An NYT take on the CBC lockout by writer Ian Austen, who I believe is a Canuckistani (saw the link first at John Gushue's blog).

Some excerpts:

After the lockout of about 5,300 of its employees, the broadcaster offered a BBC newscast instead of "The National." Light on Canadian content, the BBC World program offered, among other things, an in-depth look at an unusually large number of dolphins frolicking off the coast of Wales.

Since the lockout began Monday, the CBC has replaced all its English-language services, including two radio networks, a television network, cable channels, Web sites and local stations with a mix of reruns, elegiac classical music and sometimes less-than-relevant foreign programming.

"Traditional CBC viewers who don't have access to BBC World on digital will find the BBC news a novelty for - perhaps - a few minutes," wrote John Doyle, the television critic of The Toronto Globe and Mail. "But as soon as the reports about soccer and cricket start, they are bound to be alienated and frustrated. They will probably turn to some other news service to find out what is actually going on in Canada."

While viewers of "The National" may be faintly amused, others are watching more anxiously. Unlike public broadcasting in the United States, the government-owned CBC has many programs that attract significant, sometimes market-leading, audiences. News and sports programming, particularly hockey, on CBC Television are important advertising outlets for many leading companies that are now reassessing where to spend their money.

"Our clients who have CBC News as part of their campaigns are looking for compensation," said Sunni Boot, the president and chief executive of ZenithOptimedia Canada, an ad-buying house with headquarters in Toronto. "While it can have international content, news has to be domestic. Dolphins off the coast of Wales, forget it." ...

Currently about 28 percent of the CBC's English-service employees are on contract or in temporary and freelance positions. (Employees at the CBC's Quebec operation are covered by separate labor agreements and remain at work.)

Jason MacDonald, a spokesman at the CBC's head office in Ottawa, said that pressure on traditional broadcasting from the Internet means that the broadcaster must have greater labor flexibility.

"This isn't about eliminating a permanent work force," Mr. MacDonald said. "We recognize that the majority of our employees will be permanent. It's about addressing a changing broadcasting world. With new, experimental shows that may not work out, does it make sense to have a permanent employee for whom you have no work?"

But Arnold Amber, president of the CBC branch of the Canadian Media Guild, said that a contract negotiated in 1996 already gives the CBC the ability to initially use contract workers on new projects or programs. Mr. Amber contends that before negotiations collapsed Sunday night, a negotiating proposal from the CBC had the potential to convert half the jobs held by union members into contract positions.

"We believe that people working together, doing the same job should have the same rights and privileges," Mr. Amber said from Toronto, the CBC's English broadcasting base. "The health of public broadcasting rests on people actually being able to build a career."

Mr. MacDonald commented, "We wouldn't be asking what we're asking for if the contract gave us the flexibility we need."