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ACTION ALERT: Stop the CBC Smackdown

The Globe and Mail reports, “Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has released a satirical video in support of the CBC on Tuesday. Called Stop the CBC Smackdown, it imagines a scenario where the corporation is purchased by a former U.S. wrestling champ. ‘As an American,’ says the new CBC owner, ‘I know what Canadians want.'”

Canada.com adds, “The organization dedicated to preserving made-in-Canada radio and television programming, has launched a pair of satirical YouTube videos that depict life at the CBC under the new ownership of a garrulous former American wrestler named Lance Fury who is more concerned with ‘action’ than national content. Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has raised concerns about the CBC’s future as the government has said the broadcaster won’t be spared as it seeks to find $4 billion in savings to reduce the deficit as part of an ongoing strategic and operating review.”

And Marketing Magazine notes, “Peter Mansbridge has been replaced by a tattooed, eye-patch wearing grappler, while flamboyantly dressed Radio 2 personalities now settle on-air disagreements with their fists in a new vision of the CBC presented by the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. Don Cherry, presumably, remains unaffected.”

To see the videos and add your name to the petition, please go to http://www.friends.ca/smackdown/. The petition sent to the prime minister and your MP states, “I call on your government to keep its election promise to maintain or increase funding to the CBC. After years of brutal budget custs, more of the same will kill our public broadcaster. Do the right thing. Keep your promise.”

So far, 17,192 people have signed this petition.