CBC should receive stable, indexed funding for at least seven years: report

THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA - A House of Commons committee is recommending the federal government commit "stable, multi-year funding" to the CBC.

The heritage committee split along party lines over the future of the public broadcaster, with members of the minority Conservative government writing their own, dissenting report. The main report, backed by opposition members of the committee, makes dozens of recommendations.

It says Ottawa should commit to funding the CBC for at least seven years, and the amount should be indexed to the cost of living.

Tory members disagreed with some key recommendations of the report, rejecting a proposal to force the public broadcaster to show strictly Canadian content during prime-time, Monday through Friday.

The dissenting report says the Tory government disagrees with any recommendations that "micro-manage our independent public broadcasting corporation."

The government members also rejected as "unacceptable" a call to boost the CBC's role in the development, promotion and distribution of Canadian feature films.

© The Canadian Press, 2008