Over the last two weeks, there have been several statements made regarding the preservation of CBC and Radio-Canada’s archives that need clarification. Despite what has been said by The Canadian Broadcast Museum Foundation, our archives are not being destroyed. They are being transformed into digital, file-based, formats to ensure preservation.
Our mass digitization project is addressing a very real issue of deterioration of physical recording media, as well as equipment obsolescence and the increasing cost to production staff and media librarians of maintaining playback devices.
CBC and Radio-Canada are committed to protecting and showcasing our audiovisual heritage. The mass digitization of audio and video material is being carried out to ensure over 80 years of Canadian history will be: protected and preserved, easier for our production teams to access, and available for future generations of Canadians to discover.
Before taking this course of action, we engaged with many subject matter experts and they included: broadcasters from around the world who face a similar challenge with respect to preserving their legacy media collections, institutions and organizations dedicated to content preservation, the International Federation of Television Archives, and the Library of Congress.
Library and Archives Canada has also been engaged in this initiative from the very beginning and holds in its collections thousands of physical carriers (e.g. digital audio tape, Betacam) transferred from the Corporation to what was then called the National Archives.
Our priority is the preservation of Canada’s stories, and this digitization project will ensure our history remains accessible to Canadians, through our programs, websites, social media platforms.
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For more information please contact:
Chuck Thompson
Head of Public Affairs, English services
(416) 205-3747
chuck.thompson@cbc.ca
