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Troubled Sun TV struggles to meet its mandate
Apr. 3, 2006. 06:43 AM
ANTONIA ZERBISIAS
CKXT is the Toronto TV station that never got off the ground.
Many saw it as being dead in the water even before it was launched with a splashy live telecast in September, 2003.
Back then it was Toronto 1.
Owned by the now-defunct Craig Media Inc. of Calgary, it was a disaster from the instant it was licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in a split decision that was contested by just about every broadcaster in Toronto.
(Let's rewind the tape to recall that it was Torstar, which owns the Star, which first made a bid for an innovative low-cost station, triggering a competitive process that it lost to Craig.)
Craig had no idea how to operate in Toronto. Its programming concept was screwy. Critics mocked its schedule. And, despite holding a primo spot low down on the dial, it couldn't attract ratings to save its life.
And so, its life was very short.
By 2004, the mass firings began, wave after wave of them.
Toronto 1 ended up being the death of Craig Media, and the broadcast dynasty behind the name. Along with other Craig assets it went on the block, where they were bought by Toronto's CHUM — which had to divest itself of the station because it already operates Citytv and A-Channel Barrie in this market.
In stepped the media giant Quebecor Inc, which was looking for a television toehold in Toronto where it owns the Sun and the commuter tab, 24 Hours.
Perhaps because Quebecor operates a successful French-language network, or perhaps because it claims the second biggest paper here, it figured it could grab a share of the TV audience the way Craig could not.
But, since it took over Toronto 1, which it dubbed Sun TV, there have been even more cuts. The most recent came 10 days ago when 13 staffers were handed cartons in which to pack their personal effects.
For the second time in two years, the station cancelled its daily flagship infotainment program.
Now there are questions as to whether the station is meeting its conditions of licence.
For example, it is supposed to be producing "a weekly half-hour aboriginal program." But a spokesperson for the station said that they "are working to meet this expectation."
Which means not yet.
Indeed, Sun TV's Canadian line-up includes a list of warmed-over failed offerings from the mid-1990s, plus the nightly Grill Room, featuring (mostly) Sun sportswriters sitting uncomfortably close together and jawing about sports.
Not exactly ratings grabbers.
Last week Pierre Karl Peladeau, Quebecor's president and CEO, spoke to Toronto media directors promising an overhaul of his Toronto operations, including the Web portal Canoe. He talked of podcasting, video streaming and digital tsunamis.
"This brings me to a model we will be piloting here in the GTA in a few weeks," Peladeau said. "The initial offering will include a television current affairs program on Sun TV — streamed live on Canoe.ca — with connections to the journalistic skills at the Toronto Sun."
That current affairs program, to debut in May, is Canoe Live.
While it may have excited those fascinated with new tech, it was a red flag to Canadians concerned about media concentration and diversity.
What's more, it appears to be a violation of Sun TV's condition of licence which states that it "will maintain separate and independent news management and presentation structures for Toronto 1 television operations that are distinct from those of any Toronto 1 affiliated newspapers."
"What (Sun TV station manager) Jim Nelles told the employees was that Canoe Live was going to be a convergence of the Sun newspaper and the Canoe website — and the primary focus is on the Sun editorial team," says Keith Maskell of the Canadian Media Guild who attended the meeting between management and the staffers who still had jobs.
Adds Maskell: "It strikes me that it's going to be difficult to maintain editorial independence if the axis of the flagship program is going to be the newspaper."
Seriously. There's even been talk — not denied by Sun TV spokesperson John Wildgust — that Canoe Live would air the newspaper's editorial meetings.
Well, you can't say that isn't innovative. It might even do something for media transparency. But it hardly meets the station's mandate.
There is no question that the regulations of broadcasting have to change in order for the players to adapt to the new competitive environment. A long awaited review, originally scheduled for 2008, may be bumped to this year.
But nobody should feel too sorry for Canada's private TV operators who, as a group, reported total revenues and profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) rose by about 4 per cent, hitting $2.2 billion and $242.2 million respectively.
But, with most of the country's newspapers in bed with the nation's biggest broadcasters, there's danger here. By CRTC fiat they're forced to keep their newspaper and television newsrooms separate.
CKXT has been doing differently, and could well be the canary in the media concentration coal mine.
