and programming as it is the biggest city in the country.

Thinking of what the studios are used for - as for other studio uses for the French network there is a lot of production that takes place at the main building in Montreal: talk shows, variety shows, game shows, lifestyle shows, etc. The CBC English network doesn't do as much of this type of stuff.

I think it would be a bit difficult optics-wise to have the CBC English network based out of a city like Montreal. People already feel alienated from the CBC and it is based in Toronto.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

I've given up on CBC-TV - it's sh*te but then 99% of TV isn't worth watching so...

I'd like to see more money pumped into radio - more stations and better programming. Hamilton, a city of 500,000+, doesn't even have its own radio station. For years we had nothing, now they've given us digital service - that's just not good enough.

As someone who's lived abroad and is familiar with other national broadcasters, I'm embarrassed by CBC. It'll never be BBC - being a sacred institution in the UK - but it needs to be better, much better.

This country needs to wake up and start giving a sh*t, because from the outside looking in, it would appear that we just don't care.

[BretttheRiderFan]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

The BBC's annual budget is multiples that of CBC, which might have something to do with it, no?

I'd start by consolidating CBC's English and French language television service into a single bilingual broadcaster.

A bilingual broadcaster?

No way. Fewer than 20% of Canadians are bilingual.