Fagstein » CKMI

Global Montreal has a new (virtual) set

Fagstein — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:51:37 +0000

Global Montreal's new virtual set debuted Monday

There wasn't much fanfare. In fact, it wasn't even explicitly mentioned during the first night. But it would have been hard to miss that Global Montreal's newscast has a new look, thanks to a new set.

Unlike CFCF, which needed to build a new set from scratch, CKMI's set is entirely virtual, with anchors sitting at a desk in an all-green room. So while it wasn't quite as easy as flipping a switch (there were complications in planning that pushed back the launch date), all the changes are in a computer's memory.

Above you see anchor Jamie Orchard in the new set. She's the only thing real there. The floor, the windows, the pillar, all have been added digitally through chroma key (a bit more advanced than your usual green screen because the camera's movements are synchronized with the computer changing the perspective of the digital background).

The background cityscape is the work of Gazette photographer Phil Carpenter. He'll also be doing a daytime version for use during the summer when it's daylight at 6pm.

The top of the newscast features graphics that fade in behind the anchor

Having a digital set has its advantages, like cool effects. One involves still images fading into place behind the anchor, covering up the city skyline.

There's also the fact that the set can seem much bigger than it actually is. That has led some to go a bit overboard with perspective. I'll leave it to you to decide if Global has gone too far here, or if the fantasy-studio-on-the-waterfront look works.

For the sake of comparison with the previous set, here's a few before-and-after shots:

The old standup position next to a digital giant screen

Note the non-existent newsroom in the background

The old studio - The anchor and desk are real, the rest is simulated

The new set - again anchor and desk are the only things real here. (Jamie's wearing different clothes here because they only started using this shot on Tuesday)

Among the options available with the new set, over-the-shoulder graphics can be done in two different ways, both of which were used during the first newscast on Monday:

Behind, on a wide shot...

... and the classic in front

The set change comes weeks after the newscast finally became high-definition, at least as far as anchors are concerned. (Packaged reports, live hits and weather presenters are still in upconverted 16:9 SD, so they're not advertising their newscast as HD yet.) You can read late anchor Richard Dagenais's experience with HD makeup on his blog.

You can watch the complete newscasts with the new virtual set on Global's website: Monday, Tuesday.

I visited Global Montreal on Wednesday to speak with station manager Karen Macdonald about other changes coming to CKMI for an upcoming article.

Mike Le Couteur is going to Ottawa

Fagstein — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 03:48:07 +0000

Mike Le Couteur, Global's new Ottawa correspondent (Global News file photo)

They may have an inferior hockey team, but there's something about Ottawa that is seducing our anglo TV journalists. CTV's Daniele Hamamdjian a year and a half ago and CBC's Amanda Pfeffer earlier this month have both headed west for new jobs with their networks in the nation's capital.

In hindsight, the trifecta was inevitable. Global National announced via Twitter on Friday night that Mike Le Couteur will become its new Ottawa correspondent. Le Couteur effectively replaces Peter Harris, who left in August to become executive producer of Power and Politics at CBC.

"There's not too much behind the move except for the cookie-cutter response of I wanted a new challenge," Le Couteur wrote to me in an email, displaying the matter-of-fact honesty he's been known for. "I've been at Global Montreal for about 13 years (almost the start of the station)."

"Every reporter's goal is to do the big stories and work on the national scene. So when Peter Harris left about a month ago, I saw it as a great chance to move up but not move too far from home. I had spent seven weeks in Ottawa replacing Harris in 2010, so I have a good idea of the challenge which awaits me, and I'm really excited!"

Le Couteur doesn't have a start date yet. He's still in Montreal, doing stories based on opinion polls as part of Global's "Canada's Pulse" series. He'll also be filling in for Montreal-based national reporter Mike Armstrong over Thanksgiving.

"So I figure that I'll be heading down (or up, I never really know) the 417 in about 3 weeks or so," Le Couteur says.

I asked him if I could relay a message to his viewers (insert joke here about Global Montreal's ratings). His response was this:

"If there's one thing I'd love for you to tell our viewers (across the province), it would be thank you. It's extremely cliché to thank people for allowing me into their homes as the 11pm anchor and reporter, but it really has been an honour. And you can bet I'll be bringing my Habs jersey with me to bug all those Senators fans!"

You can follow Mike Le Couteur on Twitter at @MikeLeCouteur

Even more details about Montreal’s digital TV transition

Fagstein — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 11:01:51 +0000

Mount Royal tower is about to go digital

I wrote a feature that appeared in Saturday's Gazette (Page E3, for those clipping) about the transition from analog television to digital, whose deadline is Aug. 31.

The main story focuses mainly on how local broadcasters are coping with the transition. It's a big endeavour, and with less than 10% of Canadian households still using antennas to get their television service, it's difficult to justify the cost (in the neighbourhood of $1 million per transmitter, but varying widely) of replacing the analog with digital.

That's to say nothing about the consumers, many of whom are on the lower end of the income scale, who must now spend money on new equipment.

The sidebar focuses on consumers, and tries to explain how people can prepare. If you haven't already heard 1,000 times, cable and satellite subscribers are unaffected. If you get your service by antenna, you either need a TV with a digital ATSC tuner (most new HDTVs have one) or a digital converter box.

My editor was very generous with the assigned length (in all it clocks in at a bit under 2,000 words), but even then there's a lot of information I had to leave out, including a few conversations I had with actual TV viewers. I'll try to include most of that information here.

The digital transition in Montreal

First, here's how the digital transition is going for the nine television stations broadcasting in Montreal (updated 9am Sept. 1):

Five (CFCF/CTV, CFTM/TVA, CIVM/Télé-Québec, CFJP/V and CJNT/Metro 14) have completed the transition, switching off their analog transmitters and replacing them with digital ones that are now transmitting. They should all be at full power from their permanent antennas.
Three (CBMT/CBC, CBFT/Radio-Canada,CKMI-1/Global) have shut down their analog transmitters and have digital ones operating on their permanent assigned channels, but are not yet operating from what will be their permanent antenna on top of the Mount Royal tower. (CBMT and CBFT are also running at reduced power.) Those who don't get these signals now may see that improve over the coming weeks.
One (CFTU/Canal Savoir) has been given a two-month extension to make the transition. It is still broadcasting in analog until the digital transmitter begins running.

Here's more detail, by station. A few explanations first:

Power: Digital transmitter power for most of these stations is considerably less than analog power. That doesn't necessarily mean the digital signal will be weaker. Because digital transmitters are far more efficient than analog ones (about 10 times in the case of UHF transmitters), the same range can be achieved with much less power. Most stations expect their coverage area will remain about the same. I use "authorized power" here to denote the average effective radiated power authorized by Industry Canada. The actual transmitters could be operating at less power than this.
Virtual channels: It's kind of complicated, but the ATSC digital standard allows stations on one channel to pretend they're on another. This is used so that stations that must change channels as part of the digital transition can show up on TVs under their former analog channels. So CBMT (CBC Montreal), for example, will actually be transmitting on Channel 21, but will appear on TV sets as Channel 6.1. The ".1" denotes the digital subchannel, because digital transmitters allow more than one channel to be transmitted. So far no Canadian broadcaster is taking advantage of this.
CRTC cost estimate: The CRTC commissioned a study by engineers to determine a rough idea of the cost of changing transmitters to digital. This cost depends on a number of factors, including the pre- and post-transition channels. It should be taken with a truckload of salt, because it doesn't take into account any particular characteristics of individual transmitters.
PSIP: The Program and System Information Protocol is a system that allows digital transmitters to send information to TV receivers. Among them, content ratings and program descriptions, like you'd find in a digital cable or satellite menu. Its use by broadcasters in Canada is mixed, because it's not seen as a necessity.

CBMT

Status: Transmitting in digital on permanent channel but temporary antenna.

Brand: CBC Montreal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 6
Authorized power: 100,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down 12am Sept. 1

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 20
Authorized power: 57,410W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: switched to post-transitional channel on or before Aug. 27

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 21
Authorized power: 436,340W
Location: Mount Royal tower (same as analog)
Status: will become active when new antenna is installed by November

Virtual digital channel: 6.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Not properly. Shows are given names like "CBMT Montreal English HD, Event 470" without descriptions
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (606), Bell TV (896/1030), Bell Fibe (1206)
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $3,191,581
Retransmitters: Dozens of analog stations throughout Quebec (CBC Montreal is the only CBC station in Quebec with original programming). Digital transition postponed until Aug. 31, 2012 in the following mandatory markets: Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, Saguenay
Digital transition website: http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/dtv/Montreal_CBC.shtml

CBMT has had its digital transmitter up since 2005, but it's waiting until Aug. 31 to shut down the analog one. While the transition in Montreal is expected to happen on schedule, CBC decided it didn't have the money to make the switch for retransmitters (including Quebec City and Sherbrooke). The CRTC said it would allow a one-year extension so the analog to keep the analog transmitters running so they wouldn't have to be shut down, but the CBC's Steven Guiton told me they will probably just ask for another extension when that one comes up.

I asked José Breton, the guy who protested outside CBC in Quebec City demanding they not shut down the transmitter there because he wanted to watch Hockey Night in Canada, about the extension. I thought he would be happy, but turns out he's not. "It's a false compromise," he said. Instead, the CRTC should have forced CBC/Radio-Canada to setup digital transmitters in mandatory markets before the deadline instead of saving money for "some white-collars' salaries". He also suggested the CRTC was being influenced by cable and satellite lobbyists.

CBMT's digital transmitter has already switched to its permanent channel (which means digital tuners must rescan for channels to find it).

CBC Montreal's newscast has been 16:9 since 2009, though the quality of the video during newscasts is poor even by standard definition standards.

As noted in the guide in The Gazette, because CBMT transmits in analog on Channel 6, which is just below the FM radio band, its audio channel can be heard at 87.75MHz. Most FM radios allow you to tune that low, even though the band ends at 88 MHz. The only perceivable difference between the audio channel of an analog TV transmission and an FM broadcast radio transmission is that the former has a lower volume. So people can do things like listen to Hockey Night in Canada on the radio. This will, unfortunately, end on Sept. 1 when the analog transmitter goes down.

CFCF

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Aug. 31.

Brand: CTV Montreal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 12
Authorized power: 325,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down 12:05am Aug. 31 (this was pushed up a day, was originally to be Sept. 1)

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 51
Authorized power: 2,700W
Location: Bell-Nexacor tower on Remembrance Rd.
Status: reduced power significantly around Aug. 27, shut down just after midnight Aug. 31

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 12 (same as analog)
Authorized power: 10,600W
Location: Mount Royal tower (same as analog)
Status: active as of 12:50am Aug. 31

Virtual digital channel: 12.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Unknown
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (607), Bell Fibe (1205)
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $440,619
Retransmitters: None
Digital transition website: http://www.ctv.ca/digitalswitch/

CFCF setup a temporary digital transmitter in January specifically so it could get it on air before the Super Bowl to take advantage of simultaneous substitution in HD. In a letter dated Jan. 4, 2011, CTV VP Kevin Goldstein specifically cited the Super Bowl as reason to expedite the application:

CTV respectfully requests that the Commission consider this application in an expedited manner as we hope to have Commission approval on or before January 28th, 2011 in advance of the broadcast of the Super Bowl on February 6th, 2011. CTV holds the Canadian broadcast rights to one of the most high profile sporting and broadcasting events of the year and approval of this application will rectify some concerns we have with respect to the requirements of certain BDU's to carry out simultaneous substitution during this broadcast.

CRTC gave approval on Jan. 21. The digital transmitter went live on Jan. 28. It's on a small tower on Remembrance Rd. near Beaver Lake, about 400 metres from the main Mount Royal tower and with an antenna about 100 metres below where their analog one is.

CTV Montreal General Manager Don Bastien said everything is ready to go. The digital transmitter has been tested twice and all that's left is to wait until the cutoff date. The analog transmitter is set to shut down at 12:05am on Sept. 1 - just after the end of the late newscast - and the permanent digital transmitter (using the same antenna and same channel) should be up 45 minutes later, he said.

Technical changes - including replacing the antenna, which had been in use since 1961 - happened last summer. Television transmitters on the Mount Royal tower were shut down overnight throughout the summer months as the tower was altered to prepare for the digital transition.

Bastien said the coverage area of the digital transmitter should be about the same as the analog one was (exact comparisons are difficult because of how reception of analog and digital signals differs).

CKMI-1

Status: Transmitting digital-only using temporary antenna as of Aug. 17.

Brand: Global Montreal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 46
Authorized power: 33,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down Aug. 13

Transitional/post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 15 (was assigned 51, but got approval to use 15 instead)
Authorized power: 8,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower (running on temporary antenna at base of tower)
Status: active since Aug. 17

Virtual digital channel: 15.1 (Global is the only Montreal station to choose a virtual channel different from its analog one)
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: No (except ratings)
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (608, replaced Global Toronto HD on Aug. 23)
Power (average ERP): 8,000W
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $280,544/$380,994
Retransmitters:

Quebec City (CKMI), Channel 20, digital as of Aug. 13
Sherbrooke (CKMI-2), Channel 11, digital as of Aug. 10

Digital transition website: http://www.shaw.ca/dtv/

Global Montreal used to be based in Quebec City (which is why Quebec City's station is CKMI and Montreal's is CKMI-1). Canwest bought the station and setup transmitters in Montreal and Sherbrooke to create the regionally-licensed Global Quebec network. It then asked the CRTC to be re-licensed as a Montreal station so it could be allowed to seek local advertising.

CKMI-1 was the first of the nine Montreal stations to shut down its analog transmitter. It went dark on Aug. 13, and the digital transmitter started transmitting on Aug. 17. Global has been announcing that it's now on Channel 15, and its virtual digital channel is 15.1. Its satellites in Quebec City and Sherbrooke had already made the transition earlier in the month. Both remain on the same channel.

Videotron has been carrying Global HD from Toronto, which has been kind of a strange situation where Montreal viewers have been seeing Toronto local newscasts unless they switch to the standard-definition version of the channel. Videotron replaced Global Toronto HD with Global Montreal HD on Aug. 23. (Global was so happy it sent out a press release on the subject.)

Global Montreal's newscast is technically in high definition. The opening graphics are HD, as is the weather report (which is done out of Toronto). Master control is in Edmonton (I made a mistake in the original article, saying it was Vancouver - it switched to Edmonton in May 2009), which has HD facilities. Even the studio cameras are HD (the newscasts are anchored in Montreal, in a green room), but the data connection between Montreal and Edmonton isn't fast enough to deliver an HD signal.

Thankfully, Global is owned by Shaw, which has experience in telecommunications. A fat pipe is being setup, edit suites in Montreal will be upgraded and HD field cameras will be issued. "We are optimistic that our newscast will be produced in HD by the end of the year," said Shaw Media's Dervla Kelly. Once that happens, CFCF will be the only station in Montreal that produces a newscast that's not in HD.

"We've increased our over-the-air coverage area in all three markets," Kelly said of Global's Quebec stations. "More viewers will have access to our digital signal than had access to our analog signals."

CJNT

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Aug. 27.

Brand: Metro 14
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 62
Authorized power: 11,000W
Location: roof of building next to Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down morning of Aug. 27

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 69
Status: never used

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 49
Authorized power: 4,000W
Location: roof of CTV building next to Mount Royal tower (same as analog)
Status: began operation on evening of Aug. 27

Virtual digital channel: 62.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: No
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (expecting 614 on Aug. 30)
Power (average ERP):
Digital transmitter location: Roof of CTV transmitter building next to Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $273,881
Retransmitters: None
Digital transition website: http://www.metro14.ca/

You know CJNT, right? The multicultural station? It was scooped up by Canwest after failing to make money for many years, and it continued to not make money. Canwest threatened to shut it down along with the rest of its secondary E! network, but a company called Channel Zero bought it and sister station CHCH Hamilton for a grand total of $12. Since then, the station has produced no original programming, and has been embarrassingly repeating local shows from 2009 to fulfill its CRTC requirements. It has promised new programming for this fall, though, and some of it has already begun.

