Canadian government’s funding of public broadcasting among the lowest across Western countries

CBC releases Nordicity international benchmarking study on government support for public broadcasting

OTTAWA — October 31, 2006 — The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) released a study entitled Analysis of Government Support for Public Broadcasting and Other Culture in Canada. Nordicity Group Ltd. prepared the study for the CBC over the course of the last several months.

In its report, Nordicity compares the per-capita funding for public broadcasters in 18 Western countries, including Canada. The comparison demonstrates that only New Zealand and the United States provide less government funding to their public broadcasters than Canada. The study also puts forward criteria for relative need for a public broadcaster and compares Canada to the other benchmarked countries.

In 2004, the federal government provided $33 per capita (all amounts in Canadian currency) of funding to the CBC, including its radio and television operations in both official languages. This was well below the average per-capita funding rate of $80 across the 18 Western countries included in the analysis. In the United Kingdom, funding stood at $124 per capita in 2004; Switzerland posted the highest rate of funding, at $154 per capita.

“The data clearly show that despite Canada’s long tradition of public broadcasting, the federal government’s funding for the CBC is nowhere near what we observe in our peer group of countries,” points out Dustin Chodorowicz, Director, Nordicity Group Ltd.

The study also demonstrates that while direct federal-government funding for the CBC remains below 1996 levels, the value of federal-government funding for other cultural programs has risen by nearly 40%. The study also estimates that the value of indirect economic benefits derived by Canada’s private broadcasters – due to economic regulation and market protection – rose by an estimated 30 to 40% between 1996 and 2004.

A copy of the study can be downloaded from the Nordicity’s web site http://www.nordicity.com/reports.html

Nordicity Group Ltd. (http://www.nordicity.com) is one of Canada’s leading strategy-consulting firms for clients in the media/entertainment, culture/content, and telecommunications sectors. Our consultants work with clients in both the private and public sectors to make business and policy decisions, and to understand the impacts of policy and regulatory developments.