CBC taking bite out of ... Apple?!
Nope, not even a nibble — and why do we need a government music store in the first place?

The Canadian government has decided to start a new business, and go head-to-head with Apple's phenomenally successful iTunes online music store.

Others have tried to take on Apple. Canada's most successful hi-tech company, Research in Motion, which makes the BlackBerry, is having a tough time battling Apple's iPhone.

It's not surprising — Apple has a growing army of loyal customers and a constant stream of new products.

They made a $26 billion profit last year, and are sitting on $98 billion in cash. The only people more fanatic than Apple customers are Apple employees.

This is the market the Conservative government has set its sights on. The government's Crown corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, announced last week it's going to jump into the online music business.

Let's compare the two competitors. The CBC is creaking under the weight of no fewer than 10 different labour unions; its corporate culture is a toxic mix of entitlement and work-to-rule sullenness; it's run by political appointees, not real business executives. And they're going to take a run at Apple's iTunes, which has 88% of the legal online market for music sales. Apple has sold more than 10 billion songs online and now sells TV shows, movies and computer applications online.

That's sort of like a leaky canoe paddling out to take on an aircraft carrier.

There are other companies besides Apple selling online music. Good for them — good luck to them. May the best company win — and may the consumer win. But why the hell is the Canadian government getting into that business?

Does the CBC really attract the best business minds in the country? Is it a hothouse for entrepreneurial talent? Of course not. But they don't have to be. Because they don't have to convince any investor to put up money to take on iTunes, or any bank manager.

When they screw up, their CEO doesn't step down — as happened with BlackBerry's CEOs recently.

The CBC just has to go to the Bank of James Moore. He's the "Conservative" cabinet minister who keeps giving them corporate bailouts year after year — $1.1 billion in 2011.

Graham Henderson, a spokesman for the music industry, says it's an "entrepreneurial" deal. He says it's "good for creators, fans, investors and taxpayers."

If it's good for investors, why does it need government money? If it's good for taxpayers, why do we have to bail out the CBC every year?

Why can't we see the terms of the deal? Why is it a secret?

We're still paying for past government adventures in hi-tech businesses. The foolish "Conservative" government of Alberta once invested in a cellphone company called Novatel.

Oh, they were going to make a killing, and totally flatten Nokia, Motorola and the other private companies of the day. They even boasted their phones came with a free volume control button and a "function" button.

Taxpayers took a bath.

Politicians in France were even more audacious. They planned a government-run alternative to the Internet itself, called Minitel. You could only get it through the French government. It was going to be awesome.

Total blowout.

But James Moore thinks he and his CBC friends will succeed where these other government-funded boondoggles have failed.

The CBC is a failure at what it does now. It blows through $1.1 billion a year, and it has been made irrelevant by the 500-channel universe. It no longer has a rationale, other than inertia. It's less relevant than ever, but more arrogant than ever.

Sell the CBC. Set them free.

Let private investors take the risks. Go take on Apple. Go buy BlackBerry. Buy Minitel. Who cares! Just keep taxpayers out of it.

If James Moore thinks expanding the CBC into the Internet business is what being a conservative is about, then he ought to look the word up in the dictionary.

We don't need a government news channel, and we don't need a government music store, either.

EZRA LEVANT, QMI AGENCY