Metro 14 (the number is reference to its Videotron digital cable channel) went pretty well as scheduled for its digital transition. According to its schedule, the analog transmitter was to be shut off at 7am on Aug. 27 and the digital one was to be operational by 6pm. The delay was necessary to retune the antenna from Channel 62 to Channel 49. CHCH Broadcast Operations Manager Wayne Rabishaw, who is handling the CJNT transition along with four transmitters of CHCH, said the coverage area would actually greatly improve with the change, almost doubling, because the antenna they're using (which the station originally got used) was actually better for Channel 49 than Channel 62.

CHCH itself made the switch on Aug. 15, and Rabishaw said they had already gotten hundreds of phone calls from viewers. London and Muskoka were scheduled for this week, and Ottawa is set for Aug. 31. Their four remaining retransmitters (Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay and Timmins) will stay analog for now.

Rabishaw couldn't put a price on the CJNT transition, but said switching all five transmitters will cost Channel Zero "several million dollars".

CJNT is transmitting in HD, but so far I haven't spotted any actual HD programming on it. (Lots of programming in SD with black bars around it, though.) Rabishaw said programming will be in HD.

Metro 14's note says Videotron will add the station's HD feed on Channel 614 on Aug. 30. Cogeco will also begin carrying the station in standard and high-definition, but the satellite companies (Bell and Shaw) are only taking it in standard definition for now.

Once Videotron adds the HD feed, viewers can expect simultaneous substitution to begin in HD for American programming carried on CJNT. This includes 20/20, Nightline and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

CBFT

Status: Transmitting digital-only, on temporary antenna.

Brand: Radio-Canada Montréal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 2
Authorized power: 100,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down at 12am Sept. 1 (the last thing that aired was a beer ad)

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 19
Authorized power: 54,970W
Location: Mount Royal tower (temporary antenna at base of tower)
Status: active

Post-transitional digital channel:

Channel: 19 (same as transitional)
Authorized power: 447,820W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: will be active once new antenna is installed

Virtual digital channel: 2.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: No
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (602), Bell TV (1802/860), Bell Fibe (1112), Shaw Direct (244/380)
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $4,266,294 (highest in Montreal)
Retransmitters: 28, none in mandatory markets or above Channel 16
Digital transition website: http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/tvn/montreal_radio-canada.shtml

Like CBC, Radio-Canada has had a digital transmitter in Montreal since 2005. Since the transitional and post-transitional channels are the same, it is effectively operating in post-transitional mode, though I'm guessing from my signal meter that it's not operating at the post-transitional power level yet. At nearly 450,000W, it will be the most powerful digital television transmitter in Quebec.

Just about all of Radio-Canada's local and national programming has been in HD for some time.

Radio-Canada, like the CBC, will keep analog transmitters running in mandatory markets where it doesn't originate programming. This mostly affects the Prairies, southern Ontario and Atlantic Canada. All mandatory markets in Quebec will transition.

Radio-Canada also has two full-power transmitters that are on channels in the 52-69 range: Sainte-Famille and Lac-Etchemin, both retransmitters of CBVT (Quebec City) and both on Channel 55. The Lac Etchemin transmitter will become low-power, staying on the same channel, while the Sainte-Famille transmitter will be shut down.

CFTM

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Sept. 1.

Brand: TVA Montréal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 10
Authorized power: 325,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down 12:01am Sept. 1

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 59
Authorized power: 6,140W
Location: TVA building (1600 de Maisonneuve Blvd. E.)
Status: never used

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 10 (same as analog)
Authorized power: 11,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower (same as analog)
Status: active as of 12:35am Sept. 1

Virtual digital channel: 10.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Unknown
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (604), Bell TV (1804/861), Bell Fibe (1115), Shaw Direct (245/381)
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $440,619
Retransmitters: None (but this is the flagship station of the TVA network)
Digital transition website: http://tva.canoe.ca/emissions/transitiontelenumerique/

TVA has, strangely, not been broadcasting in digital yet (or if it has, it's such low power that nobody has seen it). The plan is to make the switch directly on the night of Aug. 31 to Sept. 1. TVA has to coordinate its switch with CTV, since both use the same antenna.

TVA's local and national newscasts and other programming have been in HD for quite a while. Because it doesn't simulcast American programming, it doesn't need to setup a digital transmitter to take advantage of simultaneous substitution.

Across Quebec, TVA owns six stations, five of which will switch to digital (Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Trois-Rivières) and one will not (Rimouski). The transmitter in Saguenay (CJPM) will run at first on a temporary digital transmitter, and then a full transmitter by Oct. 31, TVA's Serge Sasseville said. You can get channel information in this PDF file.

There are also four TVA affiliates not owned by Groupe TVA. Two stations in western Quebec are owned by RNC Media and are in mandatory markets (Gatineau and Rouyn-Noranda).

Two others in eastern Quebec are owned by Télé Inter-Rives:

CIMT in Rivière du Loup (a mandatory market), which has eight retransmitters, including one that fills a hole in coverage in the city of Rivière du Loup, and one in Edmunston, NB.
CHAU in Carleton-sur-Mer (which is not), which has 11 retransmitters around the Gaspé peninsula and northern New Brunswick.

Even though the CRTC's requirements would only force Télé Inter-Rives to switch its transmitters in Rivière du Loup to digital and move its retransmitter in Les Escoumins off of Channel 57, it has applied to switch all of its transmitters to digital. The transition for CHAU and its retransmitters has been delayed until mid-November due to delays in getting equipment. But since these are all transmitters that could stay analog if they wanted to, there's no deadline for making the change. CIMT and its retransmitters are still set for a Sept. 1 transition.

CFJP

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Aug. 31.

Brand: V
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 35
Authorized power: 697,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down 11:31pm Aug. 30

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 42
Authorized power: 13,900W
Location: Sherbrooke St. E. (corner of Amherst St.)
Status: shut down Aug. 30

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 35 (same as analog)
Authorized power: 13,750W (note this is actually slightly less than transitional transmitter)
Location: Sherbrooke St. E. (same as transitional)
Status: active as of 11:35pm Aug. 30

Virtual digital channel: 35.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Unknown
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (605), Bell TV (1803/862), Bell Fibe (1114), Shaw Direct (248/388)
Digital transmitter location: Sherbrooke and Berri Sts. (analog transmitter is on Mount Royal tower, but digital one will stay downtown for "strategic reasons", the network says)
CRTC cost estimate: $280,713/$463,894
Retransmitters: None

V was kind of hard to get a hold of for this article. Emails and phone calls went unanswered until I finally heard from spokesperson Tim Ringuette, who blamed the network's fall launch for keeping him busy. Ringuette said the station has moved its digital transmitter off the Mount Royal tower site. "Décision stratégique," he wrote in a brief email. This most likely translates to "money" and V's reluctance to spend a lot of it renting expensive space on the Mount Royal tower (not to mention all the engineering work that goes into setting up a transmitter next to a bunch of other high-powered transmitters).

Ringuette said the coverage area should be almost identical to the analog signal now. I'm very skeptical that a transmitter on a downtown building (more than 200 metres lower in elevation) at a tiny fraction of the power can have the same coverage, particularly because I don't receive the digital transmitter at all right now.

CIVM

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Sept. 1

Brand: Télé-Québec
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 17
Authorized power: 889,500W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down for good at 1:30am Sept. 1

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 27
Authorized power: 8,956W
Location: Olympic Stadium
Status: shut down just after midnight Sept. 1

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 26
Authorized power: 160,600W
Location: Olympic Stadium (same as transitional)
Status: active as of 2:45am Sept. 1

Virtual digital channel: 17.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Yes (detailed)
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (603), Bell TV (1839/799), Bell Fibe (1138)
Digital transmitter location: Olympic Stadium (analog transmitter is on Mount Royal tower, transitional digital one has been broadcasting from Olympic Stadium and will stay there post-transition)
CRTC cost estimate: $522,438/$676,519
Retransmitters: 11 (All Télé-Québec stations are effectively retransmitters of CIVM, and Télé-Québec plans to switch all of them to digital, regardless of market size)
Digital transition website: http://transitionnumerique.telequebec.tv/

Télé-Québec is the only one of the four French Quebec networks that has committed to transitioning all its transmitters to digital, regardless of market size. "La transition au numérique est notre priorité," said spokesperson Catherine Leboeuf. "Il s’agit du plus important changement technologique à court terme."

Digital transmitters are running in Montreal and Quebec City, the rest are scheduled to transition by Sept. 1.

Two exceptions are CIVB Rimouski and CIVB-1 Grand Fonds (which serves Rivière du Loup but is not considered a mandatory market station). They will be switching Sept. 7 and Sept. 15, respectively, and will maintain analog signal until their transition. Their website has a breakdown by transmitter.

The Montreal transmitter was setup on Olympic Stadium instead of Mount Royal and will remain there. The signal is very strong on the eastern side of the city, but those on the western side of the mountain are reporting trouble receiving it.

CFTU

Status: Transmitting in analog only. Transition deadline delayed until Oct. 31.

Brand: Canal Savoir
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 29
Authorized power: 10,000W
Location: Université de Montréal tower
Status: active, to be shut down by Oct. 31

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 54
Status: never used

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 29 (same as analog)
Authorized power: 387W
Location: Université de Montréal tower
Status: to be activated by Oct. 31

Virtual digital channel: 29.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Unknown
Not available in HD on cable/satellite
Digital transmitter location: Université de Montréal
CRTC cost estimate: $210,606
Retransmitters: None
Digital transition website: http://www.canal.qc.ca/passage_au_numerique.php

Canal Savoir had the most interesting transition story, so much so that I made it the lead of my article. General Manager Sylvie Godbout explained to me that, you see, they wanted to make the transition deadline, but haven't been able to access their transmitter because (1) the university is removing asbestos in the tower, and (2) a quartet of young peregrine falcons was just born there and couldn't be disturbed by construction work. (They're not technically endangered, but they're considered at risk, depending on the region and subspecies.)

The asbestos work makes sense. The university decided to do it in August when there weren't that many students around. The birds are just funny. In researching the article, I discovered that there's even a blog dedicated to them. They're named Tawodi, Rick, Éole and Altius, they're all boys and were hatched in early May. You can see videos of their development if you go back a few pages on the blog.

So the CRTC has "graciously" given them an extension until Oct. 31. Godbout said the plan is to get it done before the end of September. Until then, the analog signal will keep running.

A station run mostly by volunteers with an annual budget of $1.2 million, Canal Savoir would seem the least likely to want to spend a lot of money on a new transmitter. Godbout didn't pretend as though the money wouldn't have been better spent on programming, but she said they've known about this coming for three years and have been setting money aside for it. She wouldn't say how much it's going to cost (mostly because she doesn't know exactly), but it wasn't anywhere near the $1 million a transmitter figure that has been cited by the major broadcasters.

Canal Savoir is saving money, Godbout said, thanks in large part to assistance from Télé-Québec (Godbout used the term "graciously" more than once). Their analog transmitter - running for 25 years - was a used one from the provincial public broadcaster, and their technical help has also come from them. Though the station will have to buy a new digital transmitter, it will get help installing it.

Among the work that needs to be done is to reinforce the base of the antenna. Not easily done without disturbing the nest of some peregrine falcons that sits on the same tower.

Godbout also looked on the bright side: the old transmitter is the size of a fridge, and the new one will be smaller and generate much less heat, while serving the same population.

Though, Godbout said, she's going to have to buy herself a digital converter box. Not because she doesn't have cable service, but just so she can check on her station's transmitter from home.

Stores: What DTV transition?

I stopped by a few electronics stores to see how they were promoting the converter boxes people would need to get their TV signals after the transition. I was puzzled to see not one of them was actually promoting this, just a week before the end of analog TV.

The Source, which is owned by Bell (and plugged by name in its DTV transition ads, which is kind of pushing an ethical boundary there), had plenty of information and displays about Bell TV service, but I found only a single DTV converter box, and a few tearsheets about the transition.

At Future Shop downtown, lots of shiny HDTVs, but no big signs explaining the DTV transition. I found the converters on a shelf next to cable and satellite boxes. There were about 20 of the cheap Access HD box, which is about the size of a portable CD player and costs $50, but has a reputation online of getting very hot and forgetting its digital channel programming every time it's turned off. There were also some Coby boxes for sale for $60.

The flyers that came out this weekend for Future Shop and Best Buy also aren't really plugging the DTV transition. Both have the Access HD box, but Future Shop has it on page 28 and Best Buy has it on the back page.

A media spokesperson for Future Shop nationally said sales of converter boxes are "exceeding expectations". I'm guessing those expectations were fairly low.

When I went to Future Shop, I saw some people eyeing the converter boxes, spending quite a while trying to figure them out. I also overheard conversations between customers and staff looking at HDTVs that made it clear they had heard about the transition.

At Centre Hi-Fi, I stopped by, couldn't find the converters, and when I asked a staff member where they were he said they were all sold out. A few days later they had more Access HD boxes in the store.

("Access HD" is kind of a misnomer, implying that ... well, it's HD. It converts HD signals into analog, which is definitely not HD.)

My experience suggests you shouldn't have too much of a problem finding converter boxes unless there's a sudden rush for them (which could happen Sept. 1). Just stay away from The Source.

Digital subchannels: no thanks

One thing that kind of bugged me in the wake of the CBC transition delay was why Canadian stations weren't using digital subchannels. The American networks are taking advantage of this technology, with a main channel carrying HD programming and multiple standard-definition channels with things like 24-hour weather, repeated newscasts or alternative network programming. But Canadian broadcasters aren't using it.

I, and others, thought this would be a fine solution to CBC's problem. In most of the markets affected, the CBC is setting up a digital transmitter for its other network. Quebec City has a Radio-Canada digital transmitter, Fredericton has a CBC digital transmitter, etc. Couldn't they add a standard-definition subchannel with the other network on it? Quebec City's Radio-Canada station would be in HD on 12.1, and CBC could be in SD on 12.2.

Martin Marcotte, CBC's director of transmission (yeah, they have one of those), explained thusly:

CBC has looked at multiplexing of signals on a single transmitter.

First, that approach is not consistent with our general policy of building DTV transmitters only where we have originating stations.

Second, CBC-SRC wishes to transmit at the highest quality possible.

Third, it is correct that the subchannel would need to be SD so there would be a quality difference between the main channel and the subchannel.

Fourth, we are investigating mobile TV applications. Because a digital channel has a fixed bandwidth, any additions whether subchannels or mobile TV take away capacity from the main channel. That means a drop in quality. If you have a or more subchannels and mobile TV, the main channel essentially becomes SD or worse.

It sounds like a lot of different reasons, but it basically boils down to CBC not wanting to degrade the quality of its HD signal to fit in a secondary SD signal. While they would technically have to do that, I don't think compressing an HD signal from 19 to 15 megabits per second results in such a dramatic decrease in quality that it can't be done.

As far as the CRTC is concerned, there's no rule against using digital subchannels (or "multiplexing", as it calls the technology). But the subchannels would have to be licensed. So if, say, CTV wants to put its new CTV Two network as a subchannel to CFCF, it would probably have to get the okay from the CRTC before doing that.

Some people have suggested having specialty channels as digital subchannels (RDI on Radio-Canada's subchannel, Bold on CBC's, CTV News Channel on CFCF's, etc.). That probably wouldn't work out too well because of complaints from cable and satellite companies. They took RDI to task for having a livestream of the channel on its website, arguing that specialty channels shouldn't be distributed freely if they expect cable and satellite companies to pay for them. A similar issue would arise if the channels would be broadcast freely. Or, alternatively, the cable and satellite companies could then decide or even be forced to treat the specialty channels as over-the-air broadcasters and carry them free of charge to subscribers. The broadcasters probably wouldn't want that.

Is this even necessary?

