[kwlug-disc] OT: Broadcast TV in trouble?

[B.S.]

The link title may be a bit of a misnomer, it's unclear / confusing.


>>>> http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/chch-news-files-for-bankruptcy-cancels-friday-and-weekend-newscasts-1.3361492

There is almost nothing there about bankruptcy. There is a halving of the news staff, and a changed / less news schedule going forwards.

I expect news is the most people (and thus salary cost) intensive part of such operations. Presumably fewer people are needed if you're only relaying or replaying content, not broadcasting live or creating (local) content.

"CH says it is available to over 92 per cent of Ontario households and is seen by millions across the country each week."

"CHCH has cancelled its Friday evening and weekend newscasts, with restructuring and cuts coming to the local station that will result in fewer overall hours of local news being aired."

"CHCH is transitioning to a new schedule starting next week that includes both the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. weekday newscasts. Its morning show Morning Live is slated to return on Tuesday." - and no weekend news.


Then google gets you "CHCH cuts up to 100 jobs as employer declares bankruptcy" -> 
http://globalnews.ca/news/2396083/chch-cancels-6-p-m-newscast-future-of-station-unclear-report/

"“Your employer, the Channel 11 L.P. has declared bankruptcy, effective today."

“This new reality put us in an untenable situation and as a result, in order to ensure the continued broadcasting of CHCH we have made some significant changes to our programming schedule which will result in fewer overall hours of local news being aired.”

Is this 'bankruptcy' the equivalent to the U.S. Chapter 11 - buying time to reorganize and sort oneself out for a different reality? (e.g. Much less news.)

"EDITOR’S NOTE: Global News previously reported the parent company of CHCH had declared bankruptcy. It was not the parent company, but the company that provides the station with its news content."

> The link title may be a bit of a misnomer, it's unclear / confusing.

Um, yas ... I lost sight of that too - it is in Khalid's link. CHCH is not itself declaring bankruptcy - it's 'sub-contractor' that provides them news is.


So, CHCH isn't going anywhere (at this point).


Kitchener has, and may again, already gone through this process. CKCO news staffing is a mere shadow of what it was a couple of decades ago. It should be surprising that it and local news still exists at all. Certainly the reporting has gotten worse, and there seems a rotating door of staff. Worse in the sense that reporters are now their own camerapeople (that's why you see so many shots with them not in frame), and there's less focus about economic or intricate stories, and more about accidents and events - i.e. one off video captures needing less research or followup. People are expensive, and have cheaper disposition costs. (While cutting your ongoing expenses.)

What I haven't been able to align in all of this ... CBC Radio came to K-W (last year?) Presumably to establish a local organizational foothold. Local content, e.g. weather, cuts in to / switches from the main 'Toronto' CBC Radio frequencies. And they came during this prolonged period of media organization downsizing and streamlining.

So, evidently there is something special in the air in this area that makes it worthwhile for CBC/CTV to be here.

What puzzled me with the original link ... surely Hamilton has a larger population to consume local news than K-W does, yet the link is about Hamilton, not K-W.

- once you chew through article ... it actually feels like it summarizes as CHCH slimming it's news organization down, as has already happened in K-W.

>________________________________
> From: R. Brent Clements <rbclemen at gmail.com>
>To: CrankyOldBugger <kwlug-disc at kwlug.org> 
>Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2015 12:34 PM
>Subject: Re: [kwlug-disc] OT: Broadcast TV in trouble?
> 
>CH is basically CP24 style news feed during the day, and old movies and syndicated content at night and on weekends. It will be a loss to broadcast television if it vanishes.
>>>On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 9:13 PM, Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>This is off topic, but relates to the recent discussions on antenna TV, ...etc. 
>>>>
>>>>This is an independent TV station in Hamilton (since 1954!) that has an extensive news cast in the morning, movies a few times a week, ...etc. 
>>>>
>>>>Now filed for bankruptcy ...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/chch-news-files-for-bankruptcy-cancels-friday-and-weekend-newscasts-1.3361492