The Canadian Broadcasting Corp., better known as the CBC here in the Great White North or our national broadcaster that consumes a couple billion dollars in taxpayer cash, is moving into the podcasting world in a major way. Only it's not the CBC itself but some of its 5,600 employees who have been locked out since earlier this month amid a nasty labour dispute. While there has only been a trickle of content so far, CBC Unplugged (an independent site with no ties to the CBC) is starting to give loyal listeners a small fix of what they've been missing. If anything, it's an interesting negotiating/keep-busy tool amidst a dispute that shows no indication of being settled soon. Who knows, maybe when the stand-off is finally resolved, the CBC will adopt CBC Unplugged as its podcasting portal, which would be a way for the CBC to meet one of its mandates of reaching out to younger listeners. Then again, national broadcasters don't tend to be this creative or pro-active so don't hold your breath.
The Corante's Matt May suggests if the lock-out extends for another month or two, CBC Unplugged could become a very active news operation that could start to compete directly against the CBC. Now that would be an interesting bargaining chip!