OTTAWA — CBC/Radio-Canada wants all its services to broadcast ad-free — but would need $318 million in new annual funding to do so, the public broadcaster said Monday in a proposal to the federal government. The recommendation was one of several the CBC made in a submission to Canadian Heritage's public consultation on homegrown content in a digital world.

A man sits inside the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) broadcasting centre in Toronto May 23, 2014. (Photo: Reuters/Mark Blinch) "In order to exit advertising, CBC/Radio-Canada would require $318 million in replacement funding,'' states the filing. "This figure takes into account the lost advertising revenue ($253 million), the cost to produce and procure additional Canadian content ($105 million) that is required to replace the advertising programming and the cost savings associated with the reduced cost of sales ($40 million).'' In order to go ad-free and achieve other goals in its proposal, CBC/Radio-Canada said it would need the government to boost its per-person funding to $46 a year — an increase of $12 per Canadian. That hike in per-person funding would include $100 million annually for "new investments to face consumer and technology disruption.'' "The business model and cultural policy framework in which CBC/Radio-Canada operates and carries out its public mandate is profoundly and irrevocably broken,'' reads the proposal. "Advertising revenues for conventional television are down as audiences become more fragmented, ad-free content becomes more available, and alternate content providers such as YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and, Apple TV/iTunes continue to make inroads.''

The CBC building on Front Street in downtown Toronto. (Photo: Colin McConnell/Toronto Star via Getty Images) CBC/Radio-Canada noted the $46 per-person figure it is seeking is "still well below comparable public broadcasters around the world, like the BBC, which receives $114 per person.'' The filing cited numerous benefits to an ad-free CBC/Radio-Canada, including "a net total GDP gain of $488 million'' as well as the creation of 7,200 jobs. "Moreover, two-thirds of the CBC/Radio-Canada advertising revenue (approximately $158 million) would migrate to other Canadian media companies, giving them an additional influx of revenue as they adapt to industry changes,'' said the filing.