OTTAWA—Oversight and transparency took centre stage on Day 1 of a nearly three-week review of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s broadcasting licences, as the rush to furnish digital content butts up against regulatory barriers. The CBC is asking Canada’s telecommunications regulator to renew licences for its various English- and French-language audio and audiovisual programming services. CBC chief executive Catherine Tait told the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission board the CBC needs greater “flexibility” to meet the shift toward online viewing and listening. Under the public broadcaster’s application, that digital dexterity would leave it free of detailed financial reporting obligations around online content, such as the CBC Gem streaming platform and CBC Listen app. “If we do not move with our audiences, we risk becoming dinosaurs on a melting ice cap,” Tait said at the virtual hearing Monday morning. She is asking the CRTC to renew its licences for five years with …