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CBC President Robert Rabinovitch says a new business model is needed to ensure the survival of over-the-air broadcasting.

Rabinovitch appeared before a Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission hearing into the future of conventional TV in Gatineau on Monday.

He proposed that traditional broadcasters receive fees from cable companies for the transmission of their programs, similar to the fees that specialty channels receive. cbc

I assume that these fees would be in addition to the billion a year Canadian taxpayers already shell out for the lamers at the CBC. What fun.

I wonder if Rabinovitch is aware of the current level of subscriptions to all Canadian specialty channels is about 50%. Does Rabinovitch really think that the CBC would be picked up by that many homes unless it was bundled with something people wanted to watch?

Wouldn’t it be embarassing if the CBC’s currrent ratings were mirrored in the numbers of people it managed to attract if it were to charge $5.00 a month.

Somehow I rather suspect that Rabinovitch’s plan is not going to give Canadians the option of voting with their dollars. Instead I have to guess that the CBC will demand mandatory carriage at a mandatory $5.00 a month. Plus that billion from taxpayers.

By-bye Bob. You have amused us long enough.

Written by jay on November 28th, 2006 with 1 comment.
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