TORONTO – Rogers Media today announced the closure of its 18-month old all-Toronto news station CityNews Channel, as well as some news programming cancellations at OMNI.
“Today, we made changes to the company’s television strategy to reflect evolving viewer habits and the global structural shift in advertising,” said Rogers Broadcasting president Scott Moore, in a statement. “Moving forward, we will focus our broadcast news resources in Toronto on 680News and CityNews on City.”
Programming changes have also been made at OMNI Television, where its English-language South Asian newscast is cancelled and production operations in Alberta have ceased. “We remain committed to ethnic programming and will deliver news in four other languages, as well as continue to air programming in more than 40 languages,” added Moore.
The closures will see 2.5% of the company’s broadcast workforce (62 jobs) cut. “While difficult, these changes enable us to continue to focus our efforts where we know the market is growing, while helping us to effectively manage our costs,” added Moore.
The company has not yet made up its mind what to do with the slot in the channel lineup (which is channel 15 on Rogers Cable in Toronto) and for now is airing some live cameras and graphics with audio from Rogers news radio station 680News. Other BDUs will make up their own minds what to do with the slot.
