Many have speculated on here that CTVgm was only keeping the /A\ stations around to broadcast their prime-time programming during the Olympics. Now that the Vancouver games are over, the question is will they keep them for another 2 1/2 years for the London games. With the analog shutdown scheduled before then, it seems unlikely. The /A\ stations can be grouped into three categories:
/A\ Atlantic is only on cable and satellite, so it isn't affected by the analog shutdown, and may continue as is (it may even become a national station).
This leaves the Broadcast stations, which include:
CKVR - Barrie, ON
CFPL - London, ON
CHRO - Pembroke/Ottawa, ON
CHWI - Wheatley/Windsor, ON
CIVI - Victoria, BC
Some may be sold, some may be merged into the CTV network and some may be shut down. This thread is to discuss what could/should happen to each of these stations.
It's in Southwest London, in the middle of a subdivision. It was originally built in an area outside London but as London grew development grew around it on all four sides. You can see the location on Google Maps:
There is one big problem with selling the property though. CFPL-FM (FM96), owned by Corus, has its transmitting antenna on the tower as they were previously co-owned with Channel 10. Anyone who knows the history of CFPL-FM will know a transmitter re-location would result in a large power decrease, something the station would not be happy with.
As CTV owns both CKCO and CFPL, and as CTV is no longer an officially licensed network (as of circa 2000), CTV can do whatever it wants with the two stations as long as they meet minimum Canadian content requirements and minimum local programming requirements.
As part of BCE's proposal to acquire the remaining 85% of CTV, it has included in its proposed tangible benefits package an investment of $27 million in /A\. The details can be found in the ZIP file attached to Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2010-926. See the file "DM#1472900 - 2010-1506-6 - AddInfo - benefits letter.doc" for details. Here's the relevant section:
5. Sustain Local Programming in /A\ Channel Markets ($27M)
As the Commission is aware, the /A\ stations have sustained sizable financial losses over the years, which are projected to continue. In order to provide the best opportunity for success for these stations and continue to serve their local audiences, BCE proposes to dedicate a portion of benefits resources to these stations. Funding would be allocated to support their digital transition and HD infrastructure, and partially fund the continued provision of local programming on these stations through the following:
Invest in digital rebroadcast transmitters in Barrie, Ontario (pending CRTC approval) in order to extend /A\ Barrie programming throughout Southwestern Ontario and serve local audiences in the region. This would put its station on a level playing field with all other over-the-air stations in the Greater-Toronto-Area.
Transition to digital /A\ stations in Ottawa, London, Windsor, Barrie and Victoria.
Invest in HD conversion of all /A\ station master controls to facilitate the availability of digital content in those markets.
Dedicate resources to local programming on /A\ stations to off-set some of the losses that are expected to continue.
But BCE also argues that no tangible benifits package is required for this transaction, so we'll have to wait and see what the CRTC says. (The hearing is scheduled for February 8, 2011.)
This is good news for the /A\ network. In addition to funding a conversion to HD, it looks like they want to push their signal into the GTA (better than it currently goes, that is) and further throughout Southwestern Ontario by means of repeaters.
Purely speculation, but SUN may have a buyer for their digital OTA infrastructure....
They mention the GTA specifically; and bringing CKVR's signal in line with other GTA stations. And while this could involve rolling the other /A\ local stations into repeaters of Barrie, it seems they also aim to serve the GTA better through a repeater there--where one doesn't currently exist.
I read it the same way as well. It also sounds like they may still produce local news for the Ottawa, London, Windsor, Barrie and Victoria stations. That's basically the way /A\ is managed now so there will be little difference.
With Sun Tv going off OTA channel 40 is available in Toronto after the cut-off date and they could use CFTO-dt current transmitter and equipment.I doubt CRTC will go for this tho.
Instead of a repeater if they just bumped the power way up it would solve the issue of the signal not getting into the Golden Horseshoe... but maybe then would have to deal with FCC which is probably why they want to go a lower power repeater route...
Station allocations (frequency, power, pattern) are done by agreement between IC and the FCC. The CRTC is keeping /A\ out of Toronto due to their regulations regarding station ownership in large markets. Even if a frequency is available, the CRTC would not allow /A\ to be based in Toronto as long as CTV owns it.
Receiving it in the GTA is one thing, moving it to Toronto or placing a transmitter there is another. I'm sure CTV would love to do that but I doubt the CRTC would allow it.
It is hard to say. CHRO was given permission to build an Ottawa repeater in the 90's, back when Baton owned both it and CJOH (giving Ottawa two CTV stations). The argument was that coverage in Ottawa was essential for its survival since since Pembroke wasn't large enough to support the station. CHRO was later sold to Chum and then bought back by Bell Globemedia (now CTVgm).
