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Canadian Public Broadcasting Corporation Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has pulled back the curtain on its new strategic direction, detailing its diverse new content, entertainment integration and rebranding, as well as a new FAST channel in partnership with its news arm.
Hosted by “Kim’s Convenience” and “Run the Burbs” star Andrew Phung at the Nov. 30 event at Toronto’s Massey Hall, the broadcaster explained that all entertainment content, including streaming, linear and podcasts, is now available on Under the umbrella of CBC Entertainments. CBC Entertainments and CBC News combined are the company’s two-pronged approach to attracting and amplifying new Canadian voices for all Canadians.
“Everybody knows about CBC News, and whenever there’s a big story, Canadians turn to it,” said CBC executive vice president Barbara Williams. type. “We’re on TV, the CBC Gem, [radio app] Listen, podcast. Somehow, the collection of entertainment content is not so clearly understood. So we put them under one heading. ”
Sally Catto, General Manager of Entertainment, Facts and Sports, added: “It reminds viewers that we have drama, comedy, kids, but we also have really good podcasts, we have great music. We have the Olympics. Explore art on your own terms.”
During the event, new winter content was rolled out across the board. Upcoming impromptu episodes such as “Push,” which revolves around a group of friends in Edmonton, “The Wheelie Peeps,” and “Bollywed,” about a family in Toronto’s Little India who own a bridal shop, star on stage or virtually. way appears.
According to Williams, the main message was to convey that the CBC is an all-encompassing media product with a very unique perspective on what it means to be a Canadian public broadcaster. With that comes responsibility and opportunity, she added.
“We’re reaching out to new communities and different creators to find new ways to tell stories,” she said. “Television is a huge part of our product. But we also tell stories on the CBC Gem in various formats. We also tell fictional stories that can only be told in audio. With all the platforms, we have to make sure we reflect contemporary Canada, and to be a place where everyone in Canada can find a place for themselves.”
Williams noted that the CBC’s tiered streaming service, CBC Gem, has seen a 34% year-over-year increase in subscribers. The platform is one of the few places Canadians can now access CBC News Explore, the CBC’s new FAST service, which officially launched on Nov. 30.
At launch, the broadcaster unveiled four new, in-depth news series, including “About That,” starring Andrew Chang, “This Week in Canada,” meteorologist Johanna Wagstaff Starring in “Planet Miracles” and “Big: CBC” news original documentaries. ”
CBC News Explore is the second FAST channel to launch in Canada this week (Pluto TV debuted on December 1) and the third overall ad-supported service in Canada to join TUBI. CBC News Explore is also available through the CBC News App, CBCNews.ca and The Roku Channel, but Williams revealed plans to add more distributors soon.
“We made a deliberate decision at the outset; we launched four new shows, not 40. We didn’t want to set ourselves up with a show that was too big to match,” Williams said.
“We know we have a lot of content to populate the channel, and we’ll build that over time. We want to be free, and we’re starting with Roku, but we’re committed to getting to all the other connected platforms in the coming months.”
Looking ahead, Williams said diversity is a daily conversation, and the CBC has spent a lot of time discussing and implementing it internally to develop a timeline and content to match.
“You have to think it through,” she said. “Do we have internal teams that reflect the communities that we’re trying to speak to? Do we have diversity that reflects the breadth of communities, race and culture, people with disabilities, our Indigenous communities? If you can’t that [on the] Inside, it’s really hard to talk about the authenticity of the outside. “
She added that the CBC is on a mission to find creators they haven’t reached before and encourage those stories to be told through a variety of opportunities and programs to further develop talent.
Amplifying these voices is also a challenge that public broadcasters are prepared to tackle. Williams said internal research has shown that an entire generation of Canadians has no connection to the CBC, and she wants to change that.
“A lot of what we’re doing with this event today is about providing an opportunity to help inform Canadians of what we’re doing. It’s a marketing exercise. It’s a branding exercise,” Williams said.
“It’s about having the CBC represent people. To represent something collectively, to represent an opportunity and a responsibility to reflect contemporary Canada. You have to tell people this all the time.”
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