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CBC Opens ZeD.cbc.ca Code
Posted by
michael
on Fri Jan 07, 2005 08:55 AM
from the free-to-air dept.
from the free-to-air dept.
ivar writes "The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has open sourced (Apache License 2.0) the code used to build ZeD.cbc.ca. The corresponding TV show (typically consisting of content uploaded by the community) aired the announcement last night (Jan 6_, along with the Canadian broadcast premiere of Revolution OS. It's always heartening to see cool things come from a state run corporation..."
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CBC -- BBC (Score:5, Informative)
Since moving to Britian, I've seen how far something like the CBC could go: The BBC.
The BBC kicks serious ass. Wide range of great programming. Really insightful stuff...
http://www.bbc.co.uk
And it's not fear mongering like the American news channels. (and yes, we got plenty of them in Canada...)
Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:2, Funny)
Then someone with a complete lack of understanding of the way the BBC works, will call it a puppet of the government.
Then finally someone will pour scorn on the actual quality of the programming in comparison to their country.
And finally it'll all just get messy.
CBC-BBC parallels (Score:5, Informative)
Interestingly enough that is almost the same way CBC receives much of its funding. In Canada, if you want wo have *cable or legal satellite* television you MUST pay a fee to CBC. This fee is hidden in your cable or satellite bill. In return, we get the CBC--by law, all cable and satellite providers in Canada must provide CBC Newsworld, and one channel each of the CBC main network and Radio-Canada (French CBC). I *AM* glad that we don't have that silly license scheme here though.
Then someone with a complete lack of understanding of the way the BBC works, will call it a puppet of the government.
Cant speak for the BBC, but the CBC seems fairly independent of government, and is quite regularly on its case about corruption, etc (they also get a good skewering on "This Hour has 22 Minutes"). I DO have to say that they are far from neutral, and arguably very out-of-touch with Canadian's overall viewpoint editorially. Canada is markedly to the left of the US, but not outright socialist as often the CBC's editorial stance seems to be. Compared to th BBC programming I've seen I'd say the BBC is not nearly as ideologicallly bent as the CBC. And while they are not a puppet of the government, during election time they cover the Liberal and NDP (socialist) party much more favourably than others (Conservative, Greens, separatists, fringe parties).
As far as government puppets go, in Canada they are private media companies--Bell GlobeMedia is owned by a staunchly Liberal family with close ties to high-powered politicians. The "old and stale" Globe and Mail editorials are a good example of mutual backscratching.
Then finally someone will pour scorn on the actual quality of the programming
Much of what the CBC does is crap, and I'm sure the same is true of the BBC too, but it seems (at least here across the pond) we get to see the best of what the BBC has to offer, and even when production values are sometimes low, it is very good entertainment, which is often emulated here (hits like "All in the Family" are Americanised British imports). The CBC has carried such shows before too (Degrassi Junior High had a following around he world, Beachcombers was a bit hokey but still a perennial favourite, The Nature of Things is world-renowned and very long-running). However, finding the treasure amongst the crap that sometimes gets put front-and-centre is sometimes frustrating.
The CBC *is* too overlooked, and there is quality stuff on there, but it has incompetent management. Their biggest hits never seem to air on the same day and time from week to week. They are too often pre-empted for special presentations or sports events or whatever reason they can come up with to move things around. Furthermore they have no real direction. On one hand they try to meet some kind of official mandate and be like the BBC or PBS, and on the other hand they are driven to fill air time with American movie features and revenue-generating commercials and Canadian-produced content that emulate American formulae.
There has to be a corporate-wide shake-up at CBC to allow for more innovation. They can't be both the BBC and ABC. Furhtermore, private networks are starting to make some really good, truly Canadian programming that beats what the CBC has come up with for awhile (Check out Corner Gas...also CTV has picked up the latest sequel to the original Degrassi shows at CBC's expense).
I'm not totally against the CBC--as I said they have some good programming and it's nice to see initiatives like the open source one by ZED. However, if taxpayer money is going to fund it, the CBC should offer something different than "just another network" (which they too often try to be). Private enterprise can give me the same old stuff. The CBC will know they are successful when they air something a bit off the wall that becomes enough of a hit t
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Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:4, Interesting)
Please give a solid example of CBC being biased towards the left. And looking for a TV show or radio piece, not just the normal "the cbc is left"
Geez, look at Don Cherry. He's about as left wing as Bush. And he's still on, even though lots of people calling for him to be removed from the CBC. Granted he has lots of supporters, like myself, but if CBC was really that biased towards the left he would have been gone a lot time ago.
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Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:3, Interesting)
*looks glum
Don't talk about hockey.
Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:4, Interesting)
As bush said "If you aren't with us, you're against us". So if you aren't on the right, you must be on the left.
