CBC spent nearly $60K to prevent disclosure of Gem subscription numbers
Access-to-information records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation found that the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster has spent $59,000 to date on lawyers.
Author: Quinn Patrick
The CBC has spent nearly $60 thousand dollars fighting in a federal court to not have to disclose how many people are subscribed to its streaming services.
Access-to-information records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation found that the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster has spent $59,000 to date on lawyers to fight an order directing it to disclose subscriber numbers for its Gem streaming service.
The CBC launched the Gem streaming service in 2018, which offers both paid and unpaid versions.
“As a matter of principle, the CBC owes taxpayers transparency, but instead of being transparent with taxpayers, it’s wasting more money on legal bills trying to keep Canadians in the dark,” said CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano on Thursday. “The CBC bragged about its Gem subscription service and pointed to Gem as proof it’s providing value, so why is the CBC trying so hard to keep these numbers hidden?”
CBC was directed to disclose the number of Gem subscribers via an access-to-information request filed by Matt Malone, the founder of the transparency organization Open By Default.
It’s common for publicly traded streaming companies to disclose subscription metrics, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube.
“The CBC should be more transparent than Netflix or Amazon, so if these companies can back up their claims about their subscriber base, then taxpayers should definitely be able to hold the CBC to a higher standard,” Terrazzano said. “If the CBC doesn’t want to release the information and be transparent with taxpayers, then it shouldn’t get one cent from taxpayers.”
These platforms routinely report their total paid memberships or subscription revenue in financial filings and annual reports.
While the Information Commissioner agreed, and ordered the CBC to provide the records, the state broadcaster claimed that such information was confidential, deciding the take legal action against the matter.
The CBC is requesting the court to disregard the Information Commissioner’s order and rule that Gem’s records should be exempt from disclosure, with CBC CEO Marie-Philippe Bouchard calling it “sensitive commercial information.”
However, Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard rejected the CBC’s claims of competition, arguing that its subscriber numbers are relative to its general administration, thus ruling out the right for an exemption.
“[While the] CBC did identify possible harms to its competitive position or to ongoing negotiations, it did not demonstrate that there was a reasonable expectation that these harms could occur, well beyond a mere possibility,” Maynard said.
Former CBC president Catherine Tait repeatedly told MPs at a 2024 committee that “millions” of Canadians stream its videos through Gem, claiming the broadcaster has “an increase in the millions” who were “streaming video and audio in English and French across our platforms.”