TORONTO – With low ratings at SUN TV and newspaper readership sliding at The Toronto Sun, owner Quebecor Media is betting that converging the two – and adding more content and high profile personalities – will revive both brands.
As part of a major corporate release today, which included an announcement on consolidating the company’s Ontario printing division, SUN TV (formerly Toronto 1) The Toronto Sun, Canoe.ca and commuter freebie newspaper 24 hours will converge, “into a cross-pollination of news, entertainment, sports and community will be an exciting meeting of styles and formats,” says the press release.
And, by the end of this calendar year, SUN TV will – lock, stock and broadcast centre – move into The Toronto Sun building (really just a few doors down from it’s current downtown Toronto home).
The company will create “a universal desk” where news is sorted and assigned to TV, print and on-line journos (some may do all three) who’ll file for the converged entity, Quebecor’s executive vice-president, corporate affairs, Luc Lavoie, told www.cartt.ca on Monday.
While its too early and too simplistic to think the company will have a team of uber-reporters who file on-line, in print (twice) and on television, “the Toronto Sun people will play a fundamental role (on SUN TV),” added Lavoie. He pointed to two new shows: Inside Jam (an entertainment program weeknights at 7 p.m.) and The Grill Room (a sports panel show weeknights at 10:30, to be hosted by Rogers Radio broadcaster Jeremy John, right) which will feature Sun columnists extensively.
"We are committed to providing funding, resources and our considerable expertise in order to build our Ontario media properties into a strong convergent voice," said Pierre Karl Peladeau, president and CEO of Quebecor Inc., in the press release.
"We want to take the little paper that grew, the legendary Toronto Sun, and help it grow and prosper with the multitude of convergence opportunities afforded us in SUN TV, Canoe.ca and 24 hours. Our intent is to take the Toronto Sun back to its community roots with the benefit of a revitalized multimedia platform. Our objective is to provide our audiences with a unique media environment that they will find stimulating on many different levels."
As many in the TV industry know, Toronto 1 has suffered with low ratings (barely a 1.0 share) since its launch under the Craig Media umbrella in 2003, which led to Craig’s sale to CHUM in 2004 and Toronto 1’s subsequent spin-off to Quebecor Media. The Sun newspaper on the other hand, has had a tough go of it of late in the incredibly competitive Toronto market. Street corners are overflowing with newspaper boxes from the likes of paid dailies: The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, National Post; free dailies Dose and Metro; and weeklies like eye and NOW. The Sun’s readership base has declined steadily in recent quarters.
“Based on Quebecor’s successful convergence model, the Ontario format, while utilizing Quebecor’s strength and expertise, is incorporating a mix of news and community interests creating a larger content pool with increased opportunities… The result will be a convergence format that provides a strong sense of community on-air, online, and in the newspaper,” says the release.
Quebecor has enjoyed a convergence success story in Montreal and across Quebec. Its Star Academie franchise has been the most popularly cited example. The program aired on Quebecor’s broadcaster, TVA, and was promoted heavily and publicized in the company’s newspapers and magazines, leading to a spinning vortex of additional revenue and profit from 2002-’04.
However, in Quebec, the company was also able to use its Videotron distribution platform to offer exclusive VOD and high speed Internet content to additional customers, as well. In Ontario, it has no cable platform.
Some high-profile hirings are on the way, too, says the company. “On a journalistic note, a significant aspect of the plan calls for the revitalization of Sun Media and the flagship Toronto Sun newspaper, back to its roots as a community focused newspaper. To this goal there will be a series of announcements, shortly, about a number of high profile media personalities, who will be joining the Sun to ensure its indispensable role as a unique and vital voice of the city and the province,” adds the release.
The addition of these folks will be in addition to the $110 million already being spent.
To help the company’s understanding of the Ontario media market, Quebecor also announced the establishment of an Ontario Media Advisory Board, chaired by Douglas Bassett.
"Pierre Karl’s vision for media, meeting at the crossroads, is something I am very excited to be a part of and contribute my experience to," said Bassett. "I believe the potential of these properties is enormous and that with the commitment of Quebecor the promise will be fully realized."
Bassett’s famous father John owned The Toronto Telegram (which was shuttered in 1971 and from its ashes sprung The Toronto Sun) and was the founder of Toronto’s CFTO-TV and Baton Broadcasting. Douglas eventually took over for his father and ran Baton for many years as it transitioned to CTV.
Other advisory board members representing the most diverse community in the world and a new publisher of the Toronto Sun will be announced shortly, added the release.
The final part of the $110 million plan involves the company’s huge printing operations. The company will consolidate newspaper printing facilities into one, new state of the art facility that will be located in Toronto’s Islington region. The new print house will be co-owned by Quebecor World and Quebecor Media.
– Greg O’Brien