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Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:4, Insightful)
Only in the same sense that lots of people have called for Howard Stern to be removed (that is, only a few loudmouths). Even though Don Cherry is as "cartoon character" as Michael Moore or Rush Limbaugh, he's taken less seriously. Do you think people watch Coach's Corner for reporting?!
Anyways, the American and Canadian notions of right and left are incompatible in many ways, and most of the posts in this entire thread are off-topic so I'll shut up now.
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BBC has, CBC doesn't -- no commercials (Score:5, Insightful)
You can enjoy anything with no commercials in it... I live with a Brit.. she can't stand North American tv commercials...and to be honest I constantly wonder why we pay so much for cable that consists of 60% or more commercials.
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Re:BBC has, CBC doesn't -- no commercials (Score:3, Informative)
But ya CBC has commercials, which I think it silly. I wonder what the BBC budget is? Looks like over 2.5 billion pounds (6 billion CDN) [bbc.co.uk]. BBC annual report [bbc.co.uk] is interesting.
Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:3, Interesting)
Tim Hortons (Score:4, Insightful)
Tim Hortons is still a part of Canadian culture, and relatively unknown in the US (it only has a limited presence in certain regions of the US). In Canada, there are more Tim Hortons stores than McDonalds stores. When I was in Hamilton (where the chain got its start) I can pretty much say without exaggeration that you are in easy walking distance to a Tim Hortons from any imaginable location in that city. If you've watched "Supersize Me" where they plot the McDonalds stores on a map of Manhattan, and add a couple more stores, that is kind of what a map of Hamilton would look like.
The CBC should make a documentary about Tim Hortons (oh wait--they already did, sort of--one on the hockey star and founder of the chain that bears his name). The CBC makes documentaries on nearly everything remotely to do with Canada it seems. Overall they are very good but sometimes it's like "WTF eh?"
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Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:3, Insightful)
The Guardian, as has already been mentioned, is fairly left-wing. T
Kudos! (Score:2)
Kudos!
Big deal (Score:4, Insightful)
On that note though - I do applaud the idea. All company websites' code should be Open Sourced under a free license IMO. After all, the company is not making revenue by selling that code, so what good is it to them?
Re:Big deal (Score:2)
Too many morons believe in security through obscurity, and is why so many sites get hacked. Until you can convince them to write good code instead, then they have a "reason"
Re:In the minority (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, most of us advertise ourselves as IT consultants. Hosting providers tend only to sell packaged software, which isn't quite the right market.
But CNN doesn't make money by selling the code that runs CNN.com. The NY Times doesn't sell the code that runs their site. MSNBC.com doesn't sell their code either.
Actually, I'd say that CNN, NY Tmies and MSNBC are in the minority for owning the copyrig
The show (Score:5, Insightful)
You'd probably never catch that kind of open-minded programming on corporate television because it flies in the face of the conventional outlook. My favourite part was seeing Linus bring his two beautiful daughters on stage while RMS was proselytizing.
CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:5, Insightful)
CBC is not run by the Canadian government. It's FUNDED by the Canadian government.
If the CBC were run by the government they wouldn't send so much time bashing the government. (Sometimes rightfully, sometimes not.)
Personally I think we should cut all their funding since they run advertisements just like any other station.
Re:CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:2)
Re:CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:2)
Re:CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:2, Insightful)
Ahem... I think you misspelled "taxpayers".
I'd get a real warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that I was shoving ads down my own throat.
Re:CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:5, Insightful)
Canada has one of the most free press in the world [rsf.org]. One of the reasons is that we provide an open INFRASTRUCTURE (cbc) to content. If you cut the funding for CBC, you will have a narrowing of discourse that will hinder our community's ability to communicate.
Free enterprise isnt concerned with truth or equality or insightfullness or universal access.
I would recommend Canada uses the BBC as a model and we Canadians implement a MORE usefull and worthwhile broadcast system.
Commercial interests are anethma to worthwhile broadcasting.
IF your goal is an army of mildly entertained, mildy informed consumers move Canadian Broadcasting regime towards the American model.
If your goal is an informed and engaged public, with a method to sustain a conversation for the participants in public arts and politics Canada should build a BBC-like system.
What do you feel our goal should be?
And before someone says "freedom", i'll provide the preemptive retort. The CBC is evidence that state-funded enterprise can have Freedom. AND that in other places, "a free-press is for those who own one" and therefore devoid of worthwhile Freedom.
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Re:Freedom? No... Bias! (Score:5, Insightful)
Okay, explain to me where?
Sure, if you compare it to the American Broadcasters the CBC is extremly to the left, but I haven't seen the CBC trott out the NDP on every occasion, blasting the Conservatives and only tolerating the Liberals.
