CBC cancels 'Zed TV'

CBC Television will cancel the late-night film and music showcase program Zed TV at the end of this season.

Six jobs will be lost on the Vancouver-based show. The CBC said Zed TV website would remain in operation.

Billed as a launching pad for creative expression, Zed TV features short films, documentaries and new music from Canadian and international artists. It runs three nights a week at 11.25 p.m. and has been nominated for a Canadian New Media Award this year.

The Canadian Media Guild, the union representing CBC employees, said it was disappointed by the cancellation and accused the CBC of diverting money from inside operations to buy programming from private producers.

"This is another blow to the concept of public television," Lise Lareau, national president of the CMG, said in a statement.

On April 20, the CBC announced it would lay off 79 people involved in in-house production in Toronto.

"In its quest for high ratings and commercial success, CBC management is abandoning the things that make public television special, like its ability to take risks, chart new courses for TV and other media, and reach audiences who are not well served on the rest of the 500-channel dial," she said.