I used to watch the CBC a lot of the time because, as both you and Raoul point out, they'd show things that the other channels wouldn't. Red Dwarf was a wonderful case in point.

However, the CBC should be a specialty cable or satellite channel to which one could subscribe if they're interested. Taxpayers have bigger and more important fish to fry, imho. Forcing the entire taxpaying population to fork over roughly half a billion dollars (that's billion with a B) annually to a television and radio network is not in keeping with the tenets of good government. Again, just my humble opinion.

I find it comical that now, living in Illinois, I *still* pay for the CBC (International NewsFirst). But of course this time it's voluntary.