Steven and Chris in all their Photoshopped glory (CBC photo)

After the federal government said there would be no “bridge financing” to help the CBC in a time of advertising drought and general media sadness, the mother corp has already begun its cost-cutting initiatives, cancelling Steven and Chris and Fashion File at the end of this season. 65 jobs are affected, most of them freelance.

Perhaps more sad is that they won’t be replaced. Instead, CBC will run repeats of the shows in their regular time slots next year.

UPDATE: Bill Brioux looks at the numbers, and says it was ratings more than the economy that brought Steven and Chris down.