Tag Archives: Global-TV

Shaw to buy Canwest

February 12, 2010 – 2:17 pm| Posted in TV

The big change for one half of the Canwest empire now has a roadmap: Canwest announced this morning that Shaw Communications would buy a 20% equity interest and 80% controlling interest in Canwest Global once the company emerges from creditor protection.

Coverage at The Globe and Mail (of course, with analysis and more analysis), CBC, Reuters, Canadian Press, Wall Street Journal and Financial Post. Though financial terms won't be disclosed until after regulatory approval, Shaw is spending at least $65 million on this acquisition.

Canwest Limited Partnership, which owns the National Post, Montreal Gazette, Canada.com and other publishing assets, is unaffected by this. They will still be auctioned off as part of their restructuring.

Corus Cable Empire?

Assuming the deal goes through (and there's no big reason to believe it won't), the Shaw family will have control over a worryingly large number of specialty channels in Canada. They have a controlling interest in Corus Entertainment, a company spun off from Shaw to get around a CRTC rule about cable companies owning specialty services - a rule that no longer exists.

Corus owns or has a majority interest in (copy-pasted from Wikipedia):

It also has a 50% share with Astral of the Teletoon channels.

Canwest owns - and Shaw would get:

And the former Alliance Atlantis channels through a deal with Goldman Sachs:

Add to all this minority stakes in mentv, One, Historia and Séries +, and you've got a pretty huge specialty empire here, 31 channels. That would put it ahead of CTVglobemedia's 29 channels, and way ahead of other specialty players Astral Media (9 plus The Movie Network and Super Écran), Quebecor Media (8) and Rogers (6).

It should go without saying that the specialty assets - and not the Global Television Network - are why Shaw is interested in this acquisition.

The release says that Shaw would operate Canwest as a standalone company (instead of, say, just taking its assets and giving them to Corus), but you have to think that some sort of consolidation is going to happen if they can get it past the CRTC.

Another (albeit minor) question is what happens to the few conventional TV stations that Shaw and Corus own. Shaw owns CJBN in Kenora, Ont. (a station with the distinction of being Canada's lowest-powered non-repeater, at 178 Watts), which is currently a CTV affiliate. Corus, meanwhile, owns CKWS Kingston and CHEX Peterborough in eastern Ontario, both of which carry CBC programming. None of the three stations are in cities with Global stations, so it's conceivable they could all become Global affiliates or even sold to Canwest and become Global owned and operated stations.

Shaw's second chance to prove its point

My favourite part of this story comes out of a quote from Canwest chairman Derek Burney (emphasis mine): “We look forward to benefitting from Shaw’s participation in a reinvigorated Canwest, as it is a strong business partner with a proven commitment to the Canadian television broadcasting industry. This significant investment in conventional television should be seen as a big vote of confidence in the industry and its future.”

Of course, Shaw and Canwest have been on the opposite side of the ugly fee-for-carriage debate, with each side spouting half-truths at each other in a bid to scumsuck public support.

Remember those "cable company cash cows"? Funny how useful one of them has suddenly become now that the TV company needs a bailout.

But as much as this is ironic for the Local TV Matters people, it also forces Shaw to prove its point about how conventional television isn't in need of financial support from cable and satellite companies.

Last year, after Shaw sarcastically offered to buy three stations from CTV for $1, and CTV sarcastically accepted, it later pulled away from the deal, claiming that due dilligence showed the stations were hollowed out shells and work had been outsourced to other stations.

Shaw can't make that excuse this time. While many Global stations are little more than a newsroom, a couple of editing suites and a green screen, Shaw gets the broadcast centres that control them, and can do with them as they wish.

So will Shaw back down from its tough talk about fee for carriage? Will Canwest pull out of the Local TV Matters group, stuck in the same awkward position as CityTV and TVA where the parent company cares more about protecting cable profits than local television?

We'll find out within the next few months. (Though by the time Shaw's acquisition is final, the fee for carriage debate might be over.)

UPDATE: The Financial Post explores a big thorn in the side of this deal: Goldman Sachs, which is still fighting with Canwest over the company that owns the former Alliance Atlantis channels.

