Friday, September 09, 2005
CBC 66: Is this Stursberg's vision for a shrunken CBC?
After my post yesterday Sailing into Uncertainty, which reported the overall impression that there is no vision at the highest levels of the CBC, one of my sources sent me an urgent e-mail saying there may be a vision of a shrunken CBC and that this vision may be behind all the current "management disruption" at the CBC.
In July 2004, soon after Richard Stursberg was the surprise choice for Executive Vice President over Slawko Klymkiw, executive director of network programming, the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting circulated a leaked, internal, unsigned 1996 document from the Canadian Cable Television Association that outlined a barebones CBC. At the time of the memo in 1996, Richard Stursberg was head of the cable TV association.
You will find the document Future of CBC here (pdf file).
The opening phrase of the document says (my emphasis added)
The document calls for the CBC to shrink, to "serve specific tastes and interests." It wanted three and only three basic channels
It then goes on to say
It says that some of that private production should be "regionally balanced" without saying how that could be done.
And then, as you would expect from a cable lobby group it says:
Yeah I am sure the people in New Orleans depended on their local cable company when the water was rising.
Its conclusion was echoing what many have talked about over the past few years, turning CBC television into a video version of CBC Radio (but the memo fails to note that almost all production with CBC Radio has, until recently, been internal).
Gayle MacDonald of the Globe and Mail questioned Stursberg about the document. He told her, in a report published on July 24, 2004:
Stursberg then told MacDonald:
And now we see that actions speak louder than words.
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11:42 AM posted by Robin Rowland
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After my post yesterday Sailing into Uncertainty, which reported the overall impression that there is no vision at the highest levels of the CBC, one of my sources sent me an urgent e-mail saying there may be a vision of a shrunken CBC and that this vision may be behind all the current "management disruption" at the CBC.
In July 2004, soon after Richard Stursberg was the surprise choice for Executive Vice President over Slawko Klymkiw, executive director of network programming, the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting circulated a leaked, internal, unsigned 1996 document from the Canadian Cable Television Association that outlined a barebones CBC. At the time of the memo in 1996, Richard Stursberg was head of the cable TV association.
You will find the document Future of CBC here (pdf file).
The opening phrase of the document says (my emphasis added)
The new CBC must be able to deal with a multi-channel universe and have the flexiblity to respond to market conditions.
The document calls for the CBC to shrink, to "serve specific tastes and interests." It wanted three and only three basic channels
- Newsworld
- an entertainment, arts and drama channel, for kids up until 8 p.m. and adults after that.
- a documentary channel
It then goes on to say
Production:
The majority of production--with the exception of news--should be contracted out to the private sector. Regional production centres and facilities would be wound up.
It says that some of that private production should be "regionally balanced" without saying how that could be done.
And then, as you would expect from a cable lobby group it says:
The CBC should-when technology permits-move off over-the-air broadcasting and be delivered exclusively through cable and DTH [Direct to Home satellite]
Yeah I am sure the people in New Orleans depended on their local cable company when the water was rising.
Its conclusion was echoing what many have talked about over the past few years, turning CBC television into a video version of CBC Radio (but the memo fails to note that almost all production with CBC Radio has, until recently, been internal).
Gayle MacDonald of the Globe and Mail questioned Stursberg about the document. He told her, in a report published on July 24, 2004:
"As I recall, these were some notes of a conversation that had taken place between a number of people who were chatting."
Unfortunately, the former Telefilm Canada executive director could not recall who else was in the room (other than to say "some private broadcasters") to help formulate the three-page document that caused much hand-wringing and consternation when it was leaked to the media in 1996. "I can't even remember, this is such a small thing," said the 55-year-old Ottawa mandarin. "Imagine this. You're sitting in a room with a bunch of people and some subject comes up -- what should we do about the [CBC] deficit? People say, 'We should do this or that.' Someone writes down all the ideas."
Stursberg then told MacDonald:
Stursberg said he firmly disagrees with any of the suggestions made in the memo, adding: "I didn't agree with some of the measures in the first place. I do not believe we should be out of advertising, out of regional, that we should come off the air and be made into a big specialty channel. I believe none of that.
"It was a free-form discussion just about various ideas people had been thinking about the CBC. That's what it was. Nothing more. It's not a report by me. The thing was blown out of proportion eight years ago, and it's not terribly interesting."
And now we see that actions speak louder than words.
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writing, journalism, CBC, blog, news, lockout,
CBClockout, CBCunlocked,
11:42 AM posted by Robin Rowland
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