The Canadian Media Guild has learned that CBC management is negotiating to outource national archive sales to a business unit of the BBC. The work is currently done by CBC employees in Toronto.
Archival material provides a source of revenue for the CBC, but it is also a cultural asset that belongs to Canadians. The CBC has always had flexibility in using this material. Besides selling it outright, it has been able to trade it with outside producers in exchange for broadcast rights of their final production. As well, CBC has provided a break in rates to help budding Canadian filmmakers. It’s not clear such flexibility ? and support for Canadian cultural production ? would continue if an outside company took over the job.
Unfortunately, CBC management has not yet informed the Guild of its plans. In fact, during the lockout, management told us that it had no plans to outsource. The Guild has now asked the CBC to provide full details on its plans for national archive sales as soon as possible. We will meet with management on Friday.
For more information, please contact Glenn Gray (glenn@cmg.ca) at 416-591-5333 or 1-800-465-4149.