In 2009, when the United States was set to do its digital transition, I argued that it seemed unnecessary. I understood the need to vacate part of the TV broadcast spectrum to sell off for better uses, but it seemed entirely possible to do this by simply reassigning channels 52 and above lower vacant channels in all but the biggest markets. How many markets do we have with more than 50 television channels, even if you include neighbouring markets?

It's not like digital television takes less space. Each channel still gets the same 6 MHz allocation. The only difference is that more information can be packed into that space now, allowing for HD or subchannels.

I asked the CRTC about this. They sent me to the Heritage department. Chaouki Dakdouki, the director of distribution and access policy (and possibly the most punctual person in the world - he said he'd call me at 10:30am, and my phone rang at exactly 10:30am), mentioned that digital signals will reduce interference between signals that are on adjacent channels. This would allow channels on adjacent channels in the same market instead of being spaced two apart. If this is true, then it makes sense. But even then, there aren't that many markets with more than a handful of stations - and few markets even have anything transmitting in the channels they want to get rid of.

It's too late to change anything now, but I still think some stations are being forced to switch unnecessarily. Thankfully the CRTC came to its senses and isn't forcing small towns to switch yet. The CBC has made it pretty clear most of those small transmitters will never be replaced with digital ones.

No coupon program

Those who were following the U.S. DTV transition might remember there was a coupon program that gave households discounts on converter boxes. It caused some ruckus because the government ran out of coupons (or, more accurately, ran out of money in the coupon program). This contributed to the decision to delay the transition a few months.

In Canada, there is no coupon program. No assistance for poor Canadians (or small broadcasters) to help them make the switch. It "wasn't deemed necessary," Dakdouki said, because of how few Canadians this would affect.

It's a curious position. The proportion of Canadians using antenna TV is lower than the U.S., but not by that much. And the U.S. drastically underestimated how many people would need converters for the digital transition. Judging from what I heard from Future Shop, I think the same might be happening here.

Dakdouki also pointed to the fact that, of the 7% or 8% of Canadian television viewers who don't have cable or satellite TV, about 35% of them watch programming online or through other means, which knocks this number down even further. I don't know how this compares to the United States, but it's interesting to note how fast other forms of television distribution are growing.

Antennas: Rabbit ears aren't dead

This transition is being called the death of "rabbit ears", but that's not exactly true. There's no difference between a digital and analog antenna, because the antenna is just a piece of wire cut to match a certain frequency. There's no reason analog antennas, including rabbit ears, can't be used for digital.

Antennas marketed as DTV-ready are different in two major ways: They have higher gain (which gives you a stronger signal whether in analog or digital), and they're better tuned to UHF frequencies (channels 14+) than VHF ones (2-13). This takes into account the fact that many VHF analog stations are switching to UHF channels for their digital transmitters. Most rabbit-ear antennas have long telescoping rods for VHF and a small loop for UHF. It's tempting to play with the length or position of the VHF antennas when watching a UHF station.

In Montreal, two stations are moving from VHF to UHF: CBMT (CBC) and CBFT (Radio-Canada). Two stations are staying on the (high) VHF band: CFCF (CTV) and CFTM (TVA). And the rest are staying on UHF.

The difference between Channel 2 (55 MHz) and Channel 10 (193 MHz) - the lowest post-transition channel in the city - is very significant, so there's definitely a shift upward in terms of frequency range (which means a shift downward for antenna length). But rabbit ears that pick up a wide range of frequencies should be able to pick up most strong stations.

Since most stations won't be at full power until after the Sept. 1 transition, I would recommend waiting until after that (maybe even give it a week or two in case things need to be fine-tuned) until deciding that your existing antenna is insufficient for the task.

Thoughts from viewers

I asked for input from antenna TV watchers while researching the article. I got plenty of responses, though most were people who either already had digital TVs or tuners or were planning to get them by the deadline. I had a vision of the perfect source for the story, a poor family with a dozen kids and an old TV, too poor to buy a converter but who sat by the old box and watched the broadcast networks for hours a day.

The closest I got to the perfect source was a man who wrote in to the paper in early August. The handwritten letter was left on my desk one night with a note from my editor saying that sometimes it just falls in your lap. I called him up, but while he was fine sharing his story, he didn't want his name publicized. He didn't want people to know he was on social assistance. Understandable, but frustrating. He said he'd probably buy a converter, and half-joked that he'd go around collecting refundable cans and bottles to raise the money.

For the record, here are some stories I've heard from the rest of you. Hardly a random sample, but interesting anecdotally:

Micah Galizia: "I watch OTA with an antenna and am very happy the DTV conversion is finally here. ... My TV is about five years old."
Regis Glorieux: "Cut the cord when I moved from Montreal to St-Eustache over 15 years ago. Been on antenna ever since. ... Our TVs are old school analog tube, I bought a couple ATSC digital tuners a couple of years ago when the US stations were switching over to digital."
Richard Archambault: "2 TVs (one is digital ready, small bedroom TV isn't) - both with DVD players; 2 young children at home who watch TeleQuebec on TV ... My wife and I usually watch the news, DVDs (including TV series), docs and movies on TeleQuebec and occasionally whatever other stuff may be on, but otherwise turn it off if there's nothing. I used to not be able to afford cable (rather pay for Internet access), but I recently got a promotion and thus I could afford it now if I really wanted to, but.. I find that when I visit my mother's house, sometimes I'll spend 20 minutes flipping through channels and not really finding anything worthwhile. Ideally, if I could pick only the channels I wanted (NatGeo, Discovery, maybe a sports channel for the occasional Habs game midweek when CBC doesn't play them usually, Spanish-language channels for my wife), and if I wasn't limited by the amount of Canadian channels I am required to have (I invariably have too many non-Canadian channels when I test-run my channel selections on Bell or Videotron's websites, for "pick your own" packages), then, and only then, would it be worth paying cable. So yeah, I figure I'll get a new antenna eventually, sometime in September likely."
Sarah Szefer: "Yes, I'm still using rabbit ears to access digital TV on my HDTV. Although I do get tons of interference from the Montreal Port (which means no US stations come in at all), I still can get flawless signals from Rad-Can, CBC, V, and Télé-Québec."
Rose-Line Beaupre (Regina): "I own 2 television sets. I have bought a converter box for one TV only. It was about $90. It's a very old TV and in a year or when the TV dies, I will buy a digital TV and put the converter to the other TV. The other TV is mostly used to watch movies when I'm working in my sewing room. I don't watch a lot of TV and this is the first reason I don't have cable. It's not worth the money. I'm a Francophone native living in the Prairies. I essentially bought the converter box to be able to watch Radio-Canada - Regina and watch the national news from Montréal. The news are also available on the net but I don't want to be limited to the computer in order to stay connected."
Jack Nathanson: "I am still on analog. I get the impression that the digital broadcasts won't actually begin until after September 1, so I won't get a digital box until after the analog signals have stopped." (I called Nathanson, and gave him some information about the transition. He lives on the fourth floor of a building in the Snowdon area, which should have pretty good reception. He says he used to watch a lot of TV, but does less so now. Still, he'll probably get a converter box.)

Thanks for everyone who shared their experiences. Feel free to add your own below, or ask any questions you might have.

No conspiracies

In talking to people and reading comments about the digital transition, a lot of the ones familiar enough with media ownership believe broadcasters are manipulating the switch in some way as to force people to aligned cable and satellite services. (CTV is owned by Bell, Global is owned by Shaw, and TVA is owned by Quebecor, which also owns Videotron.) Strained logic has even been contradictory - some claiming that an early switch is pushing people to pay for TV because they no longer get analog signals, others claiming a late switch is pushing people to pay because they think they can't get HD over the air.

The evidence indicates that, if anything, the opposite is true: broadcasters affiliated with cable companies are more likely to provide a better signal after the transition. Of the broadcasters on the Mount Royal tower that are not CBC/Radio-Canada (which runs the tower), it's the two that aren't affiliated with cable companies (CIVM/Télé-Québec and CFJP/V) that have decided to move off the tower, sacrificing coverage in order to save on rent. TVA, CTV and Global are staying on the tower, and are either replicating their coverage area or improving it slightly. (CJNT/Metro14 is not on the tower itself, but at its base, but its coverage has improved significantly.)

That's not to say there isn't some silliness going on. CTV's transition information points people to buy Bell TV or converter boxes at The Source, which is also owned by Bell. Shaw is plugging their free satellite program (but not very much - they're doing this as part of a promise to the CRTC, but the fewer satellites they give away, the less it costs them), but otherwise not pushing people to get Shaw service. (Global's story about the DTV transition even points to competitors' programs.) And TVA's transition page makes no mention of the word "Videotron".

But what really matters - and where the costs really lie - is the transmitters. The CRTC is forcing the switch, broadcasters have waited until the last month if not the last minute so their analog viewers have service as long as possible, and the digital transmitters for the most part try to replicate coverage area. In short, I don't see much of a conspiracy here.

Ratings: CFCF dominates, but CBMT’s happy

Fagstein — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 19:54:42 +0000

Fall 2010 ratings for Montreal anglophone evening newscasts

It's the kind of statistic that can only be visualized in pie chart form: CFCF (CTV Montreal) continues to dominate the ratings of the three local evening newscasts, according to figures Bill Brownstein put out in Saturday's story about the station's anniversary (which, incidentally, is today - happy anniversary). It has more than six times as many viewers as its nearest competitor, and more than four out of every five people watching an anglophone newscast at 6pm is tuned to channel 12.

It's nothing new. CFCF has been dominating the ratings like this for years, ever since massive budget cuts at the CBC caused people to tune away from NewsWatch.

But the public broadcaster is slowly fighting its way back up. Almost a year and a half since introducing a 90-minute evening newscast (that relied primarily on repeating the same stories), CBMT is seeing a ratings spike in the 5-6pm hour.

"Our audience has almost doubled at 5 and 5:30 since last fall," news director Mary-Jo Barr explains in an email. "Our share at 5pm is 9% (up from 5% in fall 2009) and our 5:30 share is 10% (up from 6% in Fall 2009). This is the largest audience the CBC has held in the 5-6 timeslot in recent memory. We couldn't be more pleased."

This is a sign that Montrealers are realizing there's a newscast at 5pm on CBC, and if for whatever reason that timeslot is more convenient for them, they can get their news from CBC instead of CTV. It's nowhere near the kind of ratings CFCF gets for its 6pm newscast, but it should still serve as a lesson to CBMT, Global's CKMI and other stations who trail badly in the ratings department: Unless you have a truckload of money to waste, don't try to take beat the leader with a bad copy of what it does.

Barr also credits some content changes for the increased ratings. "We've been working hard to make the show as relevant as possible to English Montrealers," she says. "We've more clearly defined each half hour. We've increased our investigative reporting by dedicating our Shawn Apel to the beat and by embedding Nancy Wood in Radio-Canada's investigative unit. We've also added a weekly segment, Jennifer Hall's "Montrealer of the Week", which features the achievements of everyday Montrealers. We also continue to place special emphasis on breaking news, live reporting, and local news and weather. Seems like the winning formula is starting to pay off."

(With respect to Apel, who is a solid reporter, an investigative team of one isn't going to make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. But I appreciate the effort.)

So where do we go from here? I think CBC should just scrap the last half-hour of its newscast and run a straight hour from 5 to 6, where they have no competition (unfortunately, because too many big decisions are still made in Toronto, that's not likely to happen here unless it happens everywhere else too). Find places or beats that CFCF either isn't interested in covering or isn't doing a good job with, and make those their own.

And what about Global?

Mike Le Couteur hosting what is apparently the Global Maritimes newscast

I hesitate to use the word "laughingstock", mostly out of respect to the small crew of journalists who are trying their best there. But I tuned in to last night's News Final (it's the only local anglo newscast between 11:05 and 11:30) to see that it had a "Global Maritimes" bug in the corner. That lasted about 10 minutes until I mentioned it on Twitter and someone fixed it.

Yes, "it's just a bug", but it's a symptom of the larger problem of what happens when you try to run a newscast on the cheap by producing and directing it in another city. I've watched the show many times waiting for the weatherman to accidentally give the Toronto forecast (CKMI's weather is done by the weather presenter at Global's Toronto station), and to his credit I haven't seen Anthony Farnell slip up yet.

There's some hope on the horizon. With Shaw's acquisition of Global from Canwest, they've promised (as part of a government-mandated compensation package) to invest significantly in the stations, among them a new local morning show set to debut in 2012 (four years after This Morning Live went off the air). It's unclear at this point how much of that would actually be produced and directed in Montreal, but it fills a gaping hole in local news, where the only thing between midnight and noon is a local news ticker at the bottom of the screen during CTV's Canada AM.

I think CKMI should consider moving its evening newscast, perhaps to 7pm, and either move those stupid celebrity gossip shows elsewhere or kill them entirely. But they won't, of course. Global, unfortunately, gave up on local news in this market long ago.

The Alouettes parade and the two solitudes

Fagstein — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 07:35:58 +0000

A TV camera setup for live coverage of the Grey Cup parade and party in 2009.

Last year, when the Alouettes won the Grey Cup with a spectacular last-second field goal against the Saskatchewan Roughriders (though TSN's placement of it as the #1 wacky CFL moment of all-time was a bit over-the-top), I went down to Ste. Catherine St. and the new Place des Festivals and joined in the party, taking a few photos of the assembled media. It was fun being in such a large crowd celebrating a pro sports championship.

This year, the Grey Cup wasn't as exciting. (I barely noticed it was over, looking up from my copy editing station.) And with the same parade-and-party planned, and the weather not looking too hot, I reluctantly stayed home to watch the coverage on TV.

Thankfully, there wasn't a lack of live parade coverage on television, but where it was covered and where it wasn't made it clear to me how geographically biased Canada's English and French-language networks are.

On the English side, both CFCF (CTV) and CKMI (Global) aired live parade specials, as they had last year. Some kudos are due to Global here, which has awfully few resources and doesn't even produce its own newscast. I've criticized the station for barely meeting CRTC minimums on local programming (and even then by airing repeats of their newscasts at 6am and 6:30am), for outsourcing their production and using a fake, misleading green-screen set, and even having a weatherman who's based in Toronto (but pretends he's in Montreal). So to be able to put together a two-hour live special, with Mike Le Couteur in studio, Richard Dagenais at the Place des Festivals and Domenic Fazioli along the parade route, must have been quite the feat for this tiny group. CFCF's special may have been technically better, but was half an hour shorter and replaced their noon newscast.

CBMT (CBC Montreal) didn't air a parade special. I can't remember the last time this once-great station aired a live local special event. A CBC camera was on site with local sports reporter Sonali Karnick, but it was only used to give some live hits for CBC News Network. Online, they had a webcast of the parade and party without any commentary or interviews.

I went over to the all-news and all-sports networks: CBC News Network, CTV News Channel, TSN and Rogers Sportsnet. I figured they all had good reason to cover this parade. It's not like anything else breaking was going on at noon on a Wednesday.

You know what I found? Nothing.

CBC and CTV's news channels were going through the motions, recapping the latest headlines. TSN was recapping the previous night's Maple Leafs game, followed by a broadcast of competitive darts.

Darts!

TSN, which two days earlier had been crowing about how it had 4.94 million viewers for the Grey Cup game (a further 1.1 million was watching on RDS), just short of the previous year's record, apparently thought that showing SportsCentre and darts was more interesting than a Grey Cup victory parade.

What annoys me most was how little effort would have been required to give this a national audience. Nothing important would have to have been pre-empted. And because CTV owns CFCF, CTVNC and TSN, they could have simply had the national news and sports channels take the CFCF feed for an hour and a half and shown the parade nationally as Montreal viewers were watching it. There are anglophone Montreal expats across the country, not to mention simple fans of the Canadian Football League (surely that 4.94 million wasn't all Roughriders fans, considering Saskatchewan's total population is just over 1 million).

CBC would have needed more effort, but even then it already had plenty of resources in place. RDI was covering the parade live, and Sonali Karnick was in place with a CBC camera and live feed. Would it have really been that much more difficult to just air the common parade feed and provide some colour commentary?

