CBC/Radio-Canada, that country’s national public broadcaster, recently became a full member of the European Broadcasting Union, an alliance of public service media, after more than seven decades as an associate EBU member.
It said it did so in the interest of “stronger collaboration on trusted journalism, platform accountability and content exchange.”
With the IBC convention coming up in a few weeks, Radio World sought out Jon Medline, CBC/Radio-Canada’s executive director, policy and international relations, to ask about the organization’s view of radio issues. He replied by email.
Radio World: What are the most notable macro challenges facing radio broadcasters in 2026?
Jon Medline: There are a few that come to mind.
Declining audiences on traditional radio stations and the shift of ad dollars to digital streamers is something we’re seeing across the board around the world. In the Canadian context, most radio ad dollars are leaving the country — though for CBC/Radio-Canada this has no direct impact, since our radio is ad-free.
Also, in Canada we maintain large over-the-air transmission facilities over a vast, challenging terrain that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific and north to the Arctic. For perspective, CBC/Radio-Canada operates 725 over-the-air radio transmitters.
We also face the challenge of reaching, building and maintaining radio audiences across a growing number of owned-and-operated and third-party digital platforms, and auto manufacturers that do not — and may not in the future — include radio receivers in their designs. This can have a knock-on societal impact on crisis and emergency preparedness.
[Read a free Radio World ebook about global radio trends.]
RW: How would you describe the health of the broadcast industry in Canada and its long-term outlook for survival and growth?
Medline: These are challenging times in Canadian media.
Some of the biggest concerns include cord-cutters, cord-shavers and cord-nevers. There’s been an overall decline of Broadcasting Distribution Undertaking subscriptions — the largest segment in the Canadian broadcasting system in terms of overall revenues (i.e. cable and direct-to-home satellite).
At one time, BDU penetration in Canada well exceeded 80% — today it is below 60% and is trending below 50% in 2–3 years’ time. Mandatory BDU contributions to the Canadian broadcasting system are based on overall BDU revenues; so, as consumer expenditures on BDU subscriptions decline, so do key supports for Canadian content production.
Moreover, the second-largest broadcasting segment is discretionary television (i.e. not linear television) — by definition those networks rely on BDU distribution and online subscriptions, since they are not allowed to be offered over-the-air.
We see a continued decline of over-the-air television and an exodus of ad dollars to the United States. As audiences migrate away from conventional television, ad dollars have increasingly moved to digital media, 80–90% of which flow out of Canada to Google and Meta.
This has increased pressure on Canadian media companies, with knock-on impact on domestic production in all programming genres. (For more information on the state of advertising, see The Case for Advertising on CBC/Radio-Canada 2024 and CBC/Radio-Canada: Public Purpose in a Digital Future.)
Meta’s news ban on Facebook and Instagram in Canada means that access to critical news and information, including during emergencies, is compromised. This ban is in place as the net number of Canadian news outlets continues to decline, and with full knowledge that vulnerable remote, rural and Indigenous communities rely heavily on these platforms.
Finally, there are challenges related to the discoverability and prominence of Canadian content on digital platforms: Canadian media companies not only have to develop and program content on an increasing number of platforms — both owned and operated and third party — they also have to fight for pride of place on an ever-growing sea of foreign and domestic content.
(To see Canadian data trends, see Communications Market Reports – Current trends – Broadcasting | CRTC; Communications Market Reports – Open Data | CRTC; and Financial Summaries for Broadcasting Sector.)
RW: We see headlines about layoffs in the Canadian commercial radio sector, and there have been recent big cuts in the United States at some of the biggest owners. What do these developments mean for the industry’s health?
Medline: CBC/Radio-Canada doesn’t offer a commercial radio service or include ads in our radio offering, so it’s really not our place to comment on this. However, it’s clear that shifts from traditional AM/FM to digital streaming have introduced new foreign competitors and fragmented audiences even more.
RW: The public broadcast sector in the United States has been disrupted substantially by the federal government’s defunding decisions. Is there an equivalent pressure on Canadian public broadcasters; if not, why do you think there hasn’t been?
Medline: The model for public service media in Canada is materially different — so equivalence isn’t relevant. The funding challenges experienced by NPR or PBS in the U.S. have no equivalence, bearing or impact on the funding for Canada’s national public broadcaster or for other public broadcasters in this country.
This isn’t to imply that the model and level of funding in Canada is without risk. As with many other public broadcasters around the world, CBC/Radio-Canada receives an annual parliamentary appropriation — for us, that represents approximately 70% of our funding.
These funding levels can change, depending on the priorities of the government of the day. So, funding is inherently uncertain, unpredictable and short term.
CBC/Radio-Canada’s remaining 30% of funding sources is from commercial and earned revenues, including ads and subscriptions. Ad and television subscription revenues are subject to cyclical and structural decline.
RW: In some countries including the USA as well as in the EU, there are legislative efforts to try to mandate that vehicles include broadcast radio reception in one form or another. What is CBC’s position on these efforts?
Medline: We’re following this issue closely, but we’re not aware of any Canadian legislation that is equivalent to the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act in the U.S.
Given the interconnectedness of the North American auto manufacturing sector, if that legislation passes in the U.S., it would very likely have a direct impact on vehicles sold in Canada.
RW: What is the state of AM radio in Canada?
Medline: AM in Canada is predominantly used for news and information, sports, and talk-radio formats. For the most part, music formats have long since moved to FM stations and, more recently, to digital streaming.
The AM business model is challenged due to declining audiences and ad revenue. This has led to the closure of a number of AM and FM stations in recent years.
That said, local and regional radio signals are a critical lifeline in times of crisis and emergency. Over-the-air radio signals can travel long distances at no cost, requiring no intermediary platforms or technologies in remote and rural areas, and in challenging terrain. Radio receivers can work on battery power when other energy sources fail and they are easily receivable in moving vehicles.
AM signals, therefore, play an outsized role in emergency preparedness, especially, but not only, in enormous, sparsely populated areas such as Canada’s North, which is experiencing massive, life- and community-threatening forest fires.