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Global, CBC join CTV’s “Save Local TV” campaign

September 15, 2009 – 9:28 pm| Posted in Opinion, TV

A few months into its campaign to "Save Local Television", CTV has managed to get its competitors CBC and Global to join its rebranded campaign "Local TV Matters" (there's even a Twitter account!), trying to get public support for CRTC regulatory changes that would allow conventional television stations to charge cable and satellite companies for distribution of their signals.

The website's FAQ lists PR-generated counter-arguments to some common complaints, but seems to ignore the history of conventional television and why it's free in the first place.

Decades ago, before there was cable, conventional television was all there is. Most stations were locally-owned and had powerful transmitters to reach as many homes as possible. Revenue came from advertising, which was fine because everyone watched TV in primetime, and everyone watched the local news.

In the early days of cable, the specialty channels were low-budget affairs and highly specialized. Music videos on MuchMusic, live sports on TSN, non-stop weather updates on the Weather Network. Quality primetime programming came from the conventional networks like CTV, which was back then a cooperative of local stations. Local programming gave way to network (Canadian and U.S.) shows in primetime, but mornings and early evenings were still largely local affairs.

Canadian television network breakdown

The proliferation of specialty channels is a large part of why conventional television isn't what it used to be. The audience is fragmented, and the conventional networks' piece of the pie has diminished, along with advertising.

Specialty networks don't have to provide local programming, though on the other hand they cannot accept local advertising and they cannot transmit over the air.

Now that more than 90% of Canadians have cable or satellite service, the advantage of over-the-air transmitters is outweighed by their cost. And because most advertising is national in scope, and targetted to specific demographics that specialty channels are better at reaching, that advantage too has disappeared.

What's left to give conventional television stations an advantage is the programming itself. But while many people still watch the news, it's not enough to pay for it. In very few markets does local news attract enough advertising revenue to pay for itself. So those newscasts (especially in smaller markets) have been drastically cut. Local news has been replaced by more pre-packaged news packages from the networks. Programming outside of the local newscasts has been all but eliminated.

So what can we do about this? Should we just shut down the conventional networks? Obviously the networks don't agree with that idea, because conventional television is still making them money.

How about a government bailout? Consumers would be opposed to that, and it creates all sorts of problems (should broadcasters be paid equally, or based on the ratings of their newscasts?). Besides, there already is one in the form of the Local Programming Improvement Fund, a 1.5% tax on cable and satellite companies' revenues that goes to help programming in small-market stations.

What CTV et al are proposing is that broadcasters and distributors negotiate a fair market value for carrying their stations. It's not entirely clear what the details are, such as whether consumers would be able to choose which conventional television stations they would pay for (they could pay for none of them and just hook up the rabbit ears to get them free), or whether they would be forced to pay for them like we're forced to pay for CBC Newsworld and CPAC whether we want to or not (such mandatory carriage would leave cable and satellite companies without a bargaining chip, making negotiation difficult).

It's the economics, stupid

The networks' prime argument in launching this campaign is this:

One of the campaign's concerns is that cable and satellite providers continue to charge viewers for our services, yet they pay nothing to local television stations. However, Canadian cable companies pay U.S. cable channels in excess of $300 million a year for their services, and these cable channels are not required to produce any Canadian content. The campaign members are standing up to change this system because they believe local stations deserve fairness so viewers can continue to enjoy local television programming now and in the years to come.

The argument about channels like Spike and CNN not producing Canadian content is valid. Of course, the CRTC takes this into consideration when approving a U.S. channel for distribution here. U.S. networks aren't allowed to compete with Canadian ones on (basic) cable, which is why we didn't have MTV to compete with MuchMusic or HBO to compete with the Movie Network until Canadian versions of those channels launched recently.

But the comparison to conventional television is based on a faulty assumption. People don't pay for conventional television stations as part of their cable bills. People get cable because they want CNN and Spike, not the local news. The bills for basic service cover the physical cable service as well as CRTC-mandated specialty channels like Newsworld and CPAC. Cable and satellite companies don't charge consumers to give them local television stations, because you can't charge people for something they already get for free.