It seems to me that they tend to bash on everybody rather equally.
If you mean tha the CBC is activly critizising(sp?) the big corporations and the government, then you're right. If you think that's wrong by the CBC than you are wrong.
The media (even in the US) is supposed to be the third power, the voice of the people, not the blowhorn for commerical or political interests.
If anything the CBC could use more funding (guranteed like the BBC) to get some more teeth.
I don't want a broadcaster who tells me how great the world and the government is (unless it's about terrorism) instead of telling me what's really going on.
Watch Global News if you want that, they still hope that their "news" helicopter in Toronto will find some car chases along the 401.
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Re:CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:3, Interesting)
It's almost frightening if you compare "The National" with Global News. You could sometimes swear that they are not reporting on the same story.
The media concentration though I agree is a problem. Especially with Canwest / Globe Media who pretty much control the majority of the newspapers in the country (Globe and Mail for Bell together wit
Re:CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:5, Informative)
Well, the CBC is a Crown Corporation [thecanadia...opedia.com]. Which means they're owned by the government, report to the government, but expected to operate as a commercial enterprise. It is a bit of an arms length relationship. They fill a role that private industry can't/won't fill while still trying to serve the public interest. There's quite a few [parl.gc.ca] crown corporations in existence.
Well, they're supposed to. Since they have to try and run as a profit generating (hopefully) corporation, they conduct regular commercial activities. You may not like the whole system of Crown corporations, but singling out the CBC for fulfilling their role is a little misplaced.
Cheers
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Re:CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:5, Insightful)
The CBC is not as closely run by the Canadian government as Radio North Korea, and it does criticize the government, but it's a lot more closely run by the government than say CNN. If you rely on a single group/person for a good chunk of your cash you become slightly run by them whether you like it or not.
Of course the bigger issue is the fact that the CBC is a ludicrously biased news organization masquerading as the source of balanced news all the while receiving dump truck loads of cash from tax payers. I don't remember where I heard this, but someone did a little research a while back to find out who would be the Canadian government if only CBC employees got to vote. Answer: Majority NDP Federal government. No bias in the news here, move along...
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Re:CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you really want your news media to be completely reliant upon the government? Under such circumstances, would you trust their objectivity?
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Re:CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:3, Insightful)
And how is the governement and less objective than a coporation that is paying to put across its point of view? There's not too many companies who run ads in programs they disagree with.
Having lived 3/4 of my life in the UK and 1/4 in Canada I do have some experience of the difference between state funded and privately run broadcast media. Both countries have both
Revolution OS (Score:2, Informative)
I had to track down this quote this morning after hearing it last night.
We have states in Canada? (Score:2, Funny)
Jojo
Re:We have states in Canada? (Score:5, Funny)
It's a disgrace!
It's all here: http://home.comcast.net/~wwwstephen/americans/ [comcast.net]
CBC has great shows
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Re:We have states in Canada? (Score:3, Informative)
A 'state' is an autonomous region of the world, if you will, with governance of some form. The USA is a grouping of independant states (more or less these days), whereas Canada is one state, France is a state, and Germany is a state, but the EU is not a state.
There are many meanings for the word, but "by the state" usually means "by government" in this context.
Business (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, it is heartening to see my money(tax dollars), run me out of business.
Re:Business (Score:4, Insightful)
Frankly, if you can be run out of business by a state run corporation you really don't deserver to be in business at all.
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Re:Business (Score:3, Insightful)
Frankly, if you can be run out of business by one single website open-sourcing their code, you really don't deserve to be in business at all.
Specifically, if your software's usefulness is so precarious that a little-known website (globally speaking) open-sourcing their code can put a dent in your customer base, you have problems.
State run or not -- good move. (Score:3, Insightful)
Not that useful? So what.
Its like that ugly tie from your sweet 80 year old Aunt --- its the thought that counts.
CBC and Free / Open Source Software (Score:5, Informative)
Zed is based in Vancouver and is somewhat independent from the core of CBC's new media efforts, and as a result have had the freedom to do what they've done re: build and release an open source app. Unfortunately a great deal of the cbc.ca content system is based upon microsoft
The next step as others have noted would be for the CBC to join the BBC wrt codec development.
Reminds me of Brave New Waves... (Score:5, Informative)
Hopefully Zed will be the net version of this with just completely off-the-wall content. I'm not that optimistic - but we'll see. A lot of Brave New Waves success had to do with Augusta's and her producer's skill walking the thin line between quirky and interesting and stupid and dull...
And get over this "state run is crap" stuff (friggin' Enron fanboys...) - the CBC and BBC for that matter do occasionally provide programming that is a counterpoint to for example, Fox's "Who's your Daddy?"...
