lordmandeep
Banned
any chance of any Toronto news stations going???
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ShonTron
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Sun TV.
Otherwise I don't see it. Toronto is a very large market, and has been the default station for former local broadcasters. CBC's northeastern Ontario stations (Sudbury, Timmins) now merely carry the Toronto feed. Global's entire Ontario network (except Ottawa?) is based out of CIII in Don Mills. CTV itself has stations in Ottawa (CJOH), Kitchener (CKCO) Toronto (CFTO) and Sudbury (MCTV) (all of which only has news as local programming).
I think what we are seeing is that Toronto, Ottawa, possibly Thunder Bay, may end up with the only real local stations. The next ones to watch will be A-Channels in London and Barrie, CKCO in Kitchener, CHEX in Peterborough, CKWS in Kingston (CHEX and CKWS are Corus-owned CBC affiliates, may merge?) CHCH in Hamilton.
Otherwise I don't see it. Toronto is a very large market, and has been the default station for former local broadcasters. CBC's northeastern Ontario stations (Sudbury, Timmins) now merely carry the Toronto feed. Global's entire Ontario network (except Ottawa?) is based out of CIII in Don Mills. CTV itself has stations in Ottawa (CJOH), Kitchener (CKCO) Toronto (CFTO) and Sudbury (MCTV) (all of which only has news as local programming).
I think what we are seeing is that Toronto, Ottawa, possibly Thunder Bay, may end up with the only real local stations. The next ones to watch will be A-Channels in London and Barrie, CKCO in Kitchener, CHEX in Peterborough, CKWS in Kingston (CHEX and CKWS are Corus-owned CBC affiliates, may merge?) CHCH in Hamilton.
Kitsune
Senior Member
Heck, Sudbury CTV relies on Toronto for the local advertising feed too, atleast once a week, if not more, you end up with Toronto commericials instead of Sudbury's, and it ussually leads to a ton of complaints. MCTV is also Northeasterns Ontario CTV station - the majority of the news is Sudbury's, with a only a timbit going towards other centers.
JasonParis
Moderator
If you mean newscasts, we've already lost Global Morning and Global's New @ Noon. City and CFTO have both had some layoffs in their news departments as well, but no loss of new programming that I'm aware of. As far as stations going off the air in the GTA, the closest possibility would be CHCH Hamilton.
ShonTron
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You know which station I'd like to see die first? CITS! I'd really like to know how they got a television broadcast licence.
Darkstar, why do you think CHCH will go before CKXT (Sun TV)? Because CanWest is going down the crapper?
Darkstar, why do you think CHCH will go before CKXT (Sun TV)? Because CanWest is going down the crapper?
Kiwi
Active Member
Canwest gets extension on debt deadline
CHCH staff pursue bid to take over local station
March 11, 2009
The Hamilton Spectator and wire services
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/528375
TORONTO — Canwest Global Communications Corp. secured another reprieve over its financial woes tonight.
Canwest was facing a deadline for renegotiating borrowing conditions on its debt as well as an estimated $38 million in repayments due Friday.
The deadline has now been extended to April 7.
Canwest has been shopping around some assets — including CHCH in Hamilton — and making agreements to sell certain divisions.
This would give lenders confidence that progress is being made, said Chris Diceman, senior vice-president of debt rating service DBRS.
“Should they have additional (deals) that are in the works, I’m thinking the banks might give them some time to fully execute on those.â€
Canwest was granted its first extension in late February when it was given 12 extra days to continue talks intended to stave off a potential bankruptcy protection filing.
The extension restricted Canwest to borrowing $112 million, down from $300 million, by its lender, Scotiabank.
The company has already borrowed $92 million.
Friday had been the due date for subsidiary Canwest Media to pay back interest on its senior notes, a payment DBRS estimates is about $38 million.
In Hamilton, where the future of CHCH hangs in the balance, a local group is continuing to develop a plan to take local ownership of the station.
Donna Skelly, a CH anchor, has been heading the push to have the station’s licence transferred to a local board of directors.
A company has been incorporated for the project, and confidentiality agreements will be signed soon with Canwest, giving the local group access to detailed financial information.
The group is drafting a business plan for the station, an effort being aided by Paul Bates, dean of McMaster University’s DeGroote business school.
The group’s biggest need right now, Skelly said, is money and she hopes all three levels of government will meet that need.