Montréal = français, Toronto = English

On the French side, it was the opposite problem: The cable channels had parade specials, but the local channels didn't air them. LCN, RDI and RDS all had specials lasting more than two hours. Radio-Canada and TVA stuck with regular programming, which at noon means newscasts. Brief stories about the parade, but no live special. V and Télé-Québec, well, they don't have news departments so I didn't exactly expect much from them.

Part of me wants to see the Toronto Argonauts win the next Grey Cup so I can contrast the coverage plans. Does anyone seriously believe that CTVNC, CBCNN, TSN, CP24, Sportsnet and the rest wouldn't give this wall-to-wall coverage if it was in Toronto? And, conversely, that LCN, RDI and RDS would all ignore it completely if it was anywhere other than Montreal (or maybe Quebec City)?

LCN, RDS and CTV are privately-owned networks, so they can do whatever they want. If they want to be homers for the cities their broadcast studios are located in, if they have little interest in covering any event that's not happening within 50 kilometres of their offices, if they want to be de facto regional news networks, that's up to them.

But CBC is publicly-financed, and their geographical bias really annoys me, particularly with RDI, which can often be mistaken for an all-Montreal-news channel. I realize that a large part of its market lives within the greater Montreal area, but as a national French-language news channel it has a mandate to cover the entire country, not just wherever they can get to on a tank of gas from the Maison Radio-Canada.

CBC should have been there. And if the Roughriders had won, RDI should have been in Regina.

You might think this is a silly discussion to have over something as trivial as a Grey Cup victory parade, but it's a symptom of a larger problem. We see the same decisions being made during municipal and provincial elections, or provincial budgets, or just about any other prescheduled major local news events. During the last municipal election in 2009, the local anglo stations couldn't be bothered to cut into their American programming, so updates were limited to their websites, the 11pm newscasts and the occasional news break during commercials. The last provincial election was better, but there was more national interest in that vote. That press conference of Alouettes president Larry Smith announcing his resignation? Live on RDI and LCN, but all but ignored by CTV News Channel and CBC News Network.

As local stations get gutted of their resources and national networks continue to figure out ways of centralizing the basic functions of broadcasting, the ability to do special event programming is severely reduced. And as those same network bigwigs continue to put competitive interests above their duties to serve national populations, these geographical biases from our national news and sports networks will only get worse.

You can re-watch the parade specials (or parts thereof) online from CFCF, CKMI, RDS (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10) and RDI

Alouettes parade to get live coverage on TV

Fagstein — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:19:03 +0000

Championships in Montreal are more rare than we'd like them to be, yet this year we've had two - the Impact and the Alouettes. (And with the Habs being shut out at home to the Leafs, a trifecta seems unlikely.)

Wednesday sees the players and fans meet to celebrate for the victory parade down Ste. Catherine St., from Crescent to Jeanne-Mance starting at 11:40am.

Surprisingly, despite it being a local event (and one coming with little advance notice), there's going to be actual live coverage of it by local television.

Here's what's been announced:

Global (CKMI) will have live coverage from 11:30am to 1:30pm (Mike LeCouteur with The Gazette's Herb Zurkowsky and the Q's Ken Connors). It will also be streaming the parade live at globalmontreal.com
CTV (CFCF) will have live coverage from noon to 1:30pm, preempting its entire noon newscast. Sports reporters will be in the crowd, Mutsumi Takahashi and Randy Tieman at the end of the route. Lori Graham and Todd van der Heyden will be in the parade itself. It will livestream the entire parade at montreal.ctv.ca
CBC (CBMT) has no announced live coverage
Radio-Canada will not have live TV coverage on the main network, but will be livestreaming the parade at radio-canada.ca/sports
TVA and V have nothing announced as far as live coverage
RDI will have a live special from 11:30am to 1:30pm. Simon Durivage hosts with Marc André Masson, Jean St-Onge, Jacinthe Taillon, Antoine Deshaies and former Als player Bruno Heppell
LCN has not announced anything, but expect it to give good coverage to the parade
RDS will have live parade coverage from 11:30am to 2pm (it's the only network to actually change its electronic and online schedule to reflect the coverage) with David Arsenault, Marc Labrecque, Pierre Vercheval and Denis Casavant.
TSN has not announced anything, but considering their current plan for noon is World Championship Darts...

So that's four channels carrying live TV specials (CFCF, CKMI, RDI and RDS), and three sources for live online streaming, at least.

Maybe what's surprising is that, in this local TV death spiral, I find this surprising.

(Of course, you won't be watching the parade on TV because you'll be on Ste. Catherine St. celebrating, right?)

UPDATE: CTV Montreal and RDS have archived footage of the parade and party afterward. The Gazette and Rue Frontenac have put together artisty videos.

What if we stopped subsidizing local TV?

Fagstein — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:11:05 +0000

One of the arguments used against conventional television broadcasters in Canada - CTVglobemedia and my corporate overlord Canwest especially - in this whole fee-for-carriage debate is that they're both giant megacorporations and own a slew of cash-cow specialty television channels.

The broadcasters counter that they can't take profits from one part of the business and subsidize another.

As much as the knee-jerk consumer reaction might be that this is exactly what they should do, they're right. It makes no business sense for a profit-generating enterprise to not be generating profit. If conventional television doesn't make money, then subsidy or no subsidy, it will eventually be shut down.

CTV and Canwest purchased their specialty arsenals knowing the conventional model was going down the toilet. If it came down to it, neither would have any trouble shutting down their entire conventional network and moving completely to specialty channels. But conventional TV is still making money (only just) and they're betting on a fee-for-carriage solution to get them more.

But as much as the broadcasters are arguing against subsidizing their own operations, they have no trouble demanding exactly that from cable and satellite broadcast distribution companies. Not only do they benefit directly from the new Local Programming Improvement Fund in small markets, but their expensive Canadian dramas and comedies get large subsidies from the Canadian Media Fund, formerly the Canadian Television Fund. Both of these funds get their income from cable and satellite companies.

And cross-subsidization is what the conventional broadcasters do for local programming. In fact, even though they constantly whine that the "model is broken", the basic premise of using profits from reselling U.S. programming to fund Canadian and local programming remains. This isn't done because CTV and Global have hearts of gold and see the value in homegrown television, it's because the CRTC forces them to air this kind of programming as conditions of license.

The result is that the broadcasters see a negative value in original programming. They juggle the schedule to just barely pass CRTC-imposed minimums. They match U.S. networks for as many popular shows as possible to take advantage of lucrative simultaneous substitution rules that put their ads over the U.S. feeds. Original Canadian programming is left to fill the less desirable holes. CTV's Flashpoint, considered a huge success in Canadian drama, is thrown into the TV dead zone of 10pm Fridays. Most other programming consists of cheap Canadian franchises of U.S. or other foreign formats (usually reality shows). ET Canada, Project Runway Canada, Cash Cab, So You Think You Can Dance Canada, Canadian Idol, Canada's Worst Driver/Handyman, the list goes on. They're cheap and low-risk and don't require any original thought.

Local minimum

For local programming, it's the same deal: cheap and formulaic. Most stations outside of the huge markets produce the absolute minimum of local programming, even at the recently reduced levels of 7 or 14 hours a week depending on market size. And in most markets, there is zero local programming outside of local newscasts.

In Montreal, Global's CKMI produces only 7.5 hours of local programming a week, all of it with an anchor in a small green room and computer-generated set. It adds 7 hours of repeats of local news to fill the rest of its mandate. CBC's CBMT isn't much better, with 500 minutes (8h 20min) of news each week (a 90-minute newscast that repeats the same stories over and over again, and a 10-minute late-night newscast that includes 75 seconds of advertising). CTV's CFCF has just over 16 hours a week of local programming, all of it newscasts.

It gets worse. Those local newscasts aren't all local. As I studied previously, much of the local newscasts for all three networks consist of prepackaged reports from national reporters in Ottawa, Toronto and elsewhere. Only about half an hour of an hour-long newscast is local news. That, combined with the fact that newscasts repeat the same story during the day, means each station might produce only a handful of stories each day (figues based on the same newscasts studied this summer):

At CFCF, an average of 7-8 reporters producing about 15 minutes of local news packages a day
At CBMT, 4-5 reporters producing about 10 minutes of local news packages a day
At CKMI, 3-4 reporters producing about 8 minutes of local news packages a day

Perhaps these numbers are unfair. They don't include sit-down interviews during CFCF's news at noon. They don't include sports news and weather. They don't include special features on the weekend that CFCF used to replace Entertainment Spotlight and SportsNight 360. And they don't include CKMI's half-hour Focus Montreal show.

But let's set those aside for a moment (we'll get back to them). When we focus on the actual news part of those local newscasts, which we're told is the most important part of local TV (since it's the only thing they really have left), I'm tempted to ask: What would we lose if these stations simply disappeared from the airwaves?

What's at stake?

I watched the evening and late-night newscasts from all three networks on Friday night (flipping between them, so I might have missed a story or two), and I struggled to find any original journalism that would not have been done had it not been for that particular TV journalist. There were stories on swine flu and the Agence métropolitaine de transport, which are being heavily covered by all local media. There was the crime and justice reporting that everyone else has too. One story was clearly re-reported from the morning newspaper (without credit, of course).

It's not that the journalists are lazy, or that they're not doing their jobs. They all work very hard. Newspapers have no more claim to a government press release than the TV station does. More journalists means more voices, more eyes, hopefully more angles. And there is plenty you get from video that you can never get from audio or print.

But if the TV stations disappeared tomorrow, these stories would still get reported. We'd still find out how to get our swine flu vaccinations. We'd still find out what the weather is, or how the Habs did in their last game, or who's been arrested in what cold case. Exclusives on TV are few and far between (CFCF's special reports during sweeps notwithstanding). It's a direct result of the lack of editorial staff. There's just so much you can do with fewer than 10 reporters in a newsroom.

Those sit-down interviews, at least, are a bit more interesting. They're not as hard-hitting as a two-minute package done by a reporter on deadline, but sometimes you can learn something from them that the newspapers and radio might have missed.

But is that glimmer of information worth being forced to pay for? Is protecting this a national crisis that the CRTC has to step in to stop?

Local TV to care about

It's not that I want local TV to disappear. It's that I want the networks to care about them. And it's clear that they don't. No matter what happens, so long as local news is a negative-profit proposition, the networks will reduce their influence on the balance sheet as much as possible. This, I argue, is a broken model, and one the "Local TV Matters" proposal does nothing to fix.

Perhaps I'm being naive and idealistic, but I think something would come in and fill the gap if CFCF and CKMI were to shut down tomorrow. (I leave out CBC since it's not a private broadcaster and hence shouldn't be concerned with making money in the first place.) Print publications (which, as David Olive points out, don't get government subsidies) are increasingly using video to report stories that they think have a strong video angle. Most of those videos are God-awful, but they will start improving. Small independent video production houses could step up production and move into more serious journalism. And local cable access channels like VOX (which, by the way, are also subsidized by the cable companies) could become a destination for people looking for local news on television.

If the entrepreneurial spirit, instead of CRTC mandates, drove local news, we might see a lot of changes for the better. They might stop chasing the same stories that are being reported by everyone else and look to contribute something original to the conversation. They might value long-form original journalism over two-minute packages repeating what they read in the newspaper. They might have more interviews and less stock footage B-roll. And they might look seriously at having their product available on multiple platforms (neither of the three anglo stations have all their newscasts available for streaming online, none provide the choice between watching the entire newscast or individual stories, none have newscasts available for podcast download, and none are available on Videotron's video-on-demand service). They might see outside the constrictive box of what a newscast is supposed to look like. And they might try to produce inexpensive but watchable local programming.

Sure, it would suck balls at first. A lot of good TV reporters would be out of work (or forced to take low-paying jobs with no benefits or union protection), and the community would have a void of voices before someone stepped in to fill it (unless an existing station decided it really wanted to produce a local newscast for profit). A lot of the professionalism would be gone, replaced by young ambitious people with no clue what they're doing.

Maybe the result would look like VOX, a channel nobody watches. Maybe the result would be similar to the online local video productions that nobody watches either. Or maybe it might be interesting enough, different enough, to catch people's attention and make someone modestly rich.

In Hamilton, the new owners of CHCH are betting on the power of local news, expanding local newscasts far beyond what the CRTC requires. I certainly wouldn't put any good money on their chances of success (even if they are ultimately successful they're going to lose a lot of money at first), but even that slim chance of a workable business model is reason for hope, because if they do by some miracle turn a profit we could see that model quickly replicated across the country (and maybe around the world).

On the francophone side, Quebecor has its LCN all-news cable network, which is supported through subscriber fees and advertising, but is discretionary on digital cable and satellite. Though I'm sure TVA would protest otherwise, it's heavily focused on Montreal, the centre of the francophone media universe. And it obviously shares resources with the conventional TVA television network and news team. But it's a private enterprise, and one Quebecor thinks can make a profit.

Even under the best of scenarios, a deregulated local television landscape would probably have at most one local news operation, a reduction from the current three. But at least it would turn a profit, whether from advertising, subscriber fees or both, without any taxes, handouts or subsidies.

And we would care about it. And advertisers would care about it. And its journalists and producers would care about it. And its owners (and their shareholders) would care about it.

Because it would matter.

A dose of reality in the TV debate

Fagstein — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:47:04 +0000

Half-page ads from Global Montreal appearing in The Gazette

CKMI, Global Montreal (formerly Global Quebec) has been heavily advertising the fact that it's now finally on the Bell TV (formerly Bell ExpressVu) network, on channel 234.

Station manager Karen Macdonald says that after 12 years on the air, CKMI finally got added to the dial in late August. CFCF and CBMT have enjoyed places on the dial for years now, and this absence has always been a sticking point for the station. So, she says, "we are very happy."

The reason is obvious: Quebec has a large number of satellite TV subscribers, and this move will give the station a much broader reach, which would translate into higher advertising revenues.

Bell TV isn't paying them a dime to "sell" their signal. They're stealing it. And Global couldn't be happier.

I bring this up to point out the ridiculousness of the argument from the Local TV Matters people, led by CTV, that cable and satellite companies are "stealing" the signals of conventional broadcasters. In fact, the CRTC requires them to carry those signals, and many (especially satellite) would love nothing better than to get rid of conventional television stations from small markets whose spaces on the dial could be given to more lucrative specialty TV programming.

CTV et al argue what they want is "negotiation for value", which is different from a mandatory fee for carriage. Supposedly, this means that the cable and satellite people would get in a room with each broadcaster and hammer out a fee for their signals. For such negotiation to work, each side would need a bargaining chip. So CTV seems to have accepted that cable and satellite companies could choose not to pay for TV stations if they find the price demand too high.

I'm highly skeptical of this. If the Global ad at the top of this post shows anything, it's that being on cable and satellite brings in a lot of money. Are we seriously supposed to accept that they would just sit there and accept if cable and satellite companies decide they don't want to pay and cut the stations off from 90% of their viewers?

There is little incentive for a cable or satellite company to carry a local conventional television signal. Hook up a pair of rabbit ears and you can get it for free. And since cable and satellite companies don't charge for conventional television (and CTV wants to make sure that they couldn't if this system were put in place), there's every reason to believe that the negotiated price for carriage will be zero or close to it. If broadcasters balk, it's no skin off the cable companies' backs. They can simply delete the station from their lineups and add another specialty channel with non-stop Seinfeld reruns they can charge $2 a month for.

But, you argue, this negotiation system works in the U.S. And it does. Broadcasters there have the option of getting mandatory carriage for free or negotiating a price with cable companies. But U.S. conventional broadcasters have original programming you can't get anywhere else. Canadian conventional broadcasters buy U.S. programming and rebroadcast it. Unless blocking U.S. channels is part of this plan, Canadians could tune into stations from Burlington, and all we'd miss aside from local news are shows like So You Think You Can Dance Canada.

