CBC Expands News Coverage Across Canada–Paid for By Google

The CBC is expanding its local and regional news coverage with plans to hire up to 25 new journalists in communities across Canada, focusing especially on areas with limited news options.

This move follows the CRTC’s recent approval of Google’s plan to compensate Canadian news outlets for using their content (um, linking to news sites and giving them traffic?) as per the Online News Act.

“Canadians need trusted, local news more than ever. We will continue to deliver on our strategy of investing in local journalism to better serve communities, particularly in underserved news markets across the country,” said Brodie Fenlon, General Manager and Editor in Chief, CBC News, in a statement on Tuesday.

The new journalists will be based in various locations, with a big focus on Western Canada. This builds on recent CBC expansions in cities like Lethbridge, Grande Prairie, Cranbrook, Nanaimo, and Kingston.

To connect with more viewers, CBC is also launching streaming channels for local news in 12 regions: Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, Windsor, Ottawa, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and the North.

They join the three existing national, British Columbia, and Toronto streaming channels., which will be available on platforms like CBC Gem and the CBC News app.

For podcast listeners, CBC has rolled out four new daily local shows: “This is Vancouver,” “This is Manitoba,” “This is Toronto,” and “This is Nova Scotia.” These podcasts join a weekly lineup covering stories from Vancouver Island, Edmonton, Montreal, and other regions.

In Atlantic Canada, CBC is introducing four new late-night TV news programs in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador, airing each night at 11 p.m. The weekend program, “Atlantic Tonight,” will continue on Saturdays and Sundays.

The CBC’s 2024-25 fiscal year has a budget of $1.4 billion, up from $1.3 billion compared to the previous fiscal year. Its budget is funded by 70% government funding, taxpayer dollars. Recently, despite job cuts, executives still approved bonuses.

Google settled a deal with the feds back in November and the CBC was set to be the biggest recipient of funds. Google will pay $100 million annually to comply with the federal government’s Online News Act. Funds are sent to the Canadian Journalism Collective (CJC), which will then distribute the money.

Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has not agreed to paying the feds, but instead is complying with the Online News Act by not allowing news links to be shared on its social networks.