“We have to draft a business plan and that costs money,†she said. “We’re moving ahead regardless but we’re hoping all three levels of government will step up for this.
“Local news is important to the identity of this city, especially in a recession. It just doesn’t make sense to pull the plu on a local news outlet,†she said.
CHCH staff pursue bid to take over local station
March 11, 2009
The Hamilton Spectator and wire services
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/528375
TORONTO — Canwest Global Communications Corp. secured another reprieve over its financial woes tonight.
Canwest was facing a deadline for renegotiating borrowing conditions on its debt as well as an estimated $38 million in repayments due Friday.
The deadline has now been extended to April 7.
Canwest has been shopping around some assets — including CHCH in Hamilton — and making agreements to sell certain divisions.
This would give lenders confidence that progress is being made, said Chris Diceman, senior vice-president of debt rating service DBRS.
“Should they have additional (deals) that are in the works, I’m thinking the banks might give them some time to fully execute on those.â€
Canwest was granted its first extension in late February when it was given 12 extra days to continue talks intended to stave off a potential bankruptcy protection filing.
The extension restricted Canwest to borrowing $112 million, down from $300 million, by its lender, Scotiabank.
The company has already borrowed $92 million.
Friday had been the due date for subsidiary Canwest Media to pay back interest on its senior notes, a payment DBRS estimates is about $38 million.
In Hamilton, where the future of CHCH hangs in the balance, a local group is continuing to develop a plan to take local ownership of the station.
Donna Skelly, a CH anchor, has been heading the push to have the station’s licence transferred to a local board of directors.
A company has been incorporated for the project, and confidentiality agreements will be signed soon with Canwest, giving the local group access to detailed financial information.
The group is drafting a business plan for the station, an effort being aided by Paul Bates, dean of McMaster University’s DeGroote business school.
The group’s biggest need right now, Skelly said, is money and she hopes all three levels of government will meet that need.
“We have to draft a business plan and that costs money,†she said. “We’re moving ahead regardless but we’re hoping all three levels of government will step up for this.
“Local news is important to the identity of this city, especially in a recession. It just doesn’t make sense to pull the plu on a local news outlet,†she said.
JasonParis
Moderator
Yes, that's it exactly. Besides, what does Sun-TV do that actually costs money? They have no news department and barely air any local programming. They buy the cheaper U.S. shows and still get to air them to a market of 6+ million people. It's hard to go wrong really.
Kiwi
Active Member
During a CHCH rally this evening it was revealed that there's another bid from a undisclosed buyer for CH. Moses Znaimer name popped up.
adma
Superstar
Znaimer, huh? A Zoomer edition of Party Game. Just perfect
JasonParis
Moderator
Znaimer's ownership of CHCH would likely be great for Hamilton.
ShonTron
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How much you want to bet though that Moses will influence the call letters like he did getting CFMZ as the letters for Classical 93?
I see that CHMZ is available.
Otherwise good news. What a shame he lost control of ChumCity.
I see that CHMZ is available.
Otherwise good news. What a shame he lost control of ChumCity.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
From the Globe:
Ottawa considering aid for private broadcasters
Government 'mindful' of threat to local news, minister says, as media companies face sharp drop in revenue
The Canadian Press
March 19, 2009 at 4:15 AM EDT
OTTAWA — The Harper government is considering help for Canada's troubled private TV broadcasters, including the possibility of looser regulations and tax changes.
Heritage Minister James Moore said yesterday that the federal cabinet is aware of the threat to local news content should more local stations close.
And he confirmed that the government is looking specifically at how to assist CanWest Global Communications Corp., which is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
"We're mindful of that and we're thinking about whether or not there's anything the government can do, but I can't be any more specific than that right now," Mr. Moore said.
He hinted the help could come in the form of looser regulations and changes to the tax system that would also help other private networks.
"The role of the government is to make sure the regulatory regime, the tax regime is more flexible, more forgiving and more open in the future," Mr. Moore said.
"We're a low-taxation government that does not believe in over-regulating industries that are struggling."
Several high-placed industry and government sources say discussions at the highest levels of government have intensified as CanWest's April 7 deadline to satisfy creditor demands draws nearer.
Public records show that CanWest, along with other broadcasters such as CTVglobemedia Inc. and Quebecor Inc., have been lobbying Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office for relief in the form of regulatory changes. CTVglobemedia owns The Globe and Mail.
