Television viewers may not see a decline in Canadian programming on the cbc this fall, but Canada’s independent producers and Corp. employees are already feeling the hit from budget shortfalls identified by the pubcaster earlier this month.

cbc faces an anticipated gap of $23 million between revenue and costs for the next year. To begin closing the gap, cbc will cut spending by $14 million and make up the balance of $9 million by cutting its work force.

Phyllis Platt, executive director of arts and entertainment at cbc, says, ‘There’s no question that our financial restraints are very real,’ indicating that the spending cuts would hurt levels of both in-house and independent production. She says with less money available, cbc will trigger fewer projects through the Canadian Television Fund during this funding season.

But viewers won’t necessarily see fewer Canadian shows this fall. Platt says because cbc knew it wouldn’t have guaranteed access to 50% of the ctf this year, it squirreled away its full 50% last year and can therefore afford to air as many series this year as last. It stands to reason a drop would kick in by 2001. Platt argues cbc has worked hard to keep licence fees competitive in fragmented tv-land.

On the work force front, cbc is eliminating 173 English television and radio jobs and is warning of more cuts and restructuring to come – including a smaller number of job cuts at Radio-Canada – for the next fiscal year. Of the 173 jobs being eliminated in this round of the ‘transformation strategy,’ 145 affect cbc-tv and take effect June 30.

A few hours after it announced the job cuts, cbc also announced the cancellation of current affairs staple Midday, which has been on-air for 15 years, as of the end of June. Best of Midday will air during the summer. There was no word on a replacement.

Harold Redekopp, vice-president of cbc-tv, says, meantime, cost-cutting is only part of the restructuring picture. He says the Corp. wants to turn the cbc into a ‘highly differentiated public television service, in terms of its look.’ That may translate, he says, to less advertising – down from the 12 minutes of commercials and two minutes of promos running each hour – or perhaps more blocks of programming, like CBC Playground, which are ad-free. He would not specify how many ad minutes would run per hour. While he says sponsors may help replace lost ad dollars, he shies away from comparisons with pbs.

Redekopp also says the cbc is investigating new revenue possibilities, including the lease or sale of its buildings, equipment, trucks or other assets from its facilities across Canada.