Which CBC Programs Should Be Saved?

[NovaMan]

"There will be six fewer series on the CBC television network, meaning 175 fewer hours produced, the network announced, but no specific programs were mentioned as decisions are still being made."

...http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/20...-programs.html...

I was wondering which shows you think should be safe from the cuts that are coming. My wife and I enjoy "Republic of Doyle" and "Arctic Air" and like most Canadians we watch "Hockey Night In Canada". So, these are the 3 shows that I wouldn't want to see cancelled. I would bet that even those people who claim to hate the CBC would have at least one show that they would not want to see cancelled.

I might as well add "The National" to the list. Say what you want about CBC, they have always done an excellent job of staying unbiased in their news content. When both liberals and conservatives hate them, they must be doing something right. LOL

I lived in NS, as a child in the 50's, when CBC was the only network that we could get on our old black and white TV, and when I moved to rural NL in the mid 70's until we got cable in the late 80's, CBC was the best source for news and keeping us connected to the rest of the country. CBC is like an old friend to me.

Now, living back in NS, I have had Shaw Direct since it was Star Choice, and dozens of networks at my command, but I still find myself coming back to the CBC for my Canadian content. Lets face it, we are not going to get very much good Canadian content from CTV or Global....they are too attached to their sim-sub content...

[cooper83]

My gf & I watch Dragon's Den, Fifth Estate, Marketplace, and of course Hockey Night in Canada. Used to watch The Hour quite a bit, but haven't tuned in to George's new format. Other than those shows and the odd National for a few minutes here and there, I don't watch anything else on CBC.

[Corizzle]

Hockey Night in Canada will only end in the case that the NHL wants to end it.

Personally, Mr. D and Dragons Den are the only shows I watch on the network, I hope they renew Mr. D (Dragons Den already was)

[Lindsay649]

Not a big viewer of the CBC.........watch a few hockey games during playoffs.......rarely watch the National.........enjoy Republic of Doyle.......Marketplace......the odd documentary. Frankly would not miss anything in particular if the whole network was scuttled and the funding going to health care.

[Tridus]

Originally Posted by Lindsay649

Not a big viewer of the CBC.........watch a few hockey games during playoffs.......rarely watch the National.........enjoy Republic of Doyle.......Marketplace......the odd documentary. Frankly would not miss anything in particular if the whole network was scuttled and the funding going to health care.

Wrong level of government. The funding would go to really important things, like fighter jets of unknown cost and "Economic Action Plan" advertising on CTV.

[chillonhill]

Me too, CBC is like an old friend, was our only english channel when I was a kid, yeah grew up with friendly giant and Mr dressup, casey and finigen!!

I still watch a lot of CBC, even though have all the new stuff, TMN, AE ect.

Enjoy Dragons Den, The National, Hockey, Market Place, Fifth Estate, Doc Zone, watch them regularly, and now and then Nature of things, also liked the comedy show about the Spy's or CSIS, forget the name now. Some of the cooking shows weekday afternoons. Never watched Republic of Doyle or MR D, dont really know about those, I tune into Newsworld also, and CBC Radio 1 Talk, Sad Goat, Rex Murphey. Some good interviews on there.

Guess it is embedded in me as it was a lot of what we watched when I was young, Front Page Challenge, Wayne & Shuster, Tommy Hunter, ect

[57]

I watch:

22 Minutes (although it's getting tired)
Rick Mercer (also getting a bit tired)
MarketPlace
Nature Of Things
Doc Zone
Best Recipes Ever
Passionate Eye
Some Fifth Estates
Various Documentaries like "The Cove"
Some Filmography
Beautiful Noise
Books Into Film
Abbey Road
Various Comedy Specials
Various other Specials
An occasional Movie

As you can see, the CBC represents a significant percentage of my viewing. (PBS, TMN, F1 and IndyCar filling in most of the rest)

I'm not interested in Hockey but a few people seem to be.

[Tridus]

Originally Posted by Corizzle

Hockey Night in Canada will only end in the case that the NHL wants to end it.

Personally, Mr. D and Dragons Den are the only shows I watch on the network, I hope they renew Mr. D (Dragons Den already was)

HNIC will end if someone else shoots the moon on the rights fees to take it over, which has been a rumor that won't go away for some time now. CBC can't afford a bidding war on it since they use the profit it makes to fund other stuff, whereas Bell probably can if they can throw in exclusive mobile rights and some other nonsense.

