So the CBC if this gets approved or goes ahead will be sort of like PBS?A Senate report is to recommend CBC-TV become completely commercial-free and that Ottawa boost CBC funding to make up for the loss of ad revenue, Canadian Press has learned.
The report on the state of Canada's media is to be released Wednesday.
A committee headed by Senator Joan Fraser, a former journalist, has been working on the report for the last three years, with hearings held across the country.
It will recommend boosting CBC's annual $1-billion budget to make it possible to get rid of ads, the wire service said.
The report also examined private-sector newspaper, radio and television concentration.
It will recommend measures to prevent private media conglomerates from dominating any single market, with a review triggered whenever a media company acquires above a certain percentage of audience share.
According to sources, the report of the Senate's transport and communications committee will recommend that the Competition Act be beefed up.
The review was spurred by CanWest Global's decision to publish national editorials throughout its Southam newspaper chain without allowing local editors to opt out.
CanWest owns several big city daily newspapers and is the country's second biggest private broadcaster after CTV. The BCE group owns CTV and controls The Globe and Mail.
I guess the programming will be changed as well since they will not have any commercials. Why don't they let the CBC have commercials and boost its budget?
Of course commercial free tv is nice and that is why I like watching PBS but I hope CBC does not have those fundraisers constantlt asking for "donations" but since they will get extra funding, if this goes through, I do not think they will need to do that.
Limk