I have sympathy for conventional broadcasters. They're stuck in an unfair situation, competing against specialty channels that have no local programming requirements and provide the bare minimum of original programming, while being able to charge a fee and collect ad revenue. According to the CRTC, their profit margins sank from 5% ($113 million) in 2007 to 0% ($8 million) in 2008, a 93% decrease. They're right when they say that the model is broken.

But the arguments they've been making are ludicrous. This latest one suggests that cable companies take 70% of cable bills and "pocket" it as pure profit. That's ridiculous on its face.

According to the CRTC's latest communications monitoring report, which is a far more reliable source than industry press releases, telecommunications companies' profit margins are about 40%, but the margins from television broadcasting distribution are much lower than that. Cable made 28% profit in 2008, and direct-to-home satellite made 19%, both increases from the previous year. Those are very healthy profits, but not nearly as healthy as those from the telecommunications sector - telephone, Internet, wireless and other non-broadcasting activities that bring in a lot more money.

Like the broadcasters, the cable and satellite companies have banded together and launched a campaign filled with half-truths. They say that conventional broadcasters made $400 million in profit last year, which is about 50 times more than what the CRTC says the industry made. When asked where those figures come from, the Stop the TV Tax people point to a quarterly report from Canwest and an opinion piece about CTV, neither of which corroborate the figure. They also argue that their own margins are "very slim", which is total bullshit.

Of the two campaigns, CTV's is definitely more active, slicker, and probably better funded. (Imagine if they took all the money they're sinking into these campaigns and used it to improve programming - maybe Canadians would start watching again.) CTV's campaign is also much more ridiculous and juvenile. They literally have a guy in a cow costume touring the country. They've created two professionally-produced music videos and five hard-sell TV ads and they're airing all of them on their networks, particularly CTV's specialty channels (note the irony there). When Dave Carroll's music video launched, they took five minutes out of local newscasts to play it in its entirety, with no analysis, no opportunity to respond, and no commentary. An infomercial during a newscast.

CTV's latest "PSA" gives you an idea of just how delusional they've become. It compares the actions of broadcasters and broadcast distributors to a carrot and a stick. The broadcasters want to keep local TV and bring happiness to bunnies, while the cable and satellite companies are "threatening punishment" by saying they'll pass on charges to the consumer and strangle those bunnies.

But threatening punishment is exactly what CTV is doing. Their latest threat is to shut down 10 of 11 stations in Ontario, leaving only their profit-making station in Toronto. They've already shut down CKX-TV in Brandon, something they're reminding us about over and over again. Makes you wonder if CTV might have wanted to shut down that station in order to improve its bargaining position.

I agree the model is broken, and that cable and satellite companies are making too much money (because there is insufficient competition, not because they're stealing signals). We need to re-examine the entire system, and come up with a structure that's fair to all parties, rewarding local and original programming. But this debate is too serious to be done via advertising campaigns featuring guys in cow costumes.

The deadline for comments to the CRTC on this issue is Nov. 2. At least we can take some comfort in the fact that the campaigns should end after that.

The Rest of Quebec

Fagstein — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:31:55 +0000

Patrick Lagacé has a column this week about how people in the Rest of Quebec hate Montreal. How they judge everything based on a comparison with Montreal. How they judge themselves by whether they're better than Montreal.

Even though I'm a life-long Montrealer, I see where they're coming from.

And I point at least one finger at the media.

When Global Television's CKMI-TV regional station in Quebec City officially became a Montreal station on Sept. 1, I understood the reasoning (mainly to gain access to local advertising, but also to acknowledge the de facto change to a Montreal station), but I was also a bit disappointed.

At its peak, Global Quebec had an active Quebec City station and a bureau in the Eastern Townships. The only other anglophone television stations in Quebec were both local stations based in Montreal (with at most a reporter at the National Assembly). I had wondered if, instead of focusing on its largest cities, Global could set itself apart from the other two by being a truly regional network, by covering the far-away communities ignored buy CTV and CBC. It would, effectively, be the local station for anglos in Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, Gaspé, and even some places in the Montreal metropolitan area that the city's reporters hesitate to venture to.

But the economics of that proposition apparently don't hold. It's expensive to cover such a large area, and the anglophone population outside Montreal is simply too small and too widespread to be able to create that critical mass of loyal viewership.

Instead, Global concluded that it would be better as the #3 station in Montreal than the #1 station elsewhere in Quebec.

(Of course, this logic applies only to local programming, of which CKMI and CBC's CBMT produce a pathetic 7.5 hours a week. The rest would have no difference in content or reach if the station were based in Montreal or St-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!)

And today in Montreal...

It's easy to get local news as a Montrealer. Three nightly TV newscasts in English, two in French (not counting what's on TQS V). An all-news French radio station, and news/talk radio stations in both languages. Six daily newspapers, of which two are free. And, of course, blogs and online sources such as this one.

But it goes farther than that. Two all-news TV channels, Radio-Canada's RDI and Quebecor's LCN, are headquartered here. LCN is often on the TV in the newsroom because it's essentially become a Montreal local all-news channel.

If I wanted to, say, get a story about a local event in Quebec City told by local English media, I'd have to scratch my head a bit figuring out where to go. CBC has an English radio station there, but it doesn't even have a website (it piggybacks off CBC Montreal, and calls itself the Quebec Community Network). My other option is the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph, a weekly community newspaper.

In other cities in Quebec, the options for local news - in either language - become even bleaker than that. The Sherbrooke Record is the only English daily outside of Montreal. Outside of some low-budget community initiatives, there are no English news media and few French media. And much of that media contains news from the big-budget corporate headquarters of Montreal in between the bits of local flavour. Like Toronto is the media capital of Canada, Montreal is the media capital of Quebec.

What this all means is that when people outside Montreal turn on their TVs, turn on their radios, open their newspapers or go on the Internet, they're bombarded with news from Montreal, while in many cases their local news consists of gallery openings, petty crimes in police blotters, and grandmas turning 100.

One city down, 1109 to go

The big news in Montreal this week is the release of an auditor's report into a water meter contract, which led to its cancellation. That whole ordeal might not have come to light had it not been for local media and reporters like La Presse's André Noël and (I'd say especially, but perhaps that would be biased) The Gazette's Linda Gyulai (I give her the plug here because I gave her a length for her story last night and she astonishingly filed to exactly that length). Gyulai is a dedicated city hall reporter who doesn't have to spend (much) time chasing ambulances and rewriting press releases. She can focus strictly on her beat and spend days reading massive reports and digging for information.

With the exceptions of Le Soleil and the Journal de Québec in Quebec City (both of which still contain quite a bit of Montreal-produced news), few other newspapers in Quebec have such resources (and TV and radio certainly don't).

I wonder about those cities that don't have such a strong watchdog press. As I told CJAD's Ric Peterson the other day: who's watching Beaconsfield City Hall? Or Repentigny City Hall? Or St. Jerome City Hall? How many skeletons do they have in their closets because the media there consist of no-budget community papers that get all their news from press releases, or big Montreal media that swoop into town for a day or two when something big catches their attention?

Lagacé thinks the Rest of Quebec should get over its inferiority complex in constantly comparing itself to Montreal. I agree. But he should also acknowledge that he and the rest of the Montreal media are part of the problem.

UPDATE: Similar thoughts from Matthieu Dugal: "nos médias sont tiers-mondistes"

CKMI cuts News Final in half

Fagstein — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:46:37 +0000

CKMI-TV, a.k.a. Global Quebec a.k.a. Global Montreal, has cut its one-hour 11pm newscast down to 30 minutes.

"What we've heard from viewers is that at that time of day they prefer a more compact formula that provides them with all the news of the day but that they just can't stay up that late," station manager Karen Macdonald tells Fagstein. "So... Local, national and international news as well as sports and weather from 11 to 11:30 p.m."

The second half of the hour on weeknights is being filled with HGTV's Designer Guys.

The format of the condensed News Final gives about as much local stories as the previous one did. Local news makes up the first 10 minutes of the newscast. The second 10-minute segment has national and international news, plus weather (still done out of Toronto), and the final segment has sports (still done out of Vancouver) and other stories.

By the numbers

The newscast slashing comes mere days after CKMI's licence renewal, which dropped its local programming minimum from 18 hours a week to 14 (consistent with large markets across the country).

The cut drops 2.5 hours a week of original programming from the station (the weekend 11pm newscasts were already 30 minutes long). With a half-hour Evening News and half-hour News Final every day, plus the half-hour Focus Montreal once a week, CKMI is producing a grand total of 7.5 hours of original local programming a week (assuming you count local newscasts produced out of Vancouver as "local programming").

How are they filling the other 6.5 hours? Repeats.

According to the station's schedule, CKMI re-runs the Evening News and News Final the morning after at 6am and 6:30am, respectively. (Except that's not what's been happening this week. Instead, CKMI has been running News Final twice back-to-back. It's not a huge deal since the station isn't seriously trying to attract viewers at that time, and the contents of the two newscasts are mostly the same, but still.)

The morning repeats add seven hours of local programming to the broadcast schedule, bringing the total to 14.5 hours.

How local is your local TV newscast?

Fagstein — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 08:04:42 +0000

A quantitative study of Montreal's local newscasts

Next week is a pretty big one for local television. TQS becomes V, CJNT gets its new owner, Global Quebec becomes Global Montreal and CBMT expands its newscast to 90 minutes.

As Global's CKMI starts embracing the city (they've launched a campaign with anchor Jamie Orchard for us to tell them what we like about Montreal) and CBC touts how much it's expanding local news (though without any additional money or staff), CTV continues its campaign to "Save Local TV."

It's clear that all three anglo stations in Montreal are proud of their connection with the city.

But how deep does that connection go?

It doesn't go deep enough to allow for local branding. There's no "Pulse News" or "Newswatch" anymore. It's "CTV News Montreal" and "CBC News: Montreal" and "Global Quebec Evening News". Everything about the stations seems to indicate they're just duplicates of a national template with a note saying "insert local flavour here."

Nor do any of these stations provide local programming other than their newscasts. CTV cancelled its remaining non-news programs Entertainment Spotlight and SportsNight 360 last fall. Global Quebec cancelled This Morning Live in early 2008, and CBC cancelled Living Montreal earlier this year. All that's left are the newscasts (and Global's "Focus Montreal" - an interview show in which the anchor talks to a newsworthy interview subject from her anchor desk, indistinguishable from the regular newscast unless you're paying attention).

But at least the newscasts themselves are pure local programming, right?

It depends on your interpretation. I noticed a trend recently, particularly at Global, where local newscasts would take packaged TV reports from affiliated stations and national reporters and use them to fill the back end of their one-hour shows. Did this serve to give a taste of a national perspective and bring this country together, or was it a way to save on staff by replacing local news with canned filler from other stations?

To answer that, I decided to quantitatively study these newscasts the only way I knew how: I'd watch them.

Over the summer, I watched three one-hour newscasts (picked pseudo-randomly) from each of the networks, timing the length of each segment with my laptop and marking down what they were talking about. I wanted to figure out how much of the newscasts were devoted to local versus non-local news.

Here's what I found out:

This chart shows the breakdown of your average one-hour evening newscast, based off the nine newscasts I watched.

An explanation of the categories:

Advertising: This is fairly self-explanatory. It's the commercial breaks. It also includes "closed-captioning provided by" ads and network promos.
Filler: You could also call it overhead. It includes show openings and closings, banter between hosts, "coming up" previews and recaps of top stories. I also included segments on how to reach the station and, in CFCF's case, its Talkback viewer poll and accompanying street interviews.
Local news: This includes anything done by reporters at the station and briefs read by the anchor over video shot by local cameramen. Stories out of Quebec City or elsewhere in the province are also included here, as they are done by reporters or cameramen for the station.
National news: Any stories out of Ottawa, Toronto or elsewhere done for the national network, as well as local stories from other affiliated stations. Stories from network reporters based in international bureaus are also included here, as are any briefs read by the anchor over video supplied by the national network.
Wire news: Stories from CNN, NBC, ABC, BBC or other international networks. Also includes briefs read by the hosts that include video from Reuters or other wire services.
Weather and Sports are self-explanatory.

Now, playing with these numbers is a bit tricky. Do you include weather and sports as local news? (See CKMI below for why that's a problem.) What about when the anchor introduces a world news story or reads a brief? Isn't that local production even if it's not a local story?

In the categories above, I've made no distinction between introduction of stories by the anchor and the story itself.

If you want to count them separately, I'll give you this figure: 8:08. That's how much prepackaged material from national and international networks the local stations use in the average weeknight newscast. If you subtract that from the total, you get 38 out of 46 minutes being locally produced, or about 83%.

Per-station breakdown

For the purposes of this study, I chose the main hour-long newscasts by the three networks. In the cases of CFCF and CBMT, that's their 6pm newscasts. In the case of CKMI, it's their 11pm News Final. There are two reasons for this: First, it's tricky comparing a half-hour newscast to an hour-long one which tends to slow down in the second half. Second, the half-hour newscast for CKMI at 6pm follows a national newscast which already has national stories in it. Similarly, CFCF's 11:30 newscast also follows a national newscast. These three hour-long newscasts are not scheduled before or after national newscasts and therefore all have some national content in them.

Here's how it looks for each station:

CTV Montreal

Newscasts studied: May 21, May 28, June 4*

The local piece of the pie for CFCF is the largest of the three stations by a substantial margin. Adding in weather and sports, it's the only one which fills more than half the newscast with information of local interest done by local staff. This should come as no surprise as CFCF has had a one-hour newscast the longest and gets by far the strongest ratings for local news.

On the other hand, it has the most filler (if you disagree with including the Talkback segment here, that figure drops to about 8%, just below CBMT). It also offers a limited national and international perspective, essentially limiting those stories to 20-second briefs.

The only other thing worth noting is that CFCF uses a lot of live hits from reporters - having them stand in the newsroom or out on a street corner somewhere introducing a packaged report live for no particular reason. They'll do about two or three of these for each newscast.

*Note: I noticed after the fact that these all happen to be Thursdays. CFCF has a regular segment on Thursdays called Added Time which reviews weekly soccer news. This appeared in two of the three studied newscasts and may have thrown off the sports figure slightly.

CBC Montreal

Newscasts studied: May 27, June 2, June 15

CBC Montreal has a strong local content, but also relies on stories provided by CBC national correspondents around the country and around the world. It relies very little (if at all) on local stories from affiliated CBC stations, and uses very little content from outside the Corp.

CBMT also has the most weather as part of its newscast, probably because weatherman Frank Cavallaro was such a steal for them last year and he's the closest thing Michel Godbout had to a co-host.

On the other hand, the station also has a lot of filler, mostly due to the fact that it's constantly teasing upcoming stories. You'll hear "coming up" at least five times during the newscast (plus a recap of the top story in the latter half of the hour), taking up three and a half minutes of airtime, or enough to air a whole other story and then some. This doesn't include the newscast's intro, which also consists mainly of previewing stories in the newscast, so add another 30-45 seconds for that.

CBMT also (perhaps unsurprisingly) has the least amount of sports content. One of the three newscasts limited its sports news to a single packaged story about the Phoenix Coyotes and a promotion for Hockey Night in Canada.

It's unclear how this will all change when it moves to its new 90-minute newscast (or three 30-minute newscasts back to back). UPDATE: My analysis of the new 90-minute CBC Montreal newscast.

Global Quebec

Newscasts studied: May 20, June 9, July 6

The figures from Global Quebec have a number of asterisks. First, of course, is that it's owned by the parent company of my employer.

The smallest and cheapest of Montreal's three anglo stations is heavily reliant on the national network. Its newscast is arguably not even produced here. Instead, packages from local reporters and lineups from local producers are sent to Vancouver where they're integrated with green-screen video of the local anchor and turned into a newscast there to be beamed back to Montreal's transmitter.

Its reliance on news from the Global network and other Global stations is reflected in the high number of national news stories. Other Global stations (notably in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver) have much larger local news staff and offer much more local programming, and so provide many more stories of not-strictly-local interest (particularly health and human interest stories). About 13 minutes of prepackaged material from Global network reporters and other global stations is used in the average newscast, compared to only eight minutes of packages from local reporters.

