CRTC chair slams TV executives as "yacht owning complainers"

Canada's broadcast regulator mounted a vocal defence of television journalism Wednesday, while slamming the executives who run the stations as wealthy yacht-owning complainers who are out of touch with changing audiences, the CBC reports.
CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said he is tired of broadcast executives coming before his committee to tell him the "cupboards are bare," and that they can no longer afford to fund local news without government subsidies.
"Local television news is failing us. But it need not. The system sits at a position of strength," Blais said in a luncheon speech at the Canadian Club in Toronto. "In 2014, TV stations spent more than $470 million on local programming and news … the industry is rich in resources.
"I listened as Canadians spoke with intelligence and passion [about local TV news], while corporate executives who own luxury yachts and private helicopters came looking for subsidies," Blais said.
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