It is hard to say. CHRO was given permission to build an Ottawa repeater in the 90's, back when Baton owned both it and CJOH (giving Ottawa two CTV stations). The argument was that coverage in Ottawa was essential for its survival since since Pembroke wasn't large enough to support the station. CHRO was later sold to Chum and then bought back by Bell Globemedia (now CTVgm).
Comparing CHRO Pembroke and CKVR Barrie is like comparing apples and oranges. Pembroke is an extremely small market that isn't showing signs of significant growth. Barrie is a medium-sized market that has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years.
From ratings numbers I saw a number of years ago, there is a lot more loyalty to VR locally than there is to RO, either in Pembroke or Ottawa.
I highly doubt CTVgm would try to move CKVR to Toronto. CHUM tried to target the northern GTA when A-Channel started in 2005, and there were so many complaints they moved the focus back to Barrie/Simcoe County/Muskoka less than two years later.
Comparing CHRO Pembroke and CKVR Barrie is like comparing apples and oranges. Pembroke is an extremely small market that isn't showing signs of significant growth. Barrie is a medium-sized market that has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years.
While it is true that you can't compare the two markets, my point is the CRTC has approved a repeater for a small market station in a large market before and if Bell claims that it is necessary for the station to survive the CRTC might do it again (even if the claim isn't true).
True but take away the Toronto area(Toronto,Missassauga,Scroughbro(SP),Ajax and places like that) and just leave the Barrie and near surrounding areas, would A Barrie still be able to make it?
The only thing that makes /A\ Barrie profitable is the GTA audience. According to 2006 figures, Barrie has a population of 128,430. CFPL (/A\ London) is unprofitable but has a London audience of 352,395, over 500,000 including nearby cities. That grows to over 1,000,000 if you include Kitchener/Waterloo and area. CKCO (CTV Kitchener/Waterloo) also could not make it as an independently owned station, despite a similar sized audience.
I disagree with the idea that independently owned stations are less profitable than network owned ones. While network ownership may provide various efficiencies, they often come at a cost that decreases revenue and in the end profitability.
It is true though that local stations need to be affiliated with a network and given adequate protection in their market. The big problem here is that, with a few notable exceptions, the networks have been permitted to install repeaters of big market stations in small markets. This not only creates unfair competition for the local stations, but it gives the local station fewer options for network affiliation.
Getting back on topic, IMHO, the big problem with /A\ is they get CTV's leftovers when it comes to programming. People may watch /A\ for their local news, but most will then switch to CTV, Global or CITY during prime-time. A station can't survive with basically only 1 hour of viewers a day.
I never said they were, just that CKCO and CFPL were sold to larger networks due to losses. CTV now absorbs those losses into the larger network finances. Local operations have been significantly scaled back (and replaced by network content or repeats) but CTV still claims they run at a loss. Their current financial state is probably due more to the loss of local advertisers than to anything else.
From what I can tell, CKCO was always sold due to either regulatory changes or power plays, not because it was losing money. As for CKCO, it started to loose money when it disaffiliated with CBC (without another affiliation to replace it) and no longer had any network programming to broadcast.
Their current financial state is probably due more to the loss of local advertisers than to anything else.
That certainly could be one contributing factor. Companies will only advertise on a station if people are watching it. For myself here in Ottawa, /A\ is among the least watched stations, mainly because they don't show anything I am interested in watching.
Unless you can access the books...no one can say for sure that Achannel London is not profitable. It is a shame that one of the early pioneers in television is not even a shadow of its original self. Cable and DTH have really lowered the expectations of any local station that at one time was totally protected from any outside channels. Except for a few die hards local television can fold up and blow away. It is not the way of the future. The London Free Press and a number of other Sun papers provide a lot of videos for their respective webpages and can provide immediate coverage. Would suspect that when Sun TV launches they will capitalize on this new way of reporting which in itself will make Achannel London redundant.
Unless you can access the books...no one can say for sure that Achannel London is not profitable. It is a shame that one of the early pioneers in television is not even a shadow of its original self. Cable and DTH have really lowered the expectations of any local station that at one time was totally protected from any outside channels. Except for a few die hards local television can fold up and blow away. It is not the way of the future.
I have no access to books either, but I know about their top-line ratings. Ratings for local news on A London remain very high - it is the highest-rated show in the London region, with about a 15 or 16 rating. I was told this by a CTVgm employee.
