CHCH hanging on by a thread

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CHCH hanging on by a thread

Postby Howaboutthat » Fri Dec 11, 2015 2:56 pm

Parent declares bankruptcy, newscasts cancelled.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2396083/chch- ... ar-report/
Houston, We're dealing with morons!.
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Re: CHCH hanging on by a thread

Postby Russ_Byth » Fri Dec 11, 2015 3:09 pm

CHCH channel scales back local news in effort to cut costs

David Friend , The Canadian Press
Published Friday, December 11, 2015 4:52PM EST

TORONTO -- Hamilton's CHCH channel is cutting back on local news in an attempt to right its troubled finances.
The broadcaster broke into its regular news programming on Friday to announce the changes.
Romen Podzyhun, chief executive of CHCH's parent company Channel Zero, told viewers the channel would not be airing its 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news broadcasts on Friday.
Podzyhun did not give a reason for the one day stoppage, but said the station would resume reduced local coverage on Monday.
He says CHCH will air fewer overall hours of news programming, but will be able to continue to deliver local stories to the community.
Unifor media sector director Howard Law told The Canadian Press that in a briefing with a lawyer for Channel Zero he was told CHCH was planning to reduce its local programming from 80 hours to 25 hours a week.
CHCH has been in operation since 1954, covering the Hamilton, Halton and Niagara region.
The channel has faced financial turbulence over the past decade. In 2009, Channel Zero snapped up CHCH-TV from struggling media giant Canwest Global Communications Corp., turning it into an over-the-air news station which aired older Hollywood movies in the evening.
Eventually that business model shifted to airing more popular TV shows alongside news programming.
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Re: CHCH hanging on by a thread

Postby jon » Fri Dec 11, 2015 3:11 pm

That does not bode well for 600 KHz getting back on the air in Vancouver, as CHCH parent Channel Zero has an application for the frequency before the CRTC.

Obviously, the impact on people is much less, given the size of CHCH's staff, while 600 is only a part-time responsibility for someone in management.
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Re: CHCH hanging on by a thread

Postby Big Voice » Fri Dec 11, 2015 4:14 pm

It seems a shame they couldn't have held the announcement till after Christmas. If you're broke, what's a couple more weeks.
What a Christmas for those folks. :bigtree:
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Re: CHCH hanging on by a thread

Postby Dan Sys » Sat Dec 12, 2015 11:28 am

Jon.....do you have some inside info that Channel Zero has reapplied for 600 in Vancouver? The only groups that I am aware of are Sher-E-Punjab who applied for a new AM station and South Asian Broadcasting who applied for a CKYE repeater on FM in Surrey. Those triggered off the "Call For Applications". The CRTC has yet to release details on who else has applied, however that information should be made available any day now as the deadline for submissions was almost 3 months ago.

https://services.crtc.gc.ca/pub/instanc ... CA&lang=en
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Re: CHCH hanging on by a thread

Postby jon » Sat Dec 12, 2015 12:48 pm

Dan is right. Channel Zero's original application for 600 KHz was denied in August 2014 and there is no way to know yet whether they have re-applied under the June 2015 Call for Applications.

Their original web site, http://biz600.ca/, is still alive, but does not appear to have been updated since 2013, so I would have to side with Dan on this, that they did not re-apply.

On the other hand, re-applying would have to be a lot less labour-intensive than the original application, so it almost seems silly not to. Perhaps their financial difficulties were already apparent last June.
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Re: CHCH hanging on by a thread

Postby xwdcatvb » Sat Dec 12, 2015 7:58 pm

I know the two factors, frequency and site, weren't 'married', but if any licence is eventually issued for re-activating a local signal on 600, the new op will face a challenge finding a site.

It's not as if they can go cap-in-hand to Pattison and aay, hey, we can take some unused plant off your hands. C-ISL/650 has already grabbed that.

Which raises the question: why isn't multiplexing used more in Canada? Yes, I know complications exist with varying pattern requirements, but it doesn't seem to happen in this country as much as in the US.

If the three existing 600 towers could be configured for 650, could they carry a 600 signal as well, as of old?

Auckland in NZ, admittedly with all non-directionals, accommodates all 16 AM'ers on two adjacent towers. Wellington recently had to consolidate five of its (I think eight or nine AM'ers) from three down to one tower because two structures were threatening to topple from corrosion.
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Re: CHCH hanging on by a thread

Postby jon » Sat Dec 12, 2015 9:26 pm

My understanding is that Pattison still owns the site, and is leasing its use to Newcap for CISL. Assuming that is indeed true, then Pattison could easily also lease it to anyone who might get a license for 600.

CISL had to take a power cut to use the existing towers for 650. There was no rearrangement of towers, so 600 could again come back to life on that site. With 10,000 watts, of course.

The only caveat to all this is that I don't know what the technical requirements are for sharing AM towers. I cannot think of any example that has two stations that close in frequency, so I don't know for certain that that is not a problem.
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Re: CHCH hanging on by a thread

Postby Mike Cleaver » Sat Dec 12, 2015 10:15 pm

Co-siting AMs with shared towers is fairly common but requires very talented engineers to make it work properly.
Local example of excellent work is the now Bell site for 1410 and I think Team in Delta along Highway 99.
It cost a fortune to do it correctly and Vancouver's top engineers all worked on the site, custom building some of the tuning components.
If it's done properly, there is no interaction between the stations using the site.
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54 years experience at some of Canada's Premier Broadcasting Stations
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Re: CHCH hanging on by a thread

Postby jon » Sun Dec 13, 2015 11:45 am

A careful read of this article indicates that it is not Channel Zero, but Local News subsidiary Channel 11 L.P., that is declaring bankruptcy.

