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CBC advertising revenue from televised programming fell double digits last year, according to new financial accounts. Management in a report to Parliament said it expected no improvement in the years ahead.

“We expect TV advertising revenue to continue to decline as TV audiences decrease,” said the CBC’s latest Annual Report. “Sustaining overall advertising revenue in the long term is dependent on digital advertising revenue.”

Television advertising income fell from $215.5 million to $194.7 million, a 9.6% decline year over year. The CBC blamed “a softer TV advertising market.”

The CBC in a Corporate Plan Summary tabled in the Commons predicted no improvement, citing younger Canadians transitioning from traditional television and radio services to digital platforms.

“The decline in conventional TV audiences is challenging to predict,” it said. “However, sustaining overall advertising revenue in the long term is dependent on digital revenue.”

A senior government official told CBC News last week that Canadian Heritage is expected to modernize the state broadcaster in the coming weeks. 

The Trudeau government is also weighing a new mandate that may require more funding, the official said. The CBC’s main revenue source is a $1.4 billion annual parliamentary grant, up from $1 billion a decade ago.

Figures show CBC commercial revenue fell from $767.8 million a year to $493.5 million during the same period, revealed Blacklock’s Reporter. 

The ongoing collapse in advertising revenues worsened in 2013 after Rogers Communications Inc. paid $5.2 billion for the monopoly rights to Hockey Night In Canada broadcasts. It runs through 2026.

Richard Stursberg, a former CBC vice-president, explained in 2014 testimony at the Senate transport and communications committee that the direct loss of hockey sponsorships compounded the network’s revenue problem. “You not only lose the profits from hockey, you also lose your capacity to sell the rest of your advertising at reasonable prices,” he said.

Canada’s state broadcaster will also "reassess" future cuts after paying its managers millions in bonuses, said Carol Najm, chief financial officer. She defended bonus payments at the Senate national finance committee, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.

The CBC’s main revenue source is a $1.4 billion annual parliamentary grant. Records show all 46 top network executives without exception received bonuses worth $3,020,021 this year. Another 1,140 managers shared $11.883,734 in bonuses.

“We continue to face financial challenges that impact the entire Canadian media industry,” testified Najm. “Audiences are abandoning television in favour of digital platforms.” 

“All Canadian media organizations face serious challenges,” she said. About 450 newspapers have gone out of business since 2009, according to government data. 

Rival broadcasters are cutting staff and programming costs to stay afloat. The CBC will cut 346 jobs this year.

The Forum for Research and Policy in Communications (FRPC) conducted an analysis of the broadcaster’s annual reports from 1937 to 2019, uncovering significant difficulties tracking the broadcaster's funding and performance outcomes. 

The annual reports provide “little objective information” about fulfillment of its mandate and “so little consistent historical financial information” that Parliament's support for its operations “cannot be easily assessed.”

Its current mandate hasn’t been changed since 1991 — before the advent of the internet.

The FRPC estimates that CBC has cost taxpayers roughly $80 billion since 1937.

“Canadians should be allowed to choose which news outlet to support voluntarily, and other media organizations shouldn't be forced to compete with the taxpayer-funded CBC,” Terrazzano said last year.

“It's time to defund the CBC,” he notes.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) obtained Access to Information records last year detailing the state broadcaster's pay raises under the Trudeau government. 

During the 2015/16 fiscal year, 438 full-time CBC employees took home six-figure salaries, costing taxpayers $59.5 million. That more than doubled ($119.5 million) to 949 staff during the 2021/22 fiscal year.

“What value are taxpayers getting from all these extra CBC staffers with big salaries?” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director.

CBC had 220 more staff earning six-figures after the pandemic. Only one staffer received a pay cut during fiscal years 2020/21 and 2021/22.