The big irony of the argument is that the CRTC mandates that cable and satellite companies distribute local television stations as part of their basic service at the request of those television stations. In cable's infancy, local TV wanted to be on cable to reach larger markets and get more advertising revenue. They even got the CRTC to guarantee they'd get the lowest spots on the dial, which back then were considered prime electronic real estate.

But I understand times change. Things are different now, the model is broken.

At least, they say the model is broken. CTV and Global haven't released detailed financial reports showing how much money they're losing on conventional television (or if they're losing any at all). We have only their self-serving word to go on here.

The CRTC will be debating the future of local television in November.

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A side note about the "Local TV Matters" campaign: the website (which is WordPress-based) has open comments on its posts, and there's already a lot of them from incredulous consumers asking why they're being asked to pay more when their local programming is being cut to the bone. I'm a bit surprised the comments are still up there, and wonder what it will take for them to shut down dissenting consumer opinion.

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CRTC Roundup: They saved local TV!

July 7, 2009 – 6:33 pm| Posted in Montreal, Radio, TV

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:

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.
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Take each other’s hand as we jump into streaming classic TV

June 29, 2009 – 2:16 am| Posted in On the Net, TV
Paul (Paul Reiser) and Jamie (Helen Hunt) finish ... uhh ... making lasagna.

Paul (Paul Reiser) and Jamie (Helen Hunt) finish ... uhh ... making lasagna, in the pilot of Mad About You.

Global TV's website, which many people still don't know streams videos of hit TV shows that the network has rights to (like House and 24) has opened up a "classics" section where you can see some selected episodes of some ancient TV series.

The complete list so far (links to Wikipedia articles for reference):

Some of you might note that Mad About You, Just Shoot Me! and Married... With Children are staples of Canwest's TVtropolis retro TV channel. The Facts of Life, Good Times, Maude and Who's the Boss? are aired on Canwest's Déjà View super-retro channel.

So far it's just a smattering of about a dozen episodes from each of the series, but the collection will grow from there. The number of series will probably also expand as Canwest negotiates streaming rights for the shows out of the money they could be spending on bonuses for young sarcastic copy editors at their metro newspapers...

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Globaltv.com redesigned

April 17, 2009 – 12:54 am| Posted in TV, Web design

Global TV made a big announcement about its website redesign. It includes 30 "refurbished microsites" (read: branded pages for each show), an "up-to-the-minute Twitter function" (read: link to Twitter account), an "enhanced" and "dynamically updated" schedule guide (read: a schedule) and coming soon a "newly revamped search engine" (read: they're fixing the search engine).

The new website also includes a new video player, which most Canadians still don't know gives them access to Family Guy and House on demand. (Though it still doesn't work properly for me.)

And it's got lots of boxes with rounded corners, scrolling Flash menus and gradients, which we all know are required in any properly-designed site of this era.

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CTV, Global want to be like TQS

November 25, 2008 – 12:20 am| Posted in Opinion, TV

Hey, remember back when the CRTC let TQS get away with having virtually no local programming because it was strapped for cash?

Well now that a recession is on the horizon, the big guns – CTV and Global – are suddenly losing money by the barrel too. They want their local programming restrictions eased.

Considering local news and information programming from all the networks, including CBC, is a joke, they've got some nerve demanding more favours so they can cut even more.

Broadcast TV stations are given access to the airwaves (and preferential spots on the dial, assuming such a thing exists) in exchange for making a commitment to local programming. If we forgo that commitment, what's the point in giving these people broadcast licenses?

Then again, with 90 per cent of Canadians using cable or satellite services, perhaps a broadcast transmitter isn't as important as it used to be. They might be perfectly content moving to cable.

Here's another suggestion: In exchange for lowering your requirements on local programming, we end the CRTC's simultaneous substitution rule, which forces cable and satellite providers to replace U.S. channels (and commercials) with Canadian ones when they run the same programming.

Of course, simsub is a cash cow for the networks, and they'll scream at the top of their lungs if there's even a suggestion of removing it. But if the networks aren't doing anything for us, why should we do anything for them?

The CRTC's goal is the protection of Canadian culture and the regulation of its broadcasting industry, not ensuring the profitability of the big media empires. Let's hope they remember that.

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Nothing else on Sunday night?