CHCH TV suspends newscasts amid bankruptcy and restructuring moves
Hamilton Spectator
By Natalie Paddon

Nightly newscasts on CHCH TV are being cut back starting next week as part of a massive restructuring of local news at the station.

The 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. broadcasts will now air only Monday to Friday and the 11 p.m. news will be slashed to 30 minutes from an hour, Chris Fuoco, vice-president of sales and marketing at Channel Zero, CHCH's parent company, said Friday night.

A handful of other programs including the Noon News, Morning Live First Edition, the daytime rolling news program News Now, Square Off and Sportsline are also being taken off the air, he said.

Staff learned Friday afternoon the entity that created local news for CHCH TV – Channel 11 L.P. – had filed for bankruptcy. Newscasts were cancelled for Friday and the remainder of the weekend.

All 129 full-time employees and 38 part-time employers were let go, Fuoco said.

Moving forward, positions have been offered to 58 full-time employees and 23 part-time employees, he said.

Fuoco said the offers made were for comparable positions and wages.

The offers of employment have come from a privately held numbered company that does not have Channel Zero as its parent company, Fuoco said.

"It has a management contract with CHCH to provide news."

Fuoco says employees have not been given a deadline to accept the positions, but they're being asked to make a decision on an "expedited basis."

But newsroom staffers said they were told they had until Sunday night to accept.

"We need to understand what our staffing contingent looks like on Monday," Fuoco said. "Our goal is to be back with news on the air with news by Monday."

Scott Urquhart was off Friday, but came in after getting calls from the station.

The 60-year-old who had worked there for 35 years was one of the ones not offered employment.

He said he left with his belongings in his arms.

"I've come to expect that's the way it is these days," he said. "There's no golden parachute. It's pretty hard: 'Get your marching papers and goodbye.'"

"There was a lot of shock," he added. "People weren't really showing a lot of hurt or sadness. There were a few tears, for sure, but most people seemed pretty resigned."

Most staff left with only their belongings and were escorted out by security guards. They were told not to clean out their desks because they would be allowed in later to do that.

Channel Zero chair and CEO Romen Podzyhun went on the air Friday at 4 p.m. to tell viewers local news would return on Monday. Fuoco said the company wanted to speak directly to viewers about the changes they can expect.

"This new reality put us in an untenable situation and as a result, in order to ensure the continued broadcast of CHCH, we've made some significant changes to our programming schedule," Podzyhun said on air. "Decisions like these are hardest because they impact the personal lives of so many colleagues we care deeply about deeply."

A press release issued by Channel Zero said Morning Live – the station's morning show – will return Tuesday.

With the changes, CHCH is expected to reduce its local programming to 17.5 hours a week from 80 hours, Fuoco said. With CHCH's licence with the CRTC, it must have seven hours, he added.

Employees began asking questions Friday morning after money was unexpectedly deposited in some of their bank accounts.

Fuoco said the deposits included wages earned, expenses as well as accrued vacations.

"We made sure that any full-time employee received at least $4,000."

Part-time employees received at least $1,000.

MNP Ltd. is the trustee that will be taking over the process, Fuoco said. The creditor's meeting is scheduled for Dec. 21, he noted.

Unifor national representative Liz Marzari, who represents CHCH, condemned the way the company went about the situation.

Marzari said staff were locked out of their payroll system and the company did not respond to calls from Unifor all day despite rumours swirling.

"We were sitting at the bargaining table with them yesterday," she said. "To me, that's unconscionable."

The union is holding a strategy meeting Saturday and will do what it can to support the employees, she said.

The station was bought by Channel Zero in Toronto in 2009. It was on the verge of going off the air then when CanWest Global collapsed.

Greg O'Brien, the Westdale-based editor and publisher of online industry magazine Cartt.ca, described the news as unfortunate, but not surprising given the growing challenges facing TV news networks.

"They're great for local news, but man, it's expensive to do," he said of the station.

As he understands it, local advertising is still strong, but the national advertising dollars — the real bread and butter — just isn't there.

For example, CHCH must keep its over-the-air transmitters running at all times to maintain their must-carry status on cable, O'Brien said.

That can cost between $15,000 and $30,000 a month in hydro power alone. Plus the costs of news trucks and staff that generate local news, he noted.

CHCH was one of just two independent news stations left in Canada. The other, CHEK TV, is in Victoria. It has been owned by its employees since it flirted with closure in 2009.

WHAT IT MEANS

Staff

129 full-time and 38 part-time positions cut

58 full-time and 23 part-time offers sent out

Programming

Morning Live First Edition being cut, Morning Live will run from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

No noon news

No Square Off

No Sportsline

6 p.m. news will only run Monday through Friday

11 p.m. newscast is being cut from to 30 minutes from one hour

Hours

Hours of local programming cut to 17.5 a week from 80.
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Re: CHCH hanging on by a thread

Postby Russ_Byth » Sun Dec 13, 2015 12:02 pm

jon wrote:A careful read of this article indicates that it is not Channel Zero, but Local News subsidiary Channel 11 L.P., that is declaring bankruptcy.


As it said in the first story link in the thread.
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Re: CHCH hanging on by a thread

Postby jon » Sun Dec 13, 2015 12:07 pm

Russ_Byth wrote:
jon wrote:A careful read of this article indicates that it is not Channel Zero, but Local News subsidiary Channel 11 L.P., that is declaring bankruptcy.


As it said in the first story link in the thread.

Well, it depends when you read that article. It ends with this note:
EDITOR’S NOTE: Global News previously reported the parent company of CHCH had declared bankruptcy. It was not the parent company, but the company that provides the station with its news content.
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