CBC/Radio-Canada confirmed Monday the elimination of 800 positions, or approximately 10% of its workforce. In total, the state-owned company hopes to make savings of $125 million to deal with the drop in public funding and the exodus of advertising revenue.
After several days of rumors, the president and CEO of the public broadcaster, Catherine Tait, made the announcement Monday afternoon during a videoconference meeting to which all employees were invited. Concretely, 250 positions will be eliminated over the next year at Radio-Canada, 250 at CBC and another hundred elsewhere within the institution. Added to this are 200 positions which were vacant and which management decided not to fill under the hiring freeze decreed in October.
Last November, Catherine Tait had already suggested during a dinner at the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal that she would have to make cuts of $100 million for the next budget. After revisions, the cuts announced Monday ultimately amount to $125 million.
This includes losses of around 93 million due to rising production costs, falling audiences and falling advertising revenue. Catherine Tait also says she has to deal with a drop in public funding of $32 million.
“It is true that we are fortunate to count on public funding. Thanks to this immense privilege and the one-time income we received, we were able to meet these pressures, without having to make cutbacks. Unfortunately, it will not be enough this time,” Catherine Tait said during the meeting.
All major media groups in the country must face a particularly difficult context. Audiences are declining, which is reflected in the acceleration of the exodus of advertising revenues towards the Web giants Facebook and Google. At the beginning of November, the TVA Group announced the elimination of 547 jobs, or nearly a third of the staff. Earlier, in June, Bell Media reduced its workforce by 6%, mainly in English Canada.