Additionally it is the feeling of people I've talked to in the industry that local news has a very strong future as it is in very high demand. The big question is how it will be delivered in the next 20 years.
Trust me...even if you don't watch the local news anymore, a very large number of people will notice if it folds up.
That may be true, but what are the ratings on the other programs they show? Stations cannot survive on 1 hour of viewers a day. I can see why CTVgm wants to give the highest rated shows to their main network as it is available nation wide (except Newfoundland, but that is another story), but then at least have the decency to admit that the reason why the /A\ stations are struggling is that they get fed leftovers. If CTVgm (or Bell if the purchase gets approved) wants the benefits of having a secondary network, they should be willing to absorb the costs. If not, either give them better programming or sell them to someone who will.
With SUN rumoured to be shutting down OTA soon, the competition for Canadian rights for US programs should drop somewhat. This would tend to reduce prices. The purchasing networks' finances should improve.
First of all, SunTV is only in Ontario, so they didn't have much buying power. Secondly, all of SunTV's US programs have been bought by ChannelZero/CHEK, Since they didn't have any US programming of their own, there shouldn't be much change in competition from the shutdown of SunTV (maybe even an increase, as one station has been replaced by three).
The real effect was when CanwestGlobal shut down their secondary network (most recently called E! Canada), but that programming has already been bought up (much of it by Rogers for CityTV). I would argue that with City and Global being stronger than ever, competition is actually going up.
I know for myself, I find that while CTV used to be one of the stations I watched most, I now hardly ever watch it. OTOH, in the past I rarely ever watched CityTV, but now watch it frequently. I am not sure if this is due to a change in programming or a change in taste (or a bit of both).
Why can't they? CFPL's news gathering cost is approaching $0. All they do is take Toronto feeds and WXYZ video.
The 2 major storms this month show why this station is of ZERO value to London residences,
Storm 1 - CHCH had live reports from London all day - CFPL had great coverage by 2 reporters at 6:00 pm - 1 standing outside the station, the other 5 blocks from the station. Somehow no one could find their way downtown as the roads were so bad. Makes one wonder how a CHCH reporter could drive 150 km to reach London.
Storm 2 west of London - great video for 2 days - all from WXYZ + 1 Youtube video by a UWO student being rescued by a chopper. This time a CFPL reporter actually got close to the action with a report from the Strathroy OPP of Snowmobile officers before they went into the 402 disaster area.
That may be the cost of gathering news, but that is not the only expense a station has. Stations need strong prime-time viewership to be profitable. I would argue that few people watch anything on CFPL during prime-time.
As CityTV and GlobalTV get stronger and stronger, I highly doubt if CTVgm (or Bell) can keep two profitable networks. There are options for CFPL to survive, but IMHO, not under the /A\ brand.
It is a shame that one of the early pioneers in television is not even a shadow of its original self. Cable and DTH have really lowered the expectations of any local station that at one time was totally protected from any outside channels.
CFPL had virtually no protection from outside channels since London was also a cable TV pioneer marketplace. Cable TV reached 95% penetration during the 1960s. A CATV system sprang up soon after CFPL was launched and CFPL even allowed Rogers to use it's tower, so competition was obviously not seen as a threat at the time. During this time, CFPL managed to produce many hours of local programming a day, including several hours of local news. There were no simsubs either. CFPL did not start losing money until it disaffiliated with CBC and became an independent station.
Everything that happened to CFPL basically flies in the face of what CTV currently claims.
1. Local programming and news is too expensive and cannot be justified for the /A\ stations. Wrong, since local news is the most watched programming and attracts local advertisers.
2. Cancon production cannot be justified for the same reasons. The history of CFPL proves otherwise.
3. Simsubs are needed to protect Canadian broadcasters. Wrong, since CFPL didn't start losing money until after simsubs became the norm.
4. CRTC regulation is required to protect Canadian broadcasting and Canadian culture. The history of CFPL would seem to say otherwise.
IMHO, Canadians and Canadian broadcasters need to be protected from the likes of companies like CTV and Global. They have destroyed more independent broadcasters and driven away more Canadian viewers than any imagined "threat" from US broadcasters. Canadians also need to be protected from the CRTC, which fosters mediocrity, encourages mismanagement by major networks and drives up costs to consumers. Think I am wrong? Just take a look at CHCH to see what can happen when stations become truly independent and produce their own programming.
If these stations went back to their mom and pop roots they could become profitable again.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums
1.7M posts
114.9K members
Since 2001
A forum community dedicated to Canadian TV, computing and home theatre owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about home audio/video, displays, troubleshooting, styles, projects, DIY’s, product reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!