CanWest has contracted the services of Ken Boessenkool, a former top adviser to Mr. Harper, to help plead its case. Mr. Boessenkool works for consulting firm GCI Canada.
Mr. Harper has had at least one face-to-face meeting with CanWest CEO Leonard Asper and two with Quebecor's Pierre Karl Péladeau since the new year, according to public filings with the lobbyist registry.
The industry is hurting because of a sharp decline in advertising revenues and the ongoing fragmentation of TV viewing audiences.
CTV has closed three channels in Southern Ontario this year and ended some local newscasts.
CanWest, which owns 39 daily and community newspapers and the Global Television network, has put some of its stations up for sale.
Mr. Moore said there is no question of additional assistance for the CBC, which is facing a budgetary shortfall this year of more than $100-million because of declining ad revenues and increased costs. CBC employees are bracing for an announcement later this week of an estimated 600 layoffs.
"I would say the challenge in the mix is what to do or not to do with the CBC," said one industry insider. "The political and economic reality of helping the private broadcasters is part of a policy-making problem."
One of the key requests of the private broadcasters is for something called "fee for carriage."
Cable companies that carry conventional broadcasters' signals would be charged a sort of rental fee for that privilege. Revenues from those fees have been estimated at $150-million annually, to be divided among all the conventional broadcasters.
The idea has been rejected several times before, deemed unpalatable because the cable companies would likely pass on the fees to the consumer - something no politician would want to be associated with.
But there are signs the political landscape has shifted.
Members of Parliament have grown concerned by a number of local television station closings and newscast cancellations, both because of the ensuing public outcry but also because they depend on those outlets for coverage of their own activities
http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090319.wtelevision19/BNStory/Business/home
____________
Interesting juxtapostioning against the current troubles CBC is having.
AoD
Ottawa considering aid for private broadcasters
Government 'mindful' of threat to local news, minister says, as media companies face sharp drop in revenue
The Canadian Press
March 19, 2009 at 4:15 AM EDT
OTTAWA — The Harper government is considering help for Canada's troubled private TV broadcasters, including the possibility of looser regulations and tax changes.
Heritage Minister James Moore said yesterday that the federal cabinet is aware of the threat to local news content should more local stations close.
And he confirmed that the government is looking specifically at how to assist CanWest Global Communications Corp., which is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
"We're mindful of that and we're thinking about whether or not there's anything the government can do, but I can't be any more specific than that right now," Mr. Moore said.
He hinted the help could come in the form of looser regulations and changes to the tax system that would also help other private networks.
"The role of the government is to make sure the regulatory regime, the tax regime is more flexible, more forgiving and more open in the future," Mr. Moore said.
"We're a low-taxation government that does not believe in over-regulating industries that are struggling."
Several high-placed industry and government sources say discussions at the highest levels of government have intensified as CanWest's April 7 deadline to satisfy creditor demands draws nearer.
Public records show that CanWest, along with other broadcasters such as CTVglobemedia Inc. and Quebecor Inc., have been lobbying Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office for relief in the form of regulatory changes. CTVglobemedia owns The Globe and Mail.
CanWest has contracted the services of Ken Boessenkool, a former top adviser to Mr. Harper, to help plead its case. Mr. Boessenkool works for consulting firm GCI Canada.
Mr. Harper has had at least one face-to-face meeting with CanWest CEO Leonard Asper and two with Quebecor's Pierre Karl Péladeau since the new year, according to public filings with the lobbyist registry.
The industry is hurting because of a sharp decline in advertising revenues and the ongoing fragmentation of TV viewing audiences.
CTV has closed three channels in Southern Ontario this year and ended some local newscasts.
CanWest, which owns 39 daily and community newspapers and the Global Television network, has put some of its stations up for sale.
Mr. Moore said there is no question of additional assistance for the CBC, which is facing a budgetary shortfall this year of more than $100-million because of declining ad revenues and increased costs. CBC employees are bracing for an announcement later this week of an estimated 600 layoffs.
"I would say the challenge in the mix is what to do or not to do with the CBC," said one industry insider. "The political and economic reality of helping the private broadcasters is part of a policy-making problem."
One of the key requests of the private broadcasters is for something called "fee for carriage."
Cable companies that carry conventional broadcasters' signals would be charged a sort of rental fee for that privilege. Revenues from those fees have been estimated at $150-million annually, to be divided among all the conventional broadcasters.