[dsspredator]

Originally Posted by Corizzle

I hope they renew Mr. D

Mr. D. is the only Canadian comedy that I love.

Please bring him back!

[Bayguy]

Also theyll have Murdoch Mystery but probably not for a while because even the new season hasn't aired on Global yet and I dont know whether CBC has started filming another season.

[madhi19]

Simple solution let have a telethon/reality show! You can have the "stars" come and beg for your contribution and votes. The shows that get the most votes and money pledge can stay. Those who don't make the cut are well, "Voted off of the island!" loll

[PokerFace]

The basic point that Kirstine Stewart (of the CBC) seems to be making below is one that has been brought up before. But does the NHL really need the CBC to broadcast some of its hockey games as much as (or more than) the CBC "needs" to broadcast various NHL games (to increase CBC's ad revenue)? I don't think so, based on the increased ratings for the NHL playoffs on TSN1+2. However, how many games, if any, would appear on Bell's over-the-air CTV channels? Bell's lucrative simsubbing of US programming on the various CTV channels might get in the way of such a plan (though Saturday Night would be a good night for CTV broadcasts of various Hockey Night in Canada games).

http://business.financialpost.com/20...m-bell-rogers/
[CBC vows to keep NHL broadcast rights from Bell, Rogers]

Apr 20, 2012

The chief of the CBC’s English services [Kirstine Stewart] said this week she has every intention of bringing back the National Hockey League to the public broadcaster when the current contract with the league comes due two years from now.

“We’re going to,” the executive said forcefully during a panel discussion Thursday with the heads of the country’s networks. “That’s our plan.”

But it’s perhaps a brave face and false hope given her opponents. Both Rogers Communications Inc. and CTV— now Bell Media — were already formidable foes before BCE Inc. bet on TV content to fuel its telecom businesses and acquired the network and specialty-channel operator, a strategy that has raised the stakes for all.

The pairs’ joint $1.3-billion purchase of a controlling stake in Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment Ltd. in December all but guarantees the Saturday night NHL games the CBC has been able to secure from the league for decades will be lost, some analysts say, either entirely or in part.

“The next logical step, now that you’ve teamed up, is to gang up on the CBC and to take away Hockey Night In Canada,” quipped business journalist Michael Vaughn, the moderator of the high-powered panel, which included Bell media head Kevin Crull, Rogers’ Keith Pelley, Shaw’s Paul Robertson and Pierre Dion from Quebecor-owned TVA.

Still, Ms. Stewart argues the CBC can compete. She reminded the audience of advertisers and media buyers that while the two telecom and media conglomerates can begin carving up regional rights to the Leafs, the league remains in control of all national broadcast rights.

“And it’s got nothing to do with Hockey Night In Canada,” Rogers’ Mr. Pelley shot back.

The public broadcaster successfully resigned league rights in 2007, but every indication is that the CBC went to the limit of what it could spend. And in the face of a $115-million reduction in federal funding, the odds are low—perhaps very—the corporation can bring the financial might required to beat the competition.

Ms. Stewart suggested the CBC’s cultural significance and appeal to “generalized audiences” that are larger than the hardcore sports viewers of Bell’s TSN and Rogers’ Sportsnet may hold a degree of sway with league executives when the contract expires at the end of the 2013-14 season.

“What we provide is different from what TSN and Sportsnet do,” she said.

Rights for live broadcasts, especially professional sports, have soared in recent years because of the programming’s ability to aggregate mass audiences, a feat getting increasingly difficult as online video alternatives and competing cable networks vie for eyeballs and ad revenues. The length of deals is also getting longer, with the traditional three- to four-year term rising to nine- and 10-year contracts.

Last September, Disney’s ESPN network agreed to pay US$1.9-billion for Monday Night Football rights through 2021, a price increase of 73%.

Last April—weeks in fact after Bell closed its deal for CTV—the NHL signed a record US$2-billion contract with Comcast Corp.’s television arm, NBC-Universal, for broadcasts through the next decade. The new deal hands the league $125-million more a season.

At the press conference, commissioner Gary Bettman praised the cable and Internet giant’s controversial acquisition of NBC.

“This is the most significant media deal this league has ever been able to participate in,” he said. “In the aftermath of the Comcast/NBCU merger … we felt we could be the biggest beneficiary of all.”