And they’re fighting to keep it that way.
CBC/Radio-Canada has filed an application in Federal Court to fight an order directing it to disclose subscriber numbers for its Gem streaming service.
The information commissioner ordered CBC to make available the number of paid subscribers to Gem following an access-to-information request for the data.
CBC/Radio-Canada president Marie-Philippe Bouchard told The Canadian Press the subscriber numbers are sensitive commercial information.
Public money = public transparency. I like to know how my tax dollars are spent. If that cramps your style, CBC, then get by on ad revenue alone and you can keep your numbers secret. As long as you take public money, you must account for how it’s spent.
the Sensitive Commercial Information is who is actually paying for GEM, and that’s an answer they really don’t want to have to give.
The numbers should be public information.
It’s simple. They don’t wanna produce the numbers, their funding gets cut by a billion or so. FAFO.
Yeah when pigs fly. The official news agency of the Liberal Party/Government of Canada (same entity) performs a useful service.
I think the Freedom of Information lawsuit is approaching from the wrong direction. As I understand it, in Canada, the government can participate in competition against private industry, but with limitations. Canada sets up a business as a Crown corporation. However, the whole purpose is to serve a public or national interest that the government feels is not being sufficiently met by the private sector. That, immediately, negates the current defense being applied by CBC. “Sensitive commercial information” implies a close competition with competitors. That contradicts the purpose of a Crown corporation, which is to fill an unfilled void. Obviously that void doesn’t exist or there wouldn’t be a need to withhold “sensitive commercial information.”
The Competition Act: Federal and provincial Crown corporations engaged in commercial activities are subject to the same competition laws as private companies. This prevents government-owned entities from engaging in anti-competitive practices like “abuse of dominance”. I would submit that access to “free” taxpayer funds is an abuse of dominance in that there are other entities with whom they are competing. If there were no other options, then it might be within the law. As it is now, and with the reinforcement of admission that they are in competition such that they can’t even turn over subscription information, they are in violation of the Competition Act.
All that said….I think the actual paying customers are so poor that they are embarrassed to report them in that the project would be scrapped, and appropriations would be adjust accordingly. They are bragging about 5 Million accounts registered. But, I’d wage about 90% of those are non-paying customers.
Try 99%, better bet. The CBC has an audience share of something like 3%, and that is without paying separately. People who watch the CBC are not notorious for charity, as lefties they expect someone else to pay.
The CBC loses more money than Canada Post because every dollar given it is a loss.
How can anyone advertise on CBC without knowing that data?
Will releasing the numbers expose another CBC fraud?