Comfort and joy were nowhere in sight among the tidings relayed to cbc employees this Black Christmas as it was announced that 2,400 positions will be eliminated at the pubcaster by the end of March and as many as 3,200 by the end of 1998.

In an announcement made to its employees Dec. 11, cbc management outlined the personnel cuts which will be necessary to meet a $414 million corporation-wide shortfall. English tv’s portion of the Corp.’s deficit is $171 million over three years or 28% of the English tv budget. Of that amount, $69 million is left to be cut in fiscal 1997/98 and a further $44 million the following year.

The job cuts affect every sector of the broadcaster’s operations, including English and French network tv, regional production, radio, support, engineering, head office and Radio Canada International.

Two programs, Wendy Mesley’s Undercurrents and Meeting Place, have been terminated, with more cancellations possible, and all acknowledge that to varying degrees the cuts will impact remaining programming.

Further details of schedule changes will not be released until the network schedule review this winter, says vp of English network tv Jim Byrd.

Arnold Amber, vp of the Canadian Media Guild, says in that union, which represents over 3,000 employees, mostly producers and journalists, about 450 jobs were affected by the cuts. ‘Every program will do its work with fewer people,’ says Amber.

He says figures indicate about 47 producers were affected in the Toronto area, but the actual number is probably around 30. ‘The cbc is not very good on figures,’ he says.

Byrd puts forward a number of strategies for maintaining the network and the quality of its programming. In addition to designating itself as a Canadian broadcaster, a goal toward which the network has already taken steps, Byrd says the cbc will look at every way to utilize funding initiatives, including the new ctcpf and Telefilm; seek international partners to produce programming; and mine the talents of remaining staff to find Canadian ideas to replace u.s. programming.

The day’s announcement indicated that 468 positions would be eliminated in English tv by March 31, 1997 (an additional 174 had already been eliminated), and of those, 178 would be accomplished through voluntary agreements and vacancies and 290 would be layoffs.

While the human toll of the mass reductions is onerous, employee representatives decry the effect of the cuts on program quality and the essential character of the public broadcaster.

At a press conference, long lists of additional affected programming (programs on which downsized departments had worked) were presented, by market. Union representatives say the cuts are tragic not only for employees but for Canadian broadcasting, and the effects will be most dire for radio and regional programming.

In terms of regional programming, the network announced in the fall that it would not leave resources in place to produce programming other than news and current affairs shows, and Byrd says some of today’s downsizing is a consequence of that decision.

The news and current affairs department will lose about 60 journalists and Byrd says the reduction will be discernible in news programming. ‘It’s got to have an effect on the volume of stories you can cover, the range of stories you can cover, and the depth you apply to each story,’ says Byrd.