November 21, 2008 – 12:38 am| Posted in TV

Global is taking the unusual step of simulcasting the 24 special on both its Global and E! television networks this Sunday.

Is there a point to this? Is there a household that gets E! (the old CH stations) but not Global?

Whatever, I'll be watching the Grey Cup anyway.

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Globaltv.com to stream Family Guy, 24

November 7, 2008 – 3:10 am| Posted in Business, TV, Video

Canwest (disclosure: my employer) has announced that it has signed an online streaming agreement with Fox which will give it Canadian online distribution rights to Family Guy, 24, Prison Break and Bones. This is in addition to House, Heroes and .. uhh ... all those great Canadian programs that Global produces, like ... uhh ... that thing about the hair salon... yeah.

The full episodes are streamable on Global TV's video site here, which a lot of people still don't know about. CTV has a similar site at watch.ctv.ca for its programs and programs owned by its specialty channels, such as ER, Grey's Anatomy and the Daily Colbert with Stephen Stewart.

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Can you bribe with charity?

October 28, 2008 – 6:36 pm| Posted in Media

The Globe and Mail, never one to hesitate to point out even the slightest lapse on the part of Canwest-owned media properties, has a story about Global Television giving $5,000 to charity in exchange for an interview.

Normally, (respectable) journalists refuse to pay for interviews because doing so would encourage people to make up stories for money.

In this case, though, the money went to a charity, and not to the person being interviewed.

Does that make it ethical? I don't know. But I'm sure this will become a discussion at a journalism class somewhere.

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Global TV opens foreign bureaus

August 27, 2008 – 1:27 am| Posted in TV

Global News has announced that it is sending five of its journalists to foreign bureaus to report for Global National. This follows a similar move a while back to open foreign bureaus for the Canwest News Service print and web news wire. Among them are two Montrealers (and ex-Global Quebec reporters), Stuart Greer (in London) and Ben O'Hara-Byrne (in Beijing), as well as weekend Global National anchor Tara Nelson (in London).

(Full disclosure: I work for The Gazette, which is owned, along with Global, by Canwest.)

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Global Quebec’s fake local news

August 7, 2008 – 9:26 pm| Posted in Montreal, Opinion, TV

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

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

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

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.

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Global’s got it

June 4, 2008 – 3:52 pm| Posted in Opinion, TV

Number of new shows coming this fall to Global TV and its sister network E!: 8

Number of those produced in Canada: 0

UPDATE: They announced their original lineup today. It includes the new Bob & Doug Mackenzie show.

UPDATE: Global's got hot feet.

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Global TV outsourcing local news production

October 5, 2007 – 4:04 pm| Posted in Montreal, TV

Global

LCN was the first with the news: Global TV is laying off 200 employees across Canada, and shutting down its Quebec City and Sherbrooke bureaus.

Quebec City, which had a skeleton staff in a small building, was mostly a news-gathering operation. There were no studios there and the only original program was a half-hour-a-week repackaging of news reports called "QC Magazine" (it's unclear if that show will continue to be produced). The only people left will be a reporter at the National Assembly and a few others covering the local beat.

Sherbrooke, meanwhile, was already vacant. The bureau there consisted of a reporter and cameraman and hasn't been producing anything in months (the reporter was reassigned and the cameraman quit after a leave of absence).

It's not just here. The Maritimes, where 41 jobs were cut (11 in Saint John, 30 in Halifax), cancelled yesterday's 11pm newscast.

In all, about half of the job cuts come east of Montreal.

CanWest, which issued this BS-laden press release about how it'll consolidate news gathering in a multimillion-dollar broadcast centre, laughingly called it a "progressive approach to local news production" and mentions HDTV as a positive result of this decision. (Someone want to explain to me how local news staff impedes the introduction of HDTV?) Then they get into how this is going to work:

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.

In other words, newscast will involve local anchors in front of green screens. Footage of them in front of their "virtual sets" will be beamed to Toronto along with reporters' news packages. People in Toronto will actually produce the newscasts, and then beam them back to local broadcasting transmitters.

