Outlook

CBC/Radio-Canada faces significant financial challenges as it strives to achieve its strategic objectives and manage a 2014—2015 budget shortfall of $130 million. 2014—2015 will also be a pivotal year for developing our next strategic plan, which will map out fundamental changes to position the public broadcaster for the future. We will have to make choices about what we can afford to do with a much different revenue base.

On April 10, 2014, CBC/Radio-Canada announced its 2014—2015 budget. We must cut $130 million and the equivalent of 657 full-time positions from across the Corporation to balance the budget. These cuts will occur over the next two years, with 573 in 2014—2015. Our financial plan will be closely monitored and adjusted, as required. Our success depends on our achievement of targets for revenue generation and cost reductions, as well as the strength of the advertising market.

While difficult to make, the decisions presented in our 2014—2015 budget align with Strategy 2015 and were made with an eye to the future. The following key principles were followed:

 

 

The 2014—2015 budget decisions are helping re-imagine tomorrow’s CBC/Radio-Canada. The following examples shed some light on what kind of a public broadcaster we will become.

Sports:

CBC and Radio-Canada are out of the business of competing with private broadcasters for professional sports rights.

Advertising Sales:

We need to reduce our costs and to share our vision for a Canada-wide, multiplatform advertising offering with our business partners. CBC/Radio-Canada’s newly integrated revenue group will provide a more streamlined service to advertisers.

Regions:

All reductions will be made with the criteria of maintaining our presence and quality of service and protecting news-gathering capabilities. But to do this:

• Resources, and sometimes programming, will be consolidated;
• Local programming in some communities will be reduced, replaced with regional, network or syndicated programming; and

A planned expansion in London, Ontario, has been cancelled; however, we remain focused and committed to our regional presence. Over the course of 2014—2015, the development of our next strategic plan will require further decisions affecting the breadth and depth of the shift as we re-imagine CBC/Radio-Canada. The vision for the future is that CBC/Radio-Canada will be a scalable and more engaged and focused media company. Our new strategy will ensure that we evolve as rapidly as the media consumption habits of the audiences we serve. It will also identify services we can no longer afford, and propose new services in which we must invest to fulfill our mandate in the future.