Just pull the plug on the CBC already

[Commentary] The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) plan to increase its number of contract workers caused the CBC's biggest union, the Canadian Media Guild (CMG), to object and the CMG soon found themselves locked out. And the CBC found itself airing Coronation Street reruns, BBC news, Antiques Roadshow, management-hosted radio shows consisting only of music, and movies. With hockey season upon us, an agreement was reached, just in time for the CBC to carry out its lucrative contract with the NHL (apparently, many Canadians like to watch figure skating with sticks). The CBC, on both television and radio, is taxpayer funded to the tune of just under $1 billion (Canadian) a year. True believers in Canada maintain it keeps Canadians connected to each other, and above all, keeps us from becoming American. The latter is a peculiar concern, since, even operating at full force, CBC's English-language television is ever defeated in the ratings by American networks and cable stations. According to a Decima Research poll taken during the lockout, 61 percent of respondents said the labor dispute had no impact at all on their lives. Only 10 percent considered it a "major inconvenience." Most telling was that, in the 10 percent who felt seriously inconvenienced, most were those who voted for Canada's left-of-center Liberal and New Democratic parties. And many were older people, for whom the CBC has no doubt played a larger role, than for someone who grew up with the Internet and hundreds of radio and TV stations. Should the unprecedented ever happen, and Canadian politicians develop the backbone required to pull the CBC's plug, the death knell would be most welcome and overdue.
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Rondi Adamson]
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1011/p09s02-coop.html