This idea is hardly new. CBC TV and radio use similar techniques (sending their signal to Toronto and then having them send it back to their transmitters), though their production facilities are still local. And recently, CBC decided to reverse a decision years ago to cut local evening newscasts from an hour to a half-hour. That decision killed Montreal's CBC Newswatch newscast as a major force in Montreal, handing the market over to CFCF. The decision to re-invest in local news helped the newscast slightly, but it's still way behind.

The new Global broadcast centres, where 50 employees will be reassigned (in addition ot the 200 laid off), will be located in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto. (Doesn't that sound a bit skewed westward to you?). Funny how most of the cuts are in the East while all of the new jobs are in the West.

In a memo sent to CanWest employees (which newspapers like The National Post got hold of somehow), management explains the real reason behind the cuts:

"Stations in the two regions are underperforming financially, according to the memo."

In case it wasn't obvious from their prime-time schedule and E! network, Global believes in profit, not local TV production. The layoffs will save the company up to $10 million a year. But don't expect the savings to go to regional news-gathering. Instead, they'll use it to acquire more cable channels that do little but rebroadcast American TV shows.

Naturally, some people are pissed about the news, and feel it will erode local news coverage. (CanWest makes it seem as if it's just production and not journalism that will be affected, but editorial cuts in Quebec City and Sherbrooke tell a different story.)

That's what's so funny. The reason Global is doing so badly monetarily is because they don't have viewers for their newscasts. They don't have viewers because they put on crappy newscasts. These cuts will make the quality deteriorate even further and drive even more people to competing regional news from CBC and CTV. Global is shooting itself in the foot in its rush to the bottom. But they don't care. Their profits lie in rebroadcasting American content. If they could get away with having no original production whatsoever, they would do it in a heartbeat.

CRTC must step in

But what about CKMI's CRTC broadcasting license? Doesn't this go against the rules by which we offer them free access to our airwaves?

Here's what the license says about their investment obligations:

With respect to specific tangible benefits, the Commission notes the applicant's commitment to expend over a projected seven-year period, $9.64 million on additional programming to be acquired from third-party producers and program developers. This total will include $3.16 million to be spent on new Canadian entertainment programming for national distribution and $180,000 to be expended in new programming development investment. The licensee also proposes to expend $2.1 million to license and broadcast during the evening broadcast period on CKMI-TV, and on the entire CanWest Global system in circumstances that ensure national exposure, six one-hour special events programs produced by Quebec independent producers, during each year of the licence term. It also notes TVA-CW's commitment to acquire and broadcast during the evening broadcast period on CKMI-TV, a minimum of eight music and variety specials produced by Quebec independent producers, during each year of the licence term, at a projected cost of $2.8 million over seven years.

When was the last time you remember seeing Quebec-based special-events programming on Global? They barely even cover provincial elections.

The applicant further committed to co-license with CanWest, in each year of the licence term, a "Movie of the Week", produced by a Quebec independent producer, to be broadcast in French on the TVA network, and in English on the entire CanWest Global system, including CKMI-TV. The Commission notes the applicant's commitment to expend $1.4 million in this regard over a seven-year period.

The main issue is original regional programming (because Global Quebec is a regional network, it does not have to produce local programming and can offer no local advertising). They are required to provide 18 hours of original local programming a week, including news. This is largely filled with This Morning Live, the morning talk show of fluff produced out of Montreal, that runs three hours a day or 15 hours a week. The half-hour weekday evening newscast gives another 2.5 hours a week, and QC Magazine fills out the remaining half-hour.

In other words, Global Quebec already provides the absolute bare-minimum of local programming.

CanWest isn't stupid (OK, they're stupid, but they're not THAT stupid). They'll abide by the letter of their broadcasting license and keep the minimums they're required to have. But in terms of the spirit of local news production, they're clearly running a scam.

The solution is simple: The CRTC should review Global TV's licenses in Quebec and the Maritimes, and consider suspending them in places like Sherbrooke where they have given up on covering local issues.

Elsewhere in the blogosphere:

UPDATE (Oct. 8): The Globe has a follow-up story tying this to the overall decline of local TV news, and how national networks drowning in profits from simulcasting U.S. programming and taking advantage of CRTC rules are complaining that their bare-bones requirements for locally-produced programming are too much to bear.

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