Metropolitan market, non metro, stfu.

If you look at successful TV stations in markets the size of anglo Montreal in the states they offer a lot more than 1 or 2 hours a day because they have determined that local programming, esp news, is a profit centre for their businesses.

Dan Shields,
Ottawa

You are right about not much new news from Friday night..but there could be updates, both in news and of course, there's always sports happening.

But what kind of news and sports happens between midnight and noon on Saturday?

But you would get viewers with special segments on the local entertainmnet scene and the many talented people out there

Plenty of pre-taped entertainment/arts/food/etc. stories air on CTV's weekend newscast at 6pm or weekdays at noon. There's no reason such a show would need to air at noon on weekends when the audience is very low.

And they seem to realize that by not looking at jus tmother tongue but proficiency as wel, , which makes Montreal and South Shore and Laval,etc a very big area..Bell is just scared and doing the same runaround with the TSN/RDS thing..

CTV did a faux pas by getting of their great local shows like I believe Sports Magazine, it was called with Ron Reusch, the entertainment show with Mose and Orla Johannes...A news magazine As it Happens or On Assignment with Bill Hauglans was good stuff..So Bell drop the hypocrisy...

I like the Focus Montreal show as it accents on special people or events not covered by a conventional newscast for time reasons..So the above proposals for some news/info show on weekends would go over well if promoted properly..You are right about not much new news from Friday night..but there could be updates, both in news and of course, there's always sports happening...But you would get viewers with special segments on the local entertainmnet scene and the many talented people out there, that I have discovered on Fcebook, You Tube, etc..

the local cultural and educational scene are poorly underserved..but a big network needs to take a chance and promote it...But I and others, am willing to bet would watch a show like that if someone I knew or a son or daughter of someone I knew was featured on a show like that......

this is the key here network people..LOCAL .....it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out..

Let's face it: CityTV is very trashy.

What does that even mean? Low-quality? Of poor morals? And how would it be worse than what CJNT is right now?

They mention that they plan to offer a morning show as well. Suggesting that two local english language morning shows are a bit of a problem in the fragile Montreal market.

They didn't say they're against competition in morning shows (though I can't imagine they're too happy about it). They just wanted to correct the record.

Example. Do we really need CBMT-DT, CFCF-DT, and CKMI-DT all having their local evening news run at the 6pm slot? If you see that your ratings are terrible, why not move your local news to 7pm?

CBC starts its local news at 5pm. And I've suggested Global moving its newscast to 7pm before, but I doubt it will happen, because it would deviate from the national schedule (it would put the local news after Global National instead of before), and because it would cut into the ET/ET Canada block, which makes a lot more money than the local news.

Perhaps offer a Saturday and Sunday week-end news show at noon. Nobody is offering that.

Because nobody watches television at noon on weekends. And besides, how much would really be new at noon on Saturday that's different from what was reported at 11pm on Friday?

If CityTV wants to create a local morning show for CJNT-DT, why compete with them for the same advertising dollar.

Shaw has already committed to the CRTC to create local morning shows. And Citytv doesn't want to compete with the noon, 6pm and 11pm newscasts, so it has decided to go mornings. It's easier to compete with the Global startup than the CFCF giant.

What Bell appears to want is an open call so that the CRTC is forced into looking at market studies to determine if a new station has enough commercial space.

Perhaps. But the point is that Bell hasn't argued that the market can't support another station, and we can't blame them for arguing against it until they actually do.

What I find problematic with are the comments for Shaw Media. They mention that they plan to offer a morning show as well. Suggesting that two local english language morning shows are a bit of a problem in the fragile Montreal market. Sure, I get it. But, instead of complaining about that, why isn't CKMI-DT looking to identify other needs for its local news production for Montreal. Why can't they counter program.

Example. Do we really need CBMT-DT, CFCF-DT, and CKMI-DT all having their local evening news run at the 6pm slot? If you see that your ratings are terrible, why not move your local news to 7pm? The same with the two new proposed morning shows. Has CKMI-DT looked to see that week-end local news is horrible for the local english market. Perhaps offer a Saturday and Sunday week-end news show at noon. Nobody is offering that. Why is it that all these stations can't see a need to be filled in. But rather always go for the simple, traditional placement of local news. 6pm, 11pm, and a morning show.

Now your going to tell me that two week-end news shows will not cover CKMI-DT's license requirement for the number of local hours a morning show would offer. True. But, I'm talking about counter programming. Identifying a under serviced part of the broadcast week, and filling in that need. If CityTV wants to create a local morning show for CJNT-DT, why compete with them for the same advertising dollar.

Well, that doesn't appear to be true. What Bell appears to want is an open call so that the CRTC is forced into looking at market studies to determine if a new station has enough commercial space. That of course would be driven by Bell and Shaw bringing all sorts of bad numbers into the game, showing that there is no market.

" Bell would argue that live news is much more expensive to produce than other types of programming."

yes, but it's not the only type of programming on a local level that is meaningful. Repeating the same news reports multiple times a day isn't exactly on par with running a morning show, example. Bell wants to talk at the community, it appears the City-TV ideas are much more "talk with" the community, and that would be a big difference.

I have to say Bell objecting to competition is quite the laugh.

It's not objecting to competition. It's objecting to the process being used. The fact that it wants an open call for applications suggests that it has no problem with a new English station in the market.

The timing issue for the change over to ICI could be handled by having CJNT stay on the air as is until ICI comes online.

This is true.

Considering that Bell has all but abandoned the local markets they serve, with no real local programming outside of news produced in their stations anymore, it seems like a real benefit for Montreal to have an anglo station that is going to operate on a more local level, with more local programming.

The proposal for CJNT would have the same amount of local programming as CFCF - 15.5 hours a week. And Bell would argue that live news is much more expensive to produce than other types of programming.

The timing issue for the change over to ICI could be handled by having CJNT stay on the air as is until ICI comes online. Further, the CRTC could mandate that a certain amount of advertising space on the new city-tv station promote ICI and it's programming for a given period of time, easing the transition. There is no absolute requirement for City to flick the switch overnight, basically killing most of Bell's direct objections over lost programming.

Further, considering CJNT for the moment is in a 3 year old stasis, moving forward with ICI is the best way to get NEW community programming on the air.

I think that Bell's real objection is that they risk having City as a national network competitor over time, an alternate english network (aside from CBC, obviously) that could compete with them for US programming and thus sim-sub revenues. Right now no other playing in the market has the money or audience to buy the rights to top line dramas (such as say CSI or whatever). But City, with enough stations and exposure might be able to do just that, tipping things dramatically in the broadcasting world.

Considering that Bell has all but abandoned the local markets they serve, with no real local programming outside of news produced in their stations anymore, it seems like a real benefit for Montreal to have an anglo station that is going to operate on a more local level, with more local programming. It's a market Bell doesn't seem to want, so why should they get to block it?