Rogers responds to communications union, says broadcasters should get their own houses in order

In response to the communication union’s call for CRTC hearings into cuts at Citytv, broadcasters should get their own financial houses in order instead of relying on the commission for help, Jan Innes, vice president of public affairs at Rogers Communications Inc., told The Wire Report. Rogers, which bought Citytv in 2007 for $375 million, announced cuts of 60 jobs at the station last week, representing six per cent of its employees. The layoffs signify the end of many local newscasts for the channel. Rogers maintains that Citytv was not profitable, and that its stations did not seek to participate in the CRTC’s fee-for-carriage hearings on whether cable and satellite companies should compensate broadcasters for carrying fee, over-the-air signals. “Each station has to look after its own financial health,” Innes said in an interview. “We have made some restructuring to Citytv, which we believe will put us on the right path.” In response to the cuts announced last week, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) issued a press release stating that the government should be applying pressure on the CRTC to hold hearings about the matter. “I’m dumbfounded by the lack of action from the CRTC,” Peter Murdoch, vice-president of media at the CEP, told The Wire Report. “To tell you the truth, I’m not sure if we have enough muscle to force it to hold a hearing.” Murdoch said Rogers promised the CRTC it would increase local stations’ resources and their competitiveness; however he said has yet to see positive results. “There are obligations to operating a television station, and one of those is providing the viewers with local news about their communities,” he said. “When you have a ownership that is just solely focused on the bottom line, then these other obligations don’t seem to come into their vision. They are just money hungry.” Murdoch said he hopes Rogers’ decision to cut jobs at Citytv will encourage the government appreciate a sense of urgency in solving the fee-for-carriage debate. “I hope the government would instruct the CRTC to get on with this before more stations go down with their news,” he said. The CRTC said it had no comment on Murdoch’s request for a hearing into the Citytv cuts. But one CRTC official said the commission does not hold hearings into layoffs, and that the issue is likely to be addressed in the commission’s report on fee-for-carriage, expected to be released by March 15.

Rogers responds to communications union, says broadcasters should get their own houses in order

Broadcast | January 25, 2010

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