Um... (Score:3, Insightful)
CBC experimenting with Ogg Vorbis streaming too (Score:5, Informative)
After receiving complaints about the proprietary nature of their formats, they started experimenting with Ogg Vorbis streaming [www.cbc.ca].
More (Score:4, Informative)
This is really encouraging to see the the public service broadcasters 'getting' open source and trying to contribute to the community. If this could take off it could be a great boost to the entire copyleft/open-source ideas.
However I would warn that in the UK the content industry is sharpening its knives over The BBC Creative Archive [bbc.co.uk]. I attended a conference given at Westminster Media Forum [ibiblio.org] where the representatives of the content industry where rabid about copyright and patent law and extremely hysterical about 'idea theft' as it was colourfully termed. When they heard about the Creative Archive plan... Phew! Some scary people were there... And they are not impressed with Creative Commons - who were shouted at, verbally attacked and generally given a very very frosty reception...
Strangest contribution (and it was a difficult choice considering the crazy assertions and unsubstantiated nonsense spoken) has to be the Arlene McCarthy MEP [labour.co.uk] linking copyright, patent and 'idea' theft with 'Organised Crime', 'Paedophilia', 'Pornography', 'Terrorism' and 'Paramilitary Organisations'... She was truly loopy, and more worryingly serious!
John Naughton [open.ac.uk] was fantastic castigating the dangers from 'slavish legislaters' (she didn't like that!) and gave a really excellent and balanced presentation [open.ac.uk] calling for caution against listening to only the interests of the media corporations and content industry.
Most scary person (again a difficult choice) was Lavinia Carey [aacp.org.uk], Director of FACT [fact-uk.org.uk] who told us that '65% of people didn't think it was a problem to share stuff' and that 'consumers have to be protected from themselves' and those who didn't were 'gonna get a shock'. To get a feeling for the balanced tone see the campaign to link copyright 'theft' and terrorism [piracyisacrime.com]... Scary!
Grabby ToS (Score:4, Interesting)
Contibutors don't get paid. The CBC is a for-profit corporation. So if you're submitting, for example, a song to CBC's ZeD TV, just be aware that the CBC can use it as the title track for a new TV show, and never pay a cent in royalties. You're not even guaranteed credit for the work--credit is displayed "where applicable."
Basically for the cost of producing the low-budget ZeD TV, the CBC has built themselves a huge library of content which they can repackage and resell without restriction until the end of time.
Excerpt from ZeD Terms below
===Content may be used by CBC===
By voluntarily submitting or uploading content or material to the website (the "Submission"), you expressly consent to the use by CBC of such Submission on any CBC website, CBC television/radio program, CBC recording, and CBC marketing material or other paraphernalia related to CBC programming. You grant CBC a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive, irrevocable, unrestricted, worldwide license to: (i) use, reproduce, store, modify, make derivative works from, transmit, distribute, publicly perform or display such Submission for any purpose, and (ii) to sublicense to third parties the unrestricted right to exercise any of the foregoing rights. In addition. you agree to: (i) waive all moral rights in any Submission in favour of CBC, (ii) consent to your name, address and e-mail appearing as the contributor of any Submission, where applicable, and to the disclosure and/or display of such information and any other information which appears in or is associated with a Submission, (iii) acknowledge and agree that CBC is not responsible for any loss, damage, or corruption that may occur to your Submission, and (iv) acknowledge and agree that any Submission you provide for display on the Website will be considered non-confidential.
Re:Grabby ToS (Score:3, Interesting)
CBC is a corporation, even if it's owned by the crown, it still operates as a corporation, one that's been around for a VERY long time. That means they have all the trappings of a large corp, nasty little things like a legal department, accounting department, etc etc. CBC has been around since 1936, that makes them a ra
To the "WTF is ZeD" people: (Score:5, Informative)
The content is (mostly) available on the rather nifty website; most of the show's content originates from it. Think DeviantART, except for all types of media, and with a TV show that showcases the best of it.
NewMusicCanada - CBC (Score:3, Interesting)
Another great site is Just Concerts [justconcerts.ca], which features professionally recorded bands from all over the world (though principally Canada) performing live in Canadian venues and studios.
Admittedly, it's not open source, and so a little off topic, but think of it as the equivalent in the music world.
Re:Heartening????? (Score:3, Informative)
Because it shows that the state has taken notice of free software. You're a bit quick to label someone as pro-communist, I think.
Are you sure you're not a little too emotionally invested in the idea of total capitalism?
Re:Semantic Clarification (Score:3, Informative)
The government funding of the CBC is intended to offset the cost of operating a broadcast infrastructure into areas where there is no possibility of commercial revenues to offset it's costs. This