‘King Richard’ here. I’m going to exercise my divine right and respond to some points raised by my good friend (if not my loyal subject) Tamsen Tillson (The Small Screen, Playback, Jan. 7, p. 12).

First, let there be no doubt – a good king who intends to keep his crown on his head (and his head on his shoulders) will be completely familiar with the limits of his realm, especially as it relates to the respective realms of presidents and board chairs. We all clear on that?

Good.

Now, when I look out over the parapets of my Front Street castle, contrary to Tamsen’s suggestion, I see not an angry mob, but – lo and behold – viewers! More of them than we saw yesterday. Or last month. Or last year.

Many of our returning shows premiered higher this year than in ’06/07.

And while some shows have softened after launch week, others such as Dragons’ Den, Marketplace, Doc Zone and Canadian Antiques Roadshow are growing steadily.

Notably, Rick Mercer Report is currently capturing a 2+ AMA season average audience of over a million, and both This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Little Mosque on the Prairie are maintaining season averages in the 750,000 range.

CBC’s fall launch week primetime share is up by over half a share point from ’06/07 and, at 8.3, is the highest launch week share we’ve seen in six years.

The Tudors premiered just shy of a million viewers (averaging 673,000 over its season), while Heartland captured over half a million (and is averaging 496,000).

And having just come through the holidays, our programming through the festive season is up half a point over last year, to a 10.1 share (9.3 in the 25-54 group). In fact, nine of our holiday programs broke the million-viewer mark this year, compared to six last year.

On December 7 we began our new winter season. We have now launched more new drama and comedy series than at any time in the history of the CBC.

Compared to two years ago, we have increased hours of original Canadian drama series by 68% and comedy series by 41%. And all this to fairly massive critical acclaim.

So in terms of viewership and how our programs are being received, things aren’t looking too bad throughout the realm.

On the radio side, we have enjoyed some striking successes as well, both in terms of our performance in the markets we serve and in the ongoing development of new and exciting programming, which we expect to be talking more about very soon.

Our online presence continues to grow, building on one of the most successful digital platforms of its kind anywhere in the world.

And while no one in charge of an organization as diverse, creative, complicated and demanding as this one could possibly claim that everyone is happy, I think you’ll find that we have a bit of a bounce in our step these days.

Richard Stursberg,
Executive vice-president, English services,
CBC/Radio-Canada.