The other major asterisk involves weather and sports, both of which are done by people outside Montreal. The station's budget is so tight it can't afford its own weather or sportscasters, so it borrows them from other stations. The weather segment is pre-taped with the weather anchor from Global Ontario (usually Anthony Farnell, who has some connection to this city at least), while the sports segment is done by someone from Global B.C. In both cases, the segments involve chats with the local anchor and the segment itself is specific to Montreal (local weather, local sports scores). Whether this qualifies as local news is up to your interpretation (and, eventually, the CRTC's).

On the other hand, CKMI is light on filler. Host banter is negligible, and the "coming up" segments are short and infrequent.

Analysis

The results should probably not be all that surprising, and seems consistent with the budget and staff levels of each station. And because each newscast is expected to stand alone (they're not matched with national newscasts just before or just after), you expect national and international news to be included.

But is it fair to credit these stations for the entire hour as local news?

I'll leave discussion of that to you.

Inside Global’s CKMI-46

Fagstein — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:06:08 +0000

The CKMI studio features an anchor's desk, a chair and a lot of green wall

Earlier this month, staff at The Gazette got an invitation from our new neighbours: Global TV. In order to save money (and face the reality of a declining staff), The Gazette reduced its footprint at 1010 Ste. Catherine St. W. and moved its marketing and reader service departments. Canwest in turn moved Global Quebec from its previous home at the TVA building at 1600 de Maisonneuve Blvd. E. into the vacated space.

I couldn't pass up an opportunity to attend an open house for a TV station (I went to CFCF's open house in May and I saw CBC's Montreal studios when I was an intern there in 2004), so I went downtown on my day off and brought my camera with me.

The station's logo is incomplete since it will be changing names next week

The location isn't all that's changing. This summer, Canwest got the OK from the CRTC to change the license of CKMI from a Quebec City-based regional station to a Montreal-based local station. (The history is a bit complex, but in a nutshell Global bought CKMI, which was a Quebec City station, and turned it into a regional station covering Quebec, with bureaus and transmitters in Montreal and Sherbrooke. Over the past few years, the presence outside of Montreal has essentially vanished - now only a reporter at the National Assembly - to the point where it's already a de facto Montreal station.)

The main advantage of this change is that finally it will gain access to local advertising, an important source of revenue, and one that has basically been dominated by CFCF-12.

And so, on Sept. 1, Global Quebec officially becomes Global Montreal. Those ads you may have seen with anchor Jamie Orchard telling us what she loves about Montreal are part of this.

The studio

Anchor Jamie Orchard tells guests about the magic of the green screen

Global's studio is a small room with only a desk and lots of green. It's a "virtual" set, which is apparently all the rage in Europe. Everything outside of the desk, chair and anchor, is computer-simulated. The glass wall, flickering computer and TV screens, giant TV showing graphics related to a story, are all inserted digitally. Camera movements are controlled by computer which adjusts the animation accordingly, giving a smooth, realistic background that really does look like a studio.

On one hand, this means sets are cheap to produce and can be changed across the country in an instant. On the other hand, it can give the impression of being fake sometimes. And it brings up an ethical question: If photo manipulation is so scandalous in print, why is such video manipulation considered OK in television news? Isn't it dishonest to show a newsroom behind an anchor's desk that doesn't actually exist?

The problem extends further than the virtual set. The weather and sports anchors are based in Toronto and Vancouver, respectively, but give presentations from a Montreal perspective that imply they're in Montreal (no mention of their actual location is ever given). It's a slippery slope from there.

Marks on the floor and wall give directions to anchors

If you look at the floor here you'll see a box marked out with light green tape. This is the zone anchors must limit themselves to for purposes of lighting and focus. On the wall on the top right, a small mark notes where they're supposed to look when chatting with what appears to us to be a TV screen showing their sportscaster in B.C.

One of the things about dealing with far-away producers is lag. There's a two-second delay round-trip between Montreal and Vancouver, which means Orchard has to start introducing the next story just before the last one has finished. This took quite a bit of getting used to, she said, but now it's second-nature. The odd, awkward silences you see with substitute anchors just after a packaged report has completed is explained by this effect.

View from behind the anchor's desk

This is what you'd see at 6pm if you were Jamie Orchard. Two computer-controlled cameras, two monitors, a laptop and a lot of bright lights. Because this is a repurposed office, getting proper lighting in here was tricky. Ceilings in TV studios are usually much higher. They had to strip the ceiling right up to the beams, and install more lights than you'd usually find. But it works.

Under the anchor desk: Not much to see here

A floor light covered in green paper lights up the bottom of the desk.

The anchor's desk. Those things on the left are wireless microphones for the anchor and her guests.

A giant box allows the camera to move horizontally and vertically as programmed by the computer

Not only are the cameras computer-controlled, but they're controlled out of Vancouver, which handles most things that used to be done out of local control rooms. The people in Vancouver handle the cueing of prepared packages, add the super-imposed graphics that identify who's speaking, direct the anchors and all the other stuff involved with news production.

The idea behind this change was to maximize reuse of staff. Instead of a control room handling only a single half-hour or hour-long newscast a day, they do four or five. Taking advantage of the different time zones, Global needs only four control centres (Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver) to direct newscasts across the country.

Of course, this meant a significant loss of jobs for technical staff, which the union is still trying to fight. It tried to argue at CKMI's license renewal hearing that because it's produced out of Vancouver, the local newscast no longer qualifies as a local production, and therefore the station is violating its terms of license. Canwest countered that all editorial decisions are made in Montreal. The CRTC allowed the station its one-year renewal and said it would revisit the issue.

Production

The closest thing Montreal has to master control is all within this picture

This is all that's left at master control, partly as a result of the centralization in Vancouver and partially because everything is now electronic.

Old-fashioned really expensive video equipment

A monitor shows various video feeds from TV, satellite, studio cameras and editing booths

The station attached to this monitor can be used for things like downloading interviews or other video shot in other cities, which can be edited into local packages and are then sent back to Vancouver for broadcast.

Paul Cormier is a technical producer, one of the few technicians left in Montreal

Lineup for the 6 o'clock news

The lineup, being an editorial matter, is done out of Montreal, then sent to Vancouver for the staff there to turn into a newscast. Short items are added at the end of the newscast that can be dropped if it goes too long, though most of it is very meticulously timed.

A microphone sits at the end of a hallway.

A closeup view of the voice-over microphone.

This microphone is used mainly by reporters doing voice-overs for packages. I'm told it's directional enough that it doesn't pick up noise from adjacent rooms.

Makeup room across from the studio

The makeup room has two chairs, more than enough when there's never more than two people in studio at the same time.

An editing booth

Not much to say about the editing booths, where reporters package their stories. One thing I found interesting is that, because it's all electronic, producers can monitor packages as they're being produced.

Dozens of cables carry data between various points of the station.

Engineering has lots of little boxes with lots of little connectors and things.

Promotional videos are created out of this room

The advertising and sales people always have it better. Case in point: this spacious office is where promotions are created. They're usually voiced by Orchard or by Global's national voice man, who's dubbed the "voice of God"

The newsroom

The newsroom in all its cubicular glory

By any standard, CKMI's newsroom is tiny. There are less than a dozen desks for reporters, and that includes national reporter Mike Armstrong and entertainment reporter Natasha Gargiulo.

A wall near the entrance shows pictures of the permanent reporting staff

Global's actual staff is very small. The station relies on many regular freelancers to fill its newscast.

A reporter's desk (in this case, Domenic Fazioli)

I was a bit surprised how clean reporters' desks were. Then again, they were having guests over.

Jamie Orchard's newsroom desk

Wish I could offer you something scandalous about Jamie Orchard's desk, but it's just too neat.

A picture of CTV cameraman Hugh Haugland

I saw a few of these cards scattered around. (I've also seen them at CFCF.) Haugland died this month on the job in a helicopter crash. The local anglo media community being as tight-knit as it is (Orchard's husband, for example, works at CFCF), the loss didn't just affect people at CTV.

A giant clock in the newsroom ensures nobody ever misses deadline (well, in theory anyway)

That is one massive clock.

Well, we all know where Global gets its news from (*cough*)

A note attached to monitors reminds reporters when deadline is.

The old "on air" sign, always a must-have

I'm a celebrity

Though I was taking pictures with what could pass for a professional photojournalist's camera (one or two people originally thought I was a photographer for the paper), I went through the tour mostly inconspicuous.

I was about to grab some free food and leave when Orchard walked down the hall in my direction.

"Are you Steve Faguy?"

Shit! I've been discovered! Run!

Actually, we had a pretty good conversation, and she was quite cordial, even with all the things I've said about her station (and her). Through that conversation I learned that I'm read much more among local media types than I'd originally thought. (Hi guys!) That realization happens quite often, and yet it surprises me every time.

A bad situation

Like any good leader, Orchard argued the case for her hard-working reporters and staff, saying that they're doing the best they can. I actually don't disagree with this, and I explained to her (as I'll explain to all you now) that I don't blame the station's troubles on its staff. It's clearly been dealt a bad hand ever since it launched in 1997:

Until now it has had no access to local advertising.
It's not carried on satellite, which is particularly problematic in Quebec because of its above-normal satellite subscriber base. Many people who live here couldn't watch the newscasts if they wanted to.
It entered a market long dominated by a CTV station with exceptionally high viewer loyalty. It's the third station in a market of less than a million anglophones.
Ratings numbers don't accurately reflect how many francophone viewers watch the station, artificially deflating its viewer count.
Its budget is far too small to be able to counteract any of these problems with a large amount of high-quality programming.

Some of those can be blamed on Canwest. Others on the CRTC, satellite companies or bad decisions made 12 years ago. And while the station is not totally blameless, it is working with one hand tied behind its back.

Irony

Feeling a bit guilty that I had perhaps judged the station and its new green-screen studio too harshly (Orchard said she too was skeptical but eventually came around to the idea as a way of being able to focus a tight budget on local programming), I watched the newscast that night at 6pm.

At about 6:15, suddenly I saw a Toronto city life show begin. Did I miss something? Had the newscast been cut in half? Did they not have time with this open house going on to produce a full 30-minute newscast?

After what seemed like an eternity but was actually just under five minutes, the program abruptly cut to Orchard who apologized for the error made at master control. The lost time cut the newscast significantly, from its usual 24 minutes to about 19:30. You can see the complete newscast here, with the offending program cut out but with Orchard's apology intact.

Once again, this was a matter of the local station suffering for a problem that wasn't its fault.

I wondered, looking at that, whether it would have happened in the same way with a local master control. Sure, someone could have flipped the wrong switch or pressed the wrong button, but would it have taken four and a half minutes for a local master control to realize there was something wrong?

The ultimate betrayal

Though Orchard made it clear that she didn't hold a grudge and she accepts criticism, I also learned that people can get the wrong impression from my criticisms sometimes. I know everyone works hard, and they do their best under the circumstances to put out good programming.

I try to keep my criticisms constructive (or at least amusing), but even then I'm willing to accept the kinds of errors and missteps that happen on a regular basis. (I've made enough of them myself.)

But there's one thing I can't accept, and it goes to the heart of viewers' trust in this station:

Domenic Fazioli is a Bruins fan

Your eyes are not deceiving you. That's a Bruins mousepad, and a Bruins puck under the monitor, and CKMI reporter Domenic Fazioli on the left.

I asked Fazioli later by email about this disturbing paraphernalia, and he was unapologetic:

Yes

Proud to be a bruins fan.

I have no words to describe the outrage I'm feeling, so I'll leave it to you: Is this a firing offence, or should he just be suspended until he reorients his loyalties?

Global Quebec's Evening News airs every day at 6pm, with a one-hour News Final every night at 11pm (half an hour on weekends). Focus Montreal, a weekly interview program with Jamie Orchard shot mainly in the same studio, airs Saturdays at 6:30pm and repeats Sundays at 8:30am. You can subscribe to the weekday evening newscasts and the weekly Focus Montreal show through your RSS reader.

Global Quebec becomes Global Montreal on Sept. 1.

Global Quebec’s new website

Fagstein — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:14:16 +0000

GlobalQuebec.com

After redesigning its newspaper websites, Canwest has done the same with its Global network, giving each station its own proper domain name and doing lots of Web 2.0 stuff like SEOed URLs and using bluish grey everywhere.

Global Quebec's site still takes virtually all its news content directly from The Gazette (which in turn links to Global videos for major stories).

CRTC Roundup: They saved local TV!

Fagstein — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:33:05 +0000

Well, not quite.

The CRTC on Monday decided to hike the fee (temporarily, at least) for its Local Programming Improvement Fund from 1% to 1.5% of cable and satellite provider revenues (revenues, not profits), which would give broadcasters an additional $32 million a year ($100 million total in the new fund) to devote to local programming.

You can see all its arguments in the official decision. It's less than the 2.5% that a parliamentary committee suggested in June.

It's a victory for broadcasters and a defeat for cable and satellite companies (and probably consumers). CBC is happy. Canwest is happy. CTV is happy. Bell is sad. Cogeco is sad (PDF). Rogers is sad. Videotron is sad. Bill Brioux is annoyed.

Especially when you consider how much the television industry is already subsidized through mandatory fees from cable and satellite companies (now 6.5% of their revenues) and funding from the government, all without us having a say in programming, you have to wonder whether it's all worth it.

Best of all, the broadcasters say they need more.

The CRTC also released its conditions of license for one-year renewals for the major networks:

Many of the decisions below come from these renewals.

Finally, the CRTC has kicked the fee-for-carriage can (which was in turn kicked to them by a parliamentary committee) and other issues down the road to a hearing in September, where it will discuss that and other issues affecting broadcast television. The indication, however, is that the CRTC supports a fee-for-carriage idea, provided the fees are negotiated with broadcasters and cable/satellilte companies.

Harmonized local programming minimums

And how much more local programming will we be getting for all this extra money? We won't! In fact, we're getting less! Thanks to new "harmonized" minimum requirements, most stations in the country will now have to produce less local programming.

For English-language stations, the minimums will be 14 hours a week for large markets (Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver), and seven hours a week for smaller markets (including Halifax, Hamilton and Victoria), with some exceptions. This will mean reductions for CKMI (18 hours a week) and CFCF (15.5 hours a week). Stations with really high requirements might see massive cuts and layoffs. CHCH Hamilton, for example, has dropped from 36.5 hours to only seven, though they're going to make a go at more local programming, at least in the short term.

For French-language stations (effectively just TVA since TQS has a special exception), it's on a case-by-case basis:

CFCM (Quebec City): 18 hours a week, down from 21
CFER (Rimouski): 5 hours a week, up from 3:10
CJPM (Chicoutimi): 5 hours a week, up from 3:10
CHLT (Sherbrooke): 5 hours a week, up from 3:10

Independent stations owned by Radio-Nord (TVA Gatineau) and Télé Inter-Rives (SRC/TVA/TQS in Rivière du Loup, TVA in Carleton) maintain their current requirements.

Note that for French markets, only Montreal is larger than a million and is ineligible for LPIF funding.

In the same decision, the CRTC also rejected requests from broadcasters to eliminate requirements for priority programming (expensive dramas) and independent production (as opposed to in-house).

Global Quebec is now Global Montreal

After again rejecting union complaints that Global's produced-out-of-Vancouver plan violates local programming requirements for Global Quebec (not saying it wasn't in violation, only that there is "insufficient evidence" and it will "continue to monitor the situation"), the CRTC has approved a request to change CKMI from a Quebec City-based regional station to a local Montreal-based station.

CKMI-TV was once based in our provincial capital, but since it was purchased by Canwest and turned into a Global station it has effectively been headquartered in Montreal, with retransmitters in Quebec City and Sherbrooke (technically, the transmitter was in Quebec with a retransmitter, CKMI-TV-1, in Montreal). Global Quebec was licensed as a regional station, which meant it couldn't take any local Montreal advertising. The license change makes it a local station which opens up that door (as small as it is) and allows the station to compete directly with CFCF and CBMT for local advertising.