The idea has been rejected several times before, deemed unpalatable because the cable companies would likely pass on the fees to the consumer - something no politician would want to be associated with.
But there are signs the political landscape has shifted.
Members of Parliament have grown concerned by a number of local television station closings and newscast cancellations, both because of the ensuing public outcry but also because they depend on those outlets for coverage of their own activities
http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090319.wtelevision19/BNStory/Business/home
____________
Interesting juxtapostioning against the current troubles CBC is having.
AoD
ShonTron
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The CBC is Socialist, Leftist, biased and unworthy of support, sucking at the public teat don't you know? Why should the government subsidize the leftist media while not the private firms, (reads article) er oh, ah, damn Fiberals. Damn left-wing media conspiracy.
Well, Harper is beholden to Mike Duffy, Craig Oliver, the G&M Editorial Board, the Aspers, after all.
Well, Harper is beholden to Mike Duffy, Craig Oliver, the G&M Editorial Board, the Aspers, after all.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Shon Tron:
Oh you should have read Lorne Gunther rant in the Post today:
Tear it all down
Lorne Gunter, National Post
Published: Monday, March 16, 2009
The CBC will never be able to exorcize its left-wing missionary zeal -- for global warming, for Islam, for big government, Barack Obama, multiculturalism, public health care, human rights commissions and so on. And it could never survive on private donations or ad revenues. So the only thing to do with Mother Corp is to pull down its office buildings and stations and pour salt in their foundations.
And I mean radio as well as television.
There is no moral or philosophical justification for using one billion of taxpayers' dollars to subsidize the viewing and listening tastes of a shrinking percentage of the population and the ideological hobby horses of CBC executives and editors.
Would you favour hundreds of millions of your hard-earned dollars going to subsidize Crossroads Television System (CTS), the Christian service with stations in Ontario and Alberta? Or how about al-Jazeera, the English-language Arab station that now has a place in Canada's channel line-up? Neither is anymore overtly biased than the CBC is to the advancement and defence of its causes. So where is the justification in denying those stations subsidies while lavishing nearly one-third of Ottawa's cultural budget on a service that captures less than 8% of Canadian television viewers and just about the same number of radio listeners?
But that is looking at the question from the wrong end. Rather, I should have asked the following: If the proselytizing on CTS and al-Jazeera TV can survive without largesse from the public treasury, why shouldn't the CBC have to do the same?
Every time I write about the left-leaning bias at the Ceeb, I get letters and e-mails from the corporation's passionate fans saying that they hear and see alternative opinions on their favourite shows all the time. I don't doubt that they do hear other voices.
The problem is that it is human nature to recognize the opinions that anger you faster than the ones that comfort you. We at the National Post can, say, run 10 or more opinion pieces expressing right-of-centre views. But let us run one dissenting, leftist view and many faithful readers will accuse us of backsliding.
Moreover, since Post readers have to survive in a predominately left-of-centre media culture, they are probably less sensitive to left-wing bias in our pages than CBC supporters are to even the tiniest expression of right-wing bias. If the left-right "balance" at the CBC were as close as 10-1, I would be surprised.
Remember last fall when CBC.cacolumnist Heather Mallick called Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin "a toned-down version" of a porn actress, whose looks would appeal to the "white trash vote" and the sort of "sexual inadequates" who, Ms. Mallick claimed, comprised the majority of men in the Republican Party? She said the governor and her supporters were largely "rural," "unlettered" "hillbillies." She even attacked the intelligence and character of Ms. Palin's children. At the time, CBC publisher John Cruickshank admitted the piece was "viciously personal, grossly hyperbolic and intensely partisan," and "should not have appeared" on the CBC site. He promised a new, balanced CBC site would emerge, with plenty of new voices representing all bands of the ideological spectrum.
For a long time the CBC has justified its huge annual federal gift because it sees itself as the vehicle through which Canadians tell one another their stories. If this pompous self-image were ever true (and I'm doubtful), it cannot possibly be true now with only one in 12 Canadians actually watching.
CBC TV no longer carries the two most distinctly Canadian sports events of the year -- the Grey Cup and the Brier -- and the world has not ended, the country's identity has not eroded. Its hockey coverage, arts programming and original drama and comedy could all be picked up by cable and digital services and no one would notice.
