The Toronto Star's Antonia Zerbisias rounds up some of the issues surrounding the CBC lockout.

Some excerpts:

CBC management couldn't be doing more for its private sector competition if it personally picked up audiences members and drove them over to rival networks and radio stations.

Yesterday, CTV Newsnet, Canada's third-rated all news channel after CNN and CBC Newsworld, launched a new format, as well as several new full-length newscasts.

At the same time, top AM station Newstalk 1010 CFRB bought a prominent newspaper ad headlined, "Attention CBC Radio One Listeners."

The ad urged Torontonians to switch to CFRB. ...

Zerby quoted CMG head Lise Lareau on the union's demand that Parliament hold some of the CBC's funding allotment in trust until the dispute is over. The union ran a full ad in the Hill Times on Monday, asking "Should a crown corporation that locks out its employees continue to get its full parliamentary appropriation."

"What we don't want is more money directed into outside production," says CMG president Lise Lareau, concerned that money which should be used for news will be diverted into the independent drama that CBC-TV executive vice president Richard Stursberg has repeatedly put at the top of his priorities.

"The money continues to flow in,'' says Lareau. "It shouldn't happen in a lockout. It shouldn't happen when you've withdrawn services. We have a particular team of managers who are callous about this, who have actually openly talked about calculating this. That's offensive."

For its part, CBC management dismisses the premise of the ad.

"This is another diversionary tactic on the part of the union to avoid dealing with the real issue, which is the need to be bargaining," says spokesperson Jason MacDonald.