A similar move was made for CIII, which is de facto Global's Toronto station but was technically licensed to Paris, Ontario, which is west of Hamilton.

CJNT keeps ethnic minimum

A request from Canwest to relieve money-losing ethnic station CJNT Montreal of its ethnic programming requirement was denied. Canwest wanted 5 hours a week, but will be stuck at the original 13.5. Since the station is being sold, it won't sadden Canwest too much to lose this battle.

Mandatory digital transition (or not?)

The CRTC recognized that some broadcasters are lagging behind in transitioning to digital. U.S. broadcasters were forced to make the switch last month (in a deadline that was delayed from February), but Canadians have until August 2011. The CRTC's decision doesn't suggest that this deadline will change for smaller markets (though it suggests perhaps a "hybrid model" may emerge), but it does say it "expects" that major markets will make the transition. It released a list of markets larger than 300,000 it "expects" will do so without complaint, and says it will discuss the issue further in September. The list includes Montréal, Quebec, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke, Rivière-du-Loup, Saguenay, Ottawa-Gatineau, territorial and provincial capitals and large cities across Canada. Essentially any market with more than one station.

The issue (which also includes whether there should be U.S.-style subsidies for converter boxes) will be dealt with again in September.

CTV-Shaw rejects get renewed

Even though Shaw's offer to buy them has fallen through, the CRTC has renewed licenses for CKX-TV in Brandon, Man., CHWI-TV in Wheatley/Windsor, Ont., and CKNX-TV in Wingham, Ont., for another year, despite CTV's request that they be terminated. They're still expected to shut down in August, although CTV says it is "reviewing" CHWI in light of the new funding. UPDATE: CTV says it will continue operating CHWI until Aug. 31, 2010. CKNX will be converted into a retransmitter, and CKX is still being shut down.

Other CTV stations which had the bare minimum of local programming have been relicensed as strictly retransmitters only:

CKCO-TV-3 Oil Springs (Sarnia), Ont.
CFRN-TV-3 Whitecourt, Alta.
CFRN-TV-4 Ashmont, Alta.
CFRN-TV-6 Red Deer, Alta.

No copy-copy

Separate requests from Canwest and Rogers to allow them to duplicate content on E!/Global and City/OMNI respectively were denied by the CRTC. The stations (CHAN-TV Vancouver/CHEK-TV Victoria, CIII-TV Toronto/CHCH-TV Hamilton, and City/OMNI pairings in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver) are currently limited to 10% overlap since they are stations with the same owner in the same markets. Requests to be relieved of that restriction were denied.

City stays special

In addition to allowing more overlap between City and OMNI, Rogers asked to be allowed to redirect "priority programming" money (money for expensive Canadian dramas) into local programming, and remove an unusual requirement at City to air Canadian feature films. Both were denied. The Globe has a story.

CHOI News Talk?

RNC Media has applied to the CRTC for a license amendment for CHOI-FM in Quebec City, which would change it from an alternative rock format to 50% spoken word. CHOI has a rather rocky past with the CRTC.

Radio was doing OK last year

The CRTC has released financial statistics of Canadian radio stations (taken as a whole). Looking at all of Canada and Quebec in particular, the numbers are fairly stable on both sides of the balance sheet. Of particular note is AM radio in Quebec, which shows significant losses year after year while the rest of the country just about breaks even.

Asians Asians Asians!

Asian Television Network has gotten approval for a slew of new specialty channels:

Hindi Movie Channel
Hindi Movie Channel Two
ATN Cricket Channel One
ATN Cricket Channel Two
ATN South Asian News - Hindi/English
ATN South Asian News - English
ATN South Asian News - Hindi
ATN Music Network One (Hindi Music)
ATN Music Netowrk Two (Hindi Music)
ATN Asian Sports Network (English coverage of cricket, ball hockey, badminton)

Another two networks - ATN Multicultural Channel and Commonwealth Broadcasting Network - were denied, as their nature was judged to be too broad for a specialty service.

ATN announced on Tuesday that nine channels, including some of the ones above, will premiere on Rogers Cable in the fall. The channels are being renamed to more interesting names.

CHEAR!

Ultimate Indie Productions has received authorization to start a specialty channel devoted to emerging Canadian Artists called CHEAR! (and CHEAR! HD)

Ashes to ashes, SCREAM to DUSK

Corus is rebranding its SCREAM! horror channel to DUSK, and expanding its niche to include "paranormal" and "supernatural" stuff that might not be so scary. I guess this means more X-Files? The change takes effect on Sept. 9 (09/09/09, as if that's scary or paranormal or something).

In other news

TVA got a slap on the wrist (hell, not even that) for failing to meet expectations regarding airing of Canadian films and closed-captioning. The CRTC "expects" they'll meet those requirements in the future, or else they're going to get a sternly-worded letter, I guess.
The Globe and Mail is reporting that Al-Jazeera English may be close to approval as a specialty channel.
CPAC has gotten approval for a license amendment that would allow it to broadcast non-CPAC-sounding stuff like music on Canada Day every year. Now it can let loose in an explosion of patriotism on July 1.
Vision TV has given up and is now asking viewers to figure out its programming.
Cogeco has asked to move its transmitter for CFGE-FM (Rhythme FM) in Sherbrooke and increase its transmitter power to improve reception.
MusiquePlus has gotten authorization to hand over its 3.4% of revenues required for the production of Canadian music videos to MaxFACT instead of VideoFACT. The difference is mainly that MaxFACT is what MusiMax gives its money to and this would simplify things for them. The request got an intervention from ADISQ which was concerned that there would be less money for youth-oriented music videos as well as those from Quebec anglophones. MusiquePlus responded that it has no control over the procedures used by MaxFACT to allocate it money.
The CRTC is mad at CHRC in St. Catharines for violating a number of conditions of its license. There is, of course, no actual penalty associated with such violations as long as you promise not to do it again.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has dismissed a complaint against CJMF-FM in Quebec City regarding a promotion related to driving while on a cellphone. The CBSC concluded that the station was not, in fact, advocating that people drive while illegally talking on a cellphone without a hands-free device.

Canwest argues for changes to Montreal TV stations

Fagstein — Sat, 02 May 2009 08:07:08 +0000

Appearing before the CRTC on Thursday, Canwest (my employer, you'll recall) made the case for license amendments at its two Montreal television stations, CKMI-TV (Global Quebec, which is actually licensed out of Quebec City but operates out of Montreal) and CJNT-TV (a former ethnic programming station which has since become half ethnic programming and half E! entertainment shows).

Here are some highlights from the transcript.

Global Quebec

The main change Canwest wants to make to Global Quebec's license that would affect programming is a reduction in local news. Canwest proposes to reduce local programming minimums across the country to 10 hours per week for stations in large markets (Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver) and 5 hours per week for small markets (which includes Montreal's anglo market).

This would mean local programming for CKMI would drop from 18 hours a week to 5. As a result, News Final would be reduced from an hour to half an hour on weeknights, the morning repeat of News Final would be eliminated, all weekend local news would be eliminated and the half-hour weekly news show Focus Montreal would be cancelled.

Current conditions of license:

Regional station based out of Quebec City (CKMI-TV Channel 20) with retransmitters in Montreal (CKMI-TV-1 Channel 46) and Sherbrooke (CKMI-TV-2 Channel 11)
Minimum of 18 hours of local programming each week
Minimum eight hours a week of priority (drama, documentary, etc.) Canadian programming, of which at least 75% must be produced by independent production companies

Canwest's proposal:

Station's license based out of Montreal (with retransmitters in Quebec City and Sherbrooke), with a change of classification from regional to local to allow it access to local Montreal advertising
Minimum 5 hours a week of local programming, consistent with a national policy of 5 hours for small markets and 10 hours a week for large ones.
Elimination of priority programming requirements (leaving only general Canadian content requirements).

On moving the station from Quebec to Montreal:

The Quebec City CMA has an English-speaking population of 7,420 people using Stats Can's 2006 numbers for language spoken at home.

For the Montreal CMA the number is closer to 600,000. We would note in this regard that in 2006 the Commission denied an application for an English-language radio station in Quebec, stating that the Commission notes that Quebec has a very small Anglophone population and that the advertising pool to support such a station is limited.

We think that it would be much more appropriate to amend the licence to reflect the size of the English-language population it serves and the majority of that audience actually resides in Montreal.

On reducing requirements for independent production:

THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. And on independent programming, you're asking us to reduce it from 75 percent to 50 percent. Can you explain to me how that translates into dollars for you? Translate into dollars for you.

MS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I think that things are -- all of these issues are somewhat connected in that as we face a declining revenue challenge in the conventional world we're looking as much as possible to be re-inventing ourselves and thinking about different ways to make our business more successful ultimately and recapture some of this revenue if we can, other than simply just cutting away at costs.

And one of the big challenges we're all facing is the fragmentation of viewers across all of our channels and all of our other platforms and we're all trying to get our heads around, how do we somehow take advantage of all of this other viewing as opposed to it just being a problem.

So, to the extent that there is opportunity to start to garner other revenue streams from secondary platforms, those can be ways for us to make sure that that big up front investment, which is valuable in so many ways, it's valuable in terms of the big promotion you get from a show first being seen on a large platform so that everybody's aware of it, which is the only reason someone might know that they want to go find it on iTunes or your website or something anyway. There's a huge initial impact to that first broadcast.

But we don't get the revenue out of that first broadcast, although we still have all the cost. But the other revenue potentially comes from those other platforms and those other streams.

So, what we're saying is we need to be able to have, again, more flexibility on some projects some of the time to own the whole darn thing and to be able to experiment now with where we put that show and how we push that show into other places and how do we get an advertiser to buy the whole package all at once rather than an advertiser moving in and out of bits and pieces?

How do we use the leverage that we have to make these shows as successful as possible, not only with the largest audiences, but also with the largest revenue?

So, it's the flexibility to stay in control of the product in an effort to stay in control of the revenue which is the source of the whole problem here we're facing in conventional.

THE CHAIRPERSON: You're not going to produce it yourself, you're still going to buy it, so it's just you're going to own the rights rather than the producer?

MS WILLIAMS: Yeah, it is about controlling rights, it is about controlling a project from the very beginning, it is about staying in control of that project from its very beginning to its very end, and that often comes with, you know, a very significant up front cost which is one is selective about this. It's not something that suddenly we want to one hundred per cent finance, own and control every single project that we're involved in.

But we do believe that there is some value in some projects some of the time in taking a larger stance and we want to be able to do that more than the rules allow us right now.

THE CHAIRPERSON: Yes. My point was, you're not going to move into in-house production?

MS WILLIAMS: No. The contemplation at the moment is not to own a studio.

On the broadcast centres that result in centralized production of local news:

MS McGINLEY: This project, the digital news project that you were referring to, was developed and implemented to address several converging issues facing the conventional broadcasters; technologies moving to a digital platform and we had to move with it.

Content has to be available on a multiplatform basis to meet the needs of the interactive and mobile demands.

We have been facing continued declining profits in our conventional broadcast operations and sustaining significant financial losses in our small market stations.

So to address these issues, we conducted a very thorough review of the financial results of every one of our stations across the country and we have 14 conventional broadcast stations that produce local news, and we divided them into the two groups as defined in the CRTC; four that are greater than a million and 10 that are less than a million people. And our review included comparing the sales generated from the local programming per station against the costs incurred to produce and broadcast this local programming, which would come up with an operating margin or loss.

It was clear that we incur significant losses on local programming in all our small markets and in our large markets we operate at a loss in two of the four, as it relates to the generation of local programming.

Our ability to continue providing local news in all of the small markets was being questioned with this analysis.

So thanks to our very innovative engineering team, we devised a plan which we refer to as the digital news project to produce and broadcast our local newscast on a digital platform across multiple platforms in a more cost-efficient manner and avoid a costly capital upgrade.

So this was accomplished by turning our large markets; Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver into production centres where the technical and production responsibilities for the small markets now reside. The small market stations now have the ability to focus on their primary goal of gathering, producing and reporting compelling local content in the markets they serve.

So to be clear, the local news teams at the local stations continue to: assign stories locally, write these stories locally, edit these stories locally, vet these stories locally, tell these stories locally and maintain editorial control of the newscasts locally.

What has changed is that the local newsrooms no longer have a new studio and a control room. Instead, the local on-air anchor who is at the local station, reads the newscasts from a small green room with a desk and the rest of the virtual set is digitally inserted by the productions -- from the productions centre. The cameras at the local station are robotic and they are controlled remotely from the production -- controlled remotely by technical staff out of the production centre. The control room now resides at one of the production centres.

So the stories are gathered, written and edited at the local station, sent by a net pipe which is critical in order to do this; a dedicated fibre line linking all the stations to the production centres where the stories are inserted into a digital news system for story lineup which again is determined by the local news director.

Regional, national and international stories are added to the lineup at the production centre at the direction of the local news director.

The ability to provide local breaking news in any of our local markets still exists and we have also invested heavily in the digital archive system which will allow us to store, catalogue and retrieve the locally-televised stories and historical events gathered in all of these Canadian markets.

In a traditional model this digital archived technology would have been beyond the financial reach of a small market station.

So in summary, the digital news project provided us the following advantages:

We have now moved all of the over-the-air stations to a digital platform, thereby replacing absolute and unsupportable analog equipment at 30 percent of the cost.

We more efficiently move original, locally-produced news content throughout Canwest group of stations to support regional and national news at all of our conventional outlets. So we have less reliance on booking fibre or satellite feeds.

And we deliver a big market high-end virtual set and high-end graphics to all our stations. Even ones for the adoption of the standalone state-of-the-art digital facility would be cost prohibitive. And this has significantly improved the overall look of our small market newscasts.

And, finally, we reduced operating costs at a significant level in order to protect and insulate where possible the newsgathering capabilities at a local regional station level.

And I would like to add that last week we were very pleased to be honoured at the annual NAB conference with a Broadcast Engineering Excellence award in the category of New Studio Technology for Networks for this specific project. And it was particularly gratifying as it was voted by our peers in our industry across North America.

We would be happy to provide you with a tour and show you our facilities.

Further, I will just tell you out of the four production centres; for example in Vancouver we do the news for Winnipeg; for Montreal, for Kelowna and Victoria out of the Vancouver production centre. The production is done. In Edmonton it is Red Deer and in the Maritimes, in Calgary it is Lethbridge ... Regina and Saskatoon are slated to be done this summer.

...

THE CHAIRPERSON: Now, the CEP as you know is not pleased with this development and as we will hear from them later on. And they feel that this somehow violates your commitment for local news and a local story. I gather you feel you are compliant?

MS MCGINLEY: We are compliant.

No mention of centralized weather and sports casters.

CJNT

As you can see from this chart, CJNT has been hemmorhaging money ever since Canwest rescued it from bankruptcy. They were overly optimistic about being able to pull a profit from the station and have watched millions of dollars go down the drain each year.

As a result, Canwest is asking for changes to CJNT's license, primarily to reduce the amount of original programming it has to create each week. Its license requires 126 hours of ethnic programming each week, of which 13 hours is original and the rest repeats or acquired programming. Under the proposal, there would be only five hours of new programming every week, with more repeats so the total is the same.

Looking at the charts they provide, it seems clear something needs to be done. CJNT is spending more than 100% of its entire budget on Canadian programming.

