The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is facing significant financial pressures, including a decline in advertising revenue, which has prompted the Department of Canadian Heritage to provide additional funding to support the network.
Blacklock's Reporter says according to a briefing note, the CBC's English-language television advertising revenue fell 10% to $194.7 million in 2023, due to "a softer TV advertising market."
The network's current annual subsidy is $1.4 billion, but CBC managers have requested extra payments that would bring the total parliamentary grant close to $2 billion per year.
Then-CEO Catherine Tait testified before the Commons heritage committee in November, stating that the network needed an additional $400 million to $500 million. The heritage department has expressed its commitment to supporting the CBC, despite shrinking audiences and dwindling sales.
"The CBC is a pillar of Canada's creative economy, a key provider of programming made by and for Canadians and a significant source of trusted news and information," said the briefing note.
"This government is committed to ensuring the sustainability of the CBC so that it can continue to create public value and adapt to the needs and expectations of Canadians."
However, private broadcasters have opposed compensating the CBC for unsold ads, arguing that it would give the network an unfair advantage. Kevin Desjardins, president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, testified that private broadcasters see the CBC as having a "$1.4 billion head start" each year, which puts them at a disadvantage.
A majority of MPs on the Commons heritage committee recommended unspecified increases in the network's annual grant in a 2024 report, while Conservative MPs argued that the network should be defunded.