The Canadian Media Guild will be appearing before the parliamentary Heritage Committee in Ottawa on Monday to call for increased funding for the CBC and to present a proposal on digital over-the-air television.

The Guild will be condemning the lack of public funding that has led to the current round of job and service cuts. We will ask the committee to demand that the government implement the key recommendations of the report from February 2008 in time to avert the current cuts. These recommendations include increasing CBC’s funding and indexing it to inflation, and signing a seven-year deal with the public broadcaster that outlines what is expected of it.

On another note, broadcasters are saying they want to shut down transmitters in smaller markets and leave one-third of Canadians with no option other than paying for cable or satellite to watch TV. The union will propose that the government use some of the proceeds from the auctioning of wireless spectrum to help broadcasters in smaller communities make the transition to digital television. Under the Guild’s model, free television service can be expanded at a relatively low cost to broadcasters if they share the infrastructure.

For more information, contact the Guild (info@cmg.ca) at 416-591-5333 or 1-800-465-4149.