Programming, staff cuts likely as a result of new Toronto TV entrant, CHUM tells CRTC

CHUM Ltd. says it may have to cut local programming at its flagship CityTV station because of anticipated revenue losses resulting from the licensing of more over-the-air TV stations in the Toronto market. At the same time, CHUM told a CRTC panel looking at its licence renewal applications earlier this month that it was considering entering new markets to heighten its ability to produce more of its own programming. Peter Palframan, CHUM Television’s VP of finance and administration, told the commission that in a few years, CityTV would have to reduce programming costs by about $2.5 million to counter lower advertising revenues and higher programming costs as new entrants join incumbents vying for commercials and programming for the Toronto market. CHUM acknowledged that the cost-cutting measures would likely mean the loss of camera crews. CHUM also spoke about the possible need to cut an additional $5 million from CityTV’s news department, and to reduce local news and non-news programming from about 45 hours a week closer to the 18 hours required by CRTC regulation. "At the extreme worst-case scenario…by cutting crews and reducing to our absolute bare minimum commitment, we have enough money in these projections to do that…We are going to have to go down in terms of these dollars, to some extent, unless something changes," said Peter Miller, CHUM’s VP of planning and regulatory affairs. CHUM founder Moses Znaimer also told the commission he wanted to meet the U.S. prime time challenge head-on by producing higher cost, high-quality shows. However, he noted the company was "hemmed in" at the moment by near-term financial realities, and pressures from third-party producers attempting to prevent it from being active in the production field. On the bright side, he added that a crucial first step toward producing high-end programming had been taken with CHUM’s acquisition of a station in the Vancouver market. "One of the things that prevented us from moving into the higher cost areas of fiction has always been the fact that we had one solitary little transmitter in one city, with quite a circumscribed signal at that," he noted. "So adding another big market is a partial way to that solution. Perhaps adding one or two other markets would also be an additional piece or two in that puzzle." There has been some speculation that CHUM plans to apply for conventional licences in a couple of cities in western Canada, the foothold of Craig Broadcast Systems Inc. Craig is a new entrant in the Toronto market (see related story in this issue). Rogers Communications Inc. also received a licence for a second ethnic conventional station in the city.

Programming, staff cuts likely as a result of new Toronto TV entrant, CHUM tells CRTC

News | 05/23/2002 4:00 am EDT

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