Current conditions of license:

Ethnic programming must comprise:
- no less than 60% of the total broadcast schedule (6am to midnight)
- no less than 50% of the schedule between 6pm and midnight
- no less than 75% between 8pm and 10pm
Non-ethnic programming must be 35-60% English and 35-60% French
Third-language programming must comprise at least 50% of the total broadcast schedule
Ethnic programming must be directed toward no less than 18 different groups and in no less than 15 different languages, calculated on a monthly basis
Minimum 13.5 hours of local programming each week

Canwest's proposal:

Ethnic languages broadcast per week: 5
Ethnic groups targeted per week: 5
No requirement for French-language non-ethnic programming
Minimum 5 hours of local programming each week
Ethnic programming would comprise a minimum of:
- 50% of the total broadcast schedule (6am to midnight)
- 40% of prime time (6pm to midnight)
- No restriction on programming between 8pm and 10pm specifically

From its license renewal application:

Over an entire licence term (plus one additional year), the station has underperformed even the most pessimistic financial projections. Operating losses since 2002 have exceeded $30 million. We never expected to make much money on this investment (see below), but losing an average of over $5.3 million per year (over the past three years) was never anticipated. And given the pressures on our company, and more generally on the conventional television sector, we cannot continue to operate this station on a status quo basis.

Charlotte Bell, head of Regulatory Affairs, on the problems facing the station:

As you know, we have tried everything possible to make the station viable. We face a much different challenge than the OMNI stations with no synergies for ethnic programming and much smaller ethnic communities. We have not been able to attract advertising revenues to support the ethnic programming.

We are hobbled in our non-ethnic programming with restrictions that require a mix of English and French language programming, effectively making us the fourth entrant in French-language television in the market after TVA, Radio Canada, TQS and Télé-Québec.

You are quite aware of the struggles of TQS and we follow them and the opportunity to acquire attractive programming and consequently in our capacity to draw programming. This requirement as well as the requirement for ethnic programming between eight and ten also limits our ability to share programming with other Canwest stations.

As the Commission has often pointed out with regard to ethnic programs, the only viable private conventional model is having foreign English language programming support ethnic programming and this option is not fully available to us.

...It remains doubtful that these changes will make the station viable, but at least it will give it a better chance to succeed.

On wanting license amendments at the same time it is considering selling the station:

COMMISSIONER MENZIES: I have a couple questions; one which I have asked other people so I have to ask you too, and the other one is just on the topic we are on, (CJNT).

If I get it correctly, the aim is to get this licence spruced up and then you can sell it, is that what I understood basically, make it more attractive to a potential buyer?

MR. PETER VINER: That is an option, yes.

MS BELL: Can I just jump in for a second though? This is part of the goal, but we applied for a lot of these changes several years ago. And because of the losses that were continually incurred by the station, we were turned down. So it is not a new idea, because we may be selling the station.

The CRTC also has issues with CJNT's license compliance concerning the total amount of ethnic programming produced over the past few years. Canwest said there is a lag time for reporting and that shortfalls would be made up.

CRTC roundup: broken television

Fagstein — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 10:13:13 +0000

The big news this week is the release by the CRTC of submissions from major Canadian private television broadcasters whose licenses are up for renewal in August. This includes CTV/A, Global/E!, TVA, Sun TV, Citytv and OMNI. (TQS is the notable exception since it had its own dealings with the CRTC after it went bankrupt).

The CRTC has suggested having one-year license renewals (instead of standard seven-year ones) and dealing with the TV financial crisis in the meantime. The networks have gone along with that and are recommending status quo until August 2010.

The private networks (especially CTV Globemedia and Canwest) are re-repeating all of the please-give-us-money talking points they've been sending toward the CRTC for years now, including bringing up their pet project of forcing cable and satellite companies to give them money for putting their free over-the-air channels on their systems, mainly because they can't find a way to make a profit off advertising and say the system is broken.

Among their other money-grabbing and money-saving ideas:

More access to the new Local Programming Improvement Fund (deigned to help with local programming at small-market stations) by expanding them to larger markets (Canwest even argues that CJNT Montreal should have access to the fund even though it doesn't provide any local news.)
Having the ability to own their own production companies instead of being forced to use independent production houses
That the proposed 1:1 ratio of spending on Canadian vs. non-Canadian programming is "not viable" because it would mean cutting back on the very thing that is generating the revenue to keep the networks afloat (and besides, CTV argues, they've already signed contracts for the 2009-2010 broadcast year)

Canwest proposes a "5 and 10" rule that would require 5 hours a week of local programming for stations serving markets of under a million viewers, and 10 hours a week for stations serving markets of over a million. Since most Canwest stations already have local programming requirements far in excess of 10 hours a week, this would save it a lot of money. (It counts only four stations as being in large markets - even Global Quebec is considered small because it only counts English-speaking viewers, which means it would drop from 18 hours a week of local programming to only five)

Even Quebec's TVA, which does plenty of local (or at least regional) programming, wants to cut back. It's asking to reduce the amount of local programming at its Quebec City station from 21 hours a week to 12 UPDATE: They now say they only want to cut it to 18 hours a week.

Canwest even proposes going further than its continued demand for money from cable companies, and throw out some new ideas that nobody has suggested before, including:

Non-simultaneous substitution, which would replace U.S. signals with Canadiens ones showing the same programming, even if they're not being broadcast on both channels simultaneously.
Banning commercial advertising from CBC
Government assistance for digital conversion
Tax cuts

UPDATE: More coverage from the Globe and Mail, which also looks at how much the networks are spending on Canadian versus foreign content.

Canwest wants Global Quebec to become Global Montreal

As part of its submission to the CRTC on license renewal, Canwest said it wants to convert only primary transmitters of its 15 major stations to digital by 2011, and as part of that it wants to convert regional networks Global Ontario and Global Quebec into local stations in Toronto and Montreal, respectively. CKMI-TV is actually based out of Quebec City (and also serves the Eastern Townships through a transmitter in Sherbrooke), but all its programming, including its newscasts, originate in Montreal.

The change wouldn't affect programming but would allow CKMI to attract local advertisers, even though Canwest says they would not be taking advantage of this much.

CTV wants to pull the plug on CJOH-8

In its submission to the CRTC, CTVglobemedia put forward a long list of television transmitters it said it would not apply for licenses to renew past August. Included in that list is a retransmitter for CJOH Ottawa in Lancaster, Ont., on Channel 8. Montrealers and off-islanders with good TV antennas will note that this transmitter serves southwestern Quebec since it is just across the border. Shutting the transmitter down means those near the Ontario/Quebec border will have to tune into CJOH's Ottawa transmitter or CFCF-12 in Montreal.

The Obituary Channel?

The CRTC has granted approval for a regional Quebec cable channel called Je me souviens, which will be devoted essentially to obituaries and related public notices. The CRTC did not agree to a request to carry local advertising in addition to the obits, however.

The channel (which is a private venture unconnected to the major broadcasting companies) is interesting because it's an original idea and because it's a regional network (most cable networks are national in order to reach as broad an audience as possible).

But if Astral Media couldn't keep its TATV shopping channel on the air, does a regional channel of nothing but obituaries stand a chance?

UPDATE: I see CJAD reads this blog.

Pay up, CFAV

The CRTC has denied a request from Laval radio station CFAV 1570 AM, which wanted to be excused from the $8,000 a year it has to pay to promote Canadian artists. Its excuse is that it's not making a profit. The CRTC says rules are rules.

Rogers wants carte blanche on OLN

Rogers has asked for some very radical amendments to its license for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN). Among them, it wants to be able to use sitcoms, comedy shows and animated shows, reduce its restriction on televising live sports, and reduce requirements for Canadian content. The proposal was so radical it caught the eye of the Globe and Mail.

TVA wants carte blanche on specialty channels

Speaking of radical amendments, TVA has filed requests to add more programming categories for three of its specialty channels: Mystère (mystery), Argent (financial news) and Idées de ma maison (home/living). While some might make sense in a world where various forms of programming blend together (say, a game show about science), it's hard to see some of these categories as being requested solely so that TVA can stretch the envelope and provide programming that has only a tenuous connection to the mandate of the channel.

Among the categories they'd like to add:

Religion programming
Professional and amateur sports, including live sporting events
Drama, sitcoms, comedy programming, animated programs
Music videos

I'm all for flexibility, but can you imagine a program that has music videos about mysteries? Or a sitcom about financial news?

The Weather/Emergency Network

Pelmorex, the strangely-named owner of the Weather Network/MétéoMédia, is asking for the CRTC to require that all cable and satellite companies operating in Canada have the networks as part of their basic digital services (it's already required on analog cable). In exchange, the networks will act as "a national public alerting aggregator", distributing emergency information.

To sweeten the deal, Pelmorex gives idle threats about how their existence will be in "jeopardy" if they can't force that $0.23 per subscriber out of us, even though most Canadians already (happily) get the Weather Network by default.

Still, having the Weather Network distribute emergency information makes sense, if only because many such emergencies are weather-related and TWN already deals with emergency weather alerts.

The only problem is: Shouldn't it be the broadcast networks (like, say, CBC/Radio-Canada) who distribute emergency information, so it's over the air where everyone can receive it?

HD vs. SD

While Canal Évasion wants to start an HD version of the channel, the owners of three HD-only networks - Oasis HD, Treasure HD and Equador HD - want to distribute those channels in standard definition. This isn't the first request of this kind I've seen, and is probably a reflection of the fact that while most Canadians have cable or satellite service, the number with HD service and sets is not as high as they had expected by now, and offering a downgraded SD signal will allow them to reach a larger audience.

And finally

The CRTC has approved a request to add five networks, all of third-language programming originating from east and southeast Asia, to the list of eligible channels for satellite providers.

We must do something about the poor reporters

Fagstein — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 03:15:06 +0000

Despite the dire warnings of cold snaps, the depressing weather forecasts that call for highs in the range of -20 and wind chills that drop right off the scale, there are professionals out there ready, willing and able to brave those awful conditions unnecessarily for the sake of their jobs.

I'm speaking, of course, about television reporters.

Every day, dozens of them roam the city, looking for a suitable backdrop for their story about health care or education or politics, and for many the ideal spot for a stand-up report is standing on a street corner. It's active, it's bright, in some cases it might even be relevant to the story.

But in most cases, they're patently unnecessary.

Something must be done.

I warn you, the images below may disturb you. Each features a television reporter standing outside long enough to welcome frostbite for a mere 20 or 30 seconds of TV time (some are from this week, others are from last winter, when conditions were not quite as severe). Some are "live hits" just for the sake of it. Others are prepackaged reports. In both cases, reporters have to stand much longer than they appear on camera, keeping still, with the wind wiping away whatever warmth they might hope to generate with their bodies.

Global's Valerie Boyer reports on computer hacking. In the middle of the street.

Global's Caroline Plante reports on the Castonguay report on health care. Outside, in the dark.

Global's Amanda Jelowicki reports on Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence and Canadian reaction to it. From the sidewalk of a residential street.

Global's Domenic Fazioli reports on police looking for two suspects, in front of a bus shelter.

Global's Elysia Bryan-Baynes reports on small hospitals that don't want to merge with superhospitals, in front of a hospital.

Global's Tim Sargeant reports on an economic government trade-deal something-or-other.

CBC's Amanda Margison reports on a water main break downtown, 12 hours after it happened, from in front of City Hall (the break was over a kilometre west of there).

CTV's Cindy Sherwin, desperate to keep warm, reports on the same water main break (though at least in daylight).

CTV's Caroline van Vlaardigen reports on Hydro-Quebec asking people to reduce electricity usage, from the middle of the street.

CTV's Tarah Schwartz reports on a story about whether unions should take part in protests. From some street somewhere (after having interviewed a subject in a warm building).

There have been no published reports of lasting injuries because of reporters being forced to stand out in the cold, but this is no reason to continue this barbaric act. Even dogs get better treatment than this.

We must do something now. Call or email your local TV station and demand they bring these poor defenceless creatures in from the cold.

Thank you.

Global Quebec’s fake local news

Fagstein — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:26:01 +0000

In October, you'll recall Global TV announced a major overhaul of its local news outlets. As part of the plan, sets would be demolished, staff would be laid off and instead of a proper studio, local anchors would deliver the news in front of green screens to cameras controlled remotely out of Vancouver. Story packages would be shipped off electronically to a centralized news processing centre, and virtually all the production would be taken out of the hands of local workers. (The results, of course, left much to be desired)

At the time, Global reassured local viewers that their broadcasts would still be local:

News staff in each market will continue to generate local content. All content will be delivered to a Broadcast Centre and packaged into a program format for air. Local anchors will continue to deliver the news from their local stations.

Well, apparently that's not quite the case anymore. Because being in front of a green screen means you can pretend to be almost anywhere, Global is exploiting this to make its news anchors pretend to be in places they're not.

Hannah Thibedeau anchors Global Quebec's evening news from who knows where

The three of you still tuning into Global Quebec's evening local newscast might notice some unfamiliar faces on your screen. Hannah Boudreau Thibedeau is anchoring the 6pm newscast for what I'll assume is a vacationing Jamie Orchard. Except Thibedeau isn't part of the Global Quebec team, she's Global's Parliament Hill correspondent based out of Ottawa.

But that's not conclusive proof. She could have driven into town to fill in, the local staff stretched too much as it is with summer vacations and all.

Anthony Farnell doing Global Quebec's local forecast

More conclusive is weatherman Anthony Farnell, since on the same day he appears on both Global Quebec's local newscast (above) and Global Ontario's local newscast (below).

Anthony Farnell does Global Ontario's local forecast

Unless he has a special helicopter to shuttle him back and forth between Montreal and Toronto, he's clearly doing both weathercasts from the same location, in front of the same green screen.

That in itself isn't too much of an issue. I mean, any idiot can do the weather.

The problem is that he's being dishonest about it. In both newscasts he uses the word "we," as in "we are going to see heavy rain over the next couple of days." For the Quebec newscast, he cut to clips of Montreal traffic. And yet nowhere is it mentioned that he's doing this newscast from a green screen in Toronto.

Lying about your location goes well beyond the usual fakery we see on TV news. It's dishonest an unacceptable from an organization that is supposed to be trustworthy about bringing the truth to its audience.

It's hard being the No. 3 newscast for a community of only a few hundred thousands anglophones. The fact that nobody watches the newscast does justify cost-cutting (though that only continues the hopeless ratings death spiral). But you have to be honest about it. Level with your viewers, explain the reasons behind your decisions and even if they don't like it, they'll at least understand.

Saving money by lying to people is just one step above fraud.

Global Quebec wins RTNDA award (also: CTV Montreal, CBC Montreal)

Fagstein — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:17:51 +0000

Global Quebec is running giant ads with Jamie Orchard's face on them praising the regional network for winning an award by RTNDA Canada. Indeed, Global Quebec did win the Bert Cannings award for best newscast (well, one of many Bert Cannings awards given out this year) for a newscast about "Transit Strike Day!" (yes, with the exclamation mark) last year. This was, of course, before Global Quebec was gutted into the embarrassing shell of a newscast it is now.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that the competition won more awards, two each for CBMT (CBC Montreal) and CTV Montreal.

On the radio side, CBC Montreal won three awards, and CJAD won one.

Oh, one more thing: these are all regional awards. Only CBC Radio Montreal won an award on the national level, unlike, say, CBC Saskatchewan which won three.

But hey, don't let that stop you from patting yourselves on the back.

Why is CBC Montreal’s News at Six sucking a bit less?

Fagstein — Sat, 17 May 2008 06:35:14 +0000

The Suburban crunches some numbers in the evening TV news race here, and theorizes that Frank Cavallaro's move from CTV to CBC had something to do with the latter's 25% jump in viewership over last year, prompting Inside the CBC to wonder if weathermen are the magic ticket to success.

I think we should take a step back here. 25% seems large, but only represents about 6,000 actual viewers. CBC Montreal's news audience is still an order of magnitude smaller than CTV, which has dominated the race since CBC gutted Newswatch.

Though I'm sure Cavallaro has a loyal audience, the numbers probably have more to do with people slowly trickling back to CBC after the network decided to bring back a local one-hour newscast. And the station still has plenty of ground to make up. It needs a new studio (well, actually, it needs its own studio), a graphics department, and other things that only money can buy.

Meanwhile, The Suburban notices that Paul Graif, a victim of Global Quebec's job cuts, is now at CTV. Another example of why we have one local news program here and two pretend local news programs.

Fagstein » CKMI

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