Apr. 3, 2006. 06:43 AM
ANTONIA ZERBISIAS
CKXT is the Toronto TV station that never got off the ground.
Many saw it as being dead in the water even before it was launched with a splashy live telecast in September, 2003.
Back then it was Toronto 1.
Owned by the now-defunct Craig Media Inc. of Calgary, it was a disaster from the instant it was licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in a split decision that was contested by just about every broadcaster in Toronto.
(Let's rewind the tape to recall that it was Torstar, which owns the Star, which first made a bid for an innovative low-cost station, triggering a competitive process that it lost to Craig.)
Craig had no idea how to operate in Toronto. Its programming concept was screwy. Critics mocked its schedule. And, despite holding a primo spot low down on the dial, it couldn't attract ratings to save its life.
And so, its life was very short.
By 2004, the mass firings began, wave after wave of them.
Toronto 1 ended up being the death of Craig Media, and the broadcast dynasty behind the name. Along with other Craig assets it went on the block, where they were bought by Toronto's CHUM — which had to divest itself of the station because it already operates Citytv and A-Channel Barrie in this market.
In stepped the media giant Quebecor Inc, which was looking for a television toehold in Toronto where it owns the Sun and the commuter tab, 24 Hours.
Perhaps because Quebecor operates a successful French-language network, or perhaps because it claims the second biggest paper here, it figured it could grab a share of the TV audience the way Craig could not.
But, since it took over Toronto 1, which it dubbed Sun TV, there have been even more cuts. The most recent came 10 days ago when 13 staffers were handed cartons in which to pack their personal effects.
For the second time in two years, the station cancelled its daily flagship infotainment program.
Now there are questions as to whether the station is meeting its conditions of licence.
For example, it is supposed to be producing "a weekly half-hour aboriginal program." But a spokesperson for the station said that they "are working to meet this expectation."
Which means not yet.
Indeed, Sun TV's Canadian line-up includes a list of warmed-over failed offerings from the mid-1990s, plus the nightly Grill Room, featuring (mostly) Sun sportswriters sitting uncomfortably close together and jawing about sports.
Not exactly ratings grabbers.
Last week Pierre Karl Peladeau, Quebecor's president and CEO, spoke to Toronto media directors promising an overhaul of his Toronto operations, including the Web portal Canoe. He talked of podcasting, video streaming and digital tsunamis.
"This brings me to a model we will be piloting here in the GTA in a few weeks," Peladeau said. "The initial offering will include a television current affairs program on Sun TV — streamed live on Canoe.ca — with connections to the journalistic skills at the Toronto Sun."
That current affairs program, to debut in May, is Canoe Live.
While it may have excited those fascinated with new tech, it was a red flag to Canadians concerned about media concentration and diversity.
What's more, it appears to be a violation of Sun TV's condition of licence which states that it "will maintain separate and independent news management and presentation structures for Toronto 1 television operations that are distinct from those of any Toronto 1 affiliated newspapers."
"What (Sun TV station manager) Jim Nelles told the employees was that Canoe Live was going to be a convergence of the Sun newspaper and the Canoe website — and the primary focus is on the Sun editorial team," says Keith Maskell of the Canadian Media Guild who attended the meeting between management and the staffers who still had jobs.
Adds Maskell: "It strikes me that it's going to be difficult to maintain editorial independence if the axis of the flagship program is going to be the newspaper."
Seriously. There's even been talk — not denied by Sun TV spokesperson John Wildgust — that Canoe Live would air the newspaper's editorial meetings.
Well, you can't say that isn't innovative. It might even do something for media transparency. But it hardly meets the station's mandate.
There is no question that the regulations of broadcasting have to change in order for the players to adapt to the new competitive environment. A long awaited review, originally scheduled for 2008, may be bumped to this year.
But nobody should feel too sorry for Canada's private TV operators who, as a group, reported total revenues and profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) rose by about 4 per cent, hitting $2.2 billion and $242.2 million respectively.
But, with most of the country's newspapers in bed with the nation's biggest broadcasters, there's danger here. By CRTC fiat they're forced to keep their newspaper and television newsrooms separate.
CKXT has been doing differently, and could well be the canary in the media concentration coal mine.