CBC has announced that its new radio and internet services in the London and Kitchener-Waterloo areas, as well as enhancements to Edmonton, Ottawa, the Maritimes and St. John’s weekend news programming, will take effect in the spring and fall of 2012.
At the moment, the new services and improvements have not yet taken shape as the CBC continues to work on what specifically they will entail, Jeff Keay, media relations, CBC, tells MiC.
“It’s hard to be specific just yet, because what we are announcing right now is a process,” he says.
Keay adds that the announcement of expansion into the north-western Ontario territory is a part of its strategic five-year plan that the CBC terms, “2015: Everyone, Every Way” by which it aims to better reflect a changing Canada.
The CBC promises to produce more homegrown shows on both its English and French networks that reflect the country’s diversity as it launches new and modified programs across the country, according to the CBC five-year strategic plan.
The plan also includes the creation of Canadian-focused digital spaces as CBC looks to personalize consumers’ experience of its content, as well as the active pursuit of new digital partnerships. By 2015, the broadcaster plans to double its digital investment to at least 5% of its programming budget.
“[The strategy] is basically to provide services to parts of the country that are either unserved or underserved,” Keay says. “Our mandate is to serve as many Canadians as we can.”
