VANCOUVER — A broadcast watchdog group is expressing dismay over an anticipated change to CBC Television’s fall lineup.
The Globe and Mail reports award-winning consumer affairs program Marketplace will be missing when CBC announces its fall lineup on Monday, not to return until Jan. 2009.
The newspaper says its current first-run timeslot —  Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. — will be filled, starting in September, by syndicated American game show “Jeopardy!”, hosted by Canadian-born Alex Trebek.
Ian Morrison of the group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting asks if this is the best CBC can do, and says the public broadcaster should be running Canadian programming all the time, “particularly in peak viewing periods like 7 to 11.”
A report from the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, issued in February, recommended that CBC reserve those hours for Canadian programming.
Network spokeswoman Katherine Heath-Eves says it was simply and programming decision and doesn’t think it has anything to do with a “devaluing” of Marketplace.