There is simply no way to argue that it is worth $1-billion to all Canadians to keep the CBC alive. The few people who like its programming may insist it is worth it, but why should their preferences be kept afloat by taxing the 11 of 12 Canadians whose viewing and listening habits aren't being subsidized?
lgunter@shaw.ca
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion...l?id=0b1c51e2-7fe5-4a98-a414-025f5860124a&p=2
_____
Rich, coming from a guy writing for a paper that never made a profit whose parent company is begging for state intervention - of course, Free Dominion is going all ga-ga over it.
AoD
Oh you should have read Lorne Gunther rant in the Post today:
Tear it all down
Lorne Gunter, National Post
Published: Monday, March 16, 2009
The CBC will never be able to exorcize its left-wing missionary zeal -- for global warming, for Islam, for big government, Barack Obama, multiculturalism, public health care, human rights commissions and so on. And it could never survive on private donations or ad revenues. So the only thing to do with Mother Corp is to pull down its office buildings and stations and pour salt in their foundations.
And I mean radio as well as television.
There is no moral or philosophical justification for using one billion of taxpayers' dollars to subsidize the viewing and listening tastes of a shrinking percentage of the population and the ideological hobby horses of CBC executives and editors.
Would you favour hundreds of millions of your hard-earned dollars going to subsidize Crossroads Television System (CTS), the Christian service with stations in Ontario and Alberta? Or how about al-Jazeera, the English-language Arab station that now has a place in Canada's channel line-up? Neither is anymore overtly biased than the CBC is to the advancement and defence of its causes. So where is the justification in denying those stations subsidies while lavishing nearly one-third of Ottawa's cultural budget on a service that captures less than 8% of Canadian television viewers and just about the same number of radio listeners?
But that is looking at the question from the wrong end. Rather, I should have asked the following: If the proselytizing on CTS and al-Jazeera TV can survive without largesse from the public treasury, why shouldn't the CBC have to do the same?
Every time I write about the left-leaning bias at the Ceeb, I get letters and e-mails from the corporation's passionate fans saying that they hear and see alternative opinions on their favourite shows all the time. I don't doubt that they do hear other voices.
The problem is that it is human nature to recognize the opinions that anger you faster than the ones that comfort you. We at the National Post can, say, run 10 or more opinion pieces expressing right-of-centre views. But let us run one dissenting, leftist view and many faithful readers will accuse us of backsliding.
Moreover, since Post readers have to survive in a predominately left-of-centre media culture, they are probably less sensitive to left-wing bias in our pages than CBC supporters are to even the tiniest expression of right-wing bias. If the left-right "balance" at the CBC were as close as 10-1, I would be surprised.
Remember last fall when CBC.cacolumnist Heather Mallick called Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin "a toned-down version" of a porn actress, whose looks would appeal to the "white trash vote" and the sort of "sexual inadequates" who, Ms. Mallick claimed, comprised the majority of men in the Republican Party? She said the governor and her supporters were largely "rural," "unlettered" "hillbillies." She even attacked the intelligence and character of Ms. Palin's children. At the time, CBC publisher John Cruickshank admitted the piece was "viciously personal, grossly hyperbolic and intensely partisan," and "should not have appeared" on the CBC site. He promised a new, balanced CBC site would emerge, with plenty of new voices representing all bands of the ideological spectrum.
For a long time the CBC has justified its huge annual federal gift because it sees itself as the vehicle through which Canadians tell one another their stories. If this pompous self-image were ever true (and I'm doubtful), it cannot possibly be true now with only one in 12 Canadians actually watching.
CBC TV no longer carries the two most distinctly Canadian sports events of the year -- the Grey Cup and the Brier -- and the world has not ended, the country's identity has not eroded. Its hockey coverage, arts programming and original drama and comedy could all be picked up by cable and digital services and no one would notice.
There is simply no way to argue that it is worth $1-billion to all Canadians to keep the CBC alive. The few people who like its programming may insist it is worth it, but why should their preferences be kept afloat by taxing the 11 of 12 Canadians whose viewing and listening habits aren't being subsidized?
lgunter@shaw.ca
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion...l?id=0b1c51e2-7fe5-4a98-a414-025f5860124a&p=2
_____
Rich, coming from a guy writing for a paper that never made a profit whose parent company is begging for state intervention - of course, Free Dominion is going all ga-ga over it.
AoD
afransen
Senior Member
Why museums, art galleries, schools, etc. Not everyone is going to use those facilities, so why should everyone pay?