CBC English cuts in detail

Details about the cuts and changes to CBC English programming were laid out to staff today during a town hall meeting helmed by Richard Stursberg, VP English Services.

Here’s a breakdown of the job losses:

About $14.4 million must come out of radio, leading to a reduction of 121 jobs, including 20 in Toronto.

There will also be job losses in the Ontario cities of Windsor, Thunder Bay and Sudbury, in Quebec City, in the New Brunswick cities of Moncton and Saint John, in Sydney, N.S., and in Corner Brook, Gander and Grand Falls in Newfoundland and Labrador. There will be budget reductions at CBC North.

One-person bureaus in La Ronge, Sask., and Thompson, Man., will be closed.

About 109 positions will come out of television entertainment, including the previously announced cancellations of Fashion File and the placing of Steven & Chris on hiatus. A further three jobs will be cut from CBC-TV Sports.

A total of $7 million must be cut from the news division, including 80 jobs in radio news, current affairs and TV current affairs.

The number of people who lose their jobs could be reduced if a number of employees opt for a retirement package to be announced in April.

Stursberg also said there would be further details released about cuts in news on April 16.

The above is taken from a summary article on the network’s website — the only programming medium where spending will actually increase. Most programming cuts will be to regional programming in small markets where it isn’t cost-effective, although The Current, Fifth Estate and Marketplace will all suffer budget reductions.

The “bottom line,” as the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting’s live blog of the meeting puts it: “The decision to cut the services with the ‘highest cost per user’ means viewers and listeners who often rely most on CBC will bear the greatest burden of these cuts.”

More colour commentary from the meeting is available care of the CBC’s blog and by following #CBCcuts on Twitter.