HAMILTON – The good news is that after more than 60 years on the air, CHCH-TV Hamilton is not closing down.
The bad news is that many people lost their jobs on Friday. All 129 full time and 38 part time employees of Channel 11 LP were officially let go at 4 p.m. on Friday. However, a new company will take its place Monday and of those let go, 58 full time employees and 23 part timers were offered jobs with the new company, according to Channel Zero VP sales and marketing Chris Fuoco. They have until Sunday evening to make a decision whether or not to accept the offers.
After an anxious day fraught with rumours and guessing, CHCH-TV and its parent company, Channel Zero, officially announced late Friday afternoon that it has implemented a restructuring that will allow the channel to remain viable “and for it to continue to deliver local news in the Greater Hamilton area”, says the press release. Employees first noticed something was up Friday morning when they were all paid any outstanding vacation and other wages owing, despite the fact it was not a payday.
“Channel 11 L.P., the entity that has created local news for CHCH since 2009, has… filed for bankruptcy effective today. CHCH is not ceasing operations or going off the air. CHCH and Channel Zero remain committed to the delivery of local news. Starting Monday, CHCH, joined by many of the familiar on-air personalities, will continue to broadcast the local news that viewers have been watching for over 60 years,” says the release.
However, the number of local news hours will be dramatically cut from 80 to 17.5 as the all-day news format will be eliminated. CHCH News Now, Noon News, Square Off and Sportsline are all cancelled. Remaining are the hour-long 6 p.m. newscast, a 30-minute 11 p.m. show and a pared back (7 a.m.-9 a.m.) Morning Live. CRTC regulations call for a minimum of seven hours per week for the station.
The programming which will fill out the rest of the schedule will be announced over the weekend but look for newsmagazines like 20/20 and other daytime programming such as Justice with Judge Mablean to be in there.
"When CHCH was acquired in 2009, funding support for local television was available, along with healthy national advertising revenue. That has since changed dramatically," said Romen Podzyhun, chairman and CEO, Channel Zero. He is likely alluding to the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF), a CRTC mandated fund which was taken from TV subscription bills across the country as a way to shore up funding for local stations. When that fund was eliminated by the CRTC in 2014, CHCH took a $5 million annual hit.
"Despite ongoing efforts over the past two years to make CHCH sustainable following serious cuts to local broadcasting support and declines in national advertising, Channel Zero is no longer in a position to continue subsidizing the losses stemming from the station's local news operations. This decision was extremely difficult but necessary to allow CHCH to remain on the air,” added Podzyhun in the press release.
According to Fuoco, by the end of the first quarter of its fiscal year (November 30), CHCH was losing about $130,000 per week. “We’ve been on a very difficult path for a long time,” he added. While the company’s leadership was hoping for the best, first quarter revenues from national ad sales continued to fall. “The drop in ad sales is getting steeper,” added Fuoco, leaving the company with two options, the restructuring it chose, or closing down altogether.
"We are so grateful and proud of the excellent programming and years of service that the employees of Channel 11 L.P. have given to this community" continued Podzyhun. "Business decisions like this are hardest because they impact the personal lives of people we care about deeply."
While Unifor, the union to which most CHCH employees belonged, decried how employees were told about the news, it also noted in a release that the "decision by CHCH television in Hamilton to file for bankruptcy shows the need to reform the regulations governing local broadcasting."
"This has been an incredibly difficult day. A lot of very talented staff have lost their jobs today, and Hamilton is diminished for it," said Phil Fraboni, president of the Hamilton unit of Unifor Local Media 1 in the release. "Across Canada, local broadcasters are struggling. With a new government in Ottawa, we have an opportunity to act to ensure such cuts are not repeated," added Unifor National president Jerry Dias.
As we have reported, the CRTC is hosting a hearing in Gatineau beginning January 25th to examine the massive challenges facing local broadcasters and we expect commissioners will get an earful from Channel Zero and other local broadcasters. CHCH will continue to exceed the CRTC local broadcasting requirements as part of its commitment to its license and the region, adds the company's release. Furthermore, “Channel Zero looks forward to participating in the CRTC's upcoming hearing on the policy framework for local and community television programming in the New Year.”
CHCH is one of the very few remaining independent traditional broadcasters left in Canada (in addition to CHEK Victoria and NTV in Newfoundland) and was famously purchased during the former CanWest Global Communications’ bankruptcy proceedings by Channel Zero for $6 in 2009.
