Wednesday, January 20, 2010

CityTV layoffs

This is sad -- it's is a blow to local news coverage in Canada -- also a blow to some good reporters -- although they should find new work quickly:

http://mobile.thestar.com/mobile/NEWS/article/753004

January 20, 2010

Raju Mudhar      

Entertainment Reporter     
 

Citytv has restructured newsroom operations across the country, including several cuts at its flagship Toronto station, with layoffs of a number of employees, including well-known on-air talent and production staff.

...

Koreen Ott, director of marketing for Rogers Media Television in Toronto, would not comment on specific personnel matters, but other Citytv staff confirmed that Mroczkowski and at least six other news staff were laid off.

They include Farah Nasser, Lara Di Battista, Pam Seatle, Marianne Dimain, Merella Fernandez and Michael Serapio.

...
Mroczkowski had reportedly been working at the station for 23 years, and Di Battista and Seatle were also longtime veterans of the station.

Rogers did not say how many production staff were let go, although some online estimates ran as high as 35.

Citytv's noon news program, CityNews at 5, Citynews International and weekend newscasts have all been cancelled, Ott said.

CP24, the all-news channel owned by CTV, immediately launched new newscasts at 5 and 5:30 p.m. weekdays to fill the void.


James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4

416 225 2777

www.jmortonmusings.blogspot.com

5 comments:

Skinny Dipper said...

Even though I never did work for Rogers, I did work at 299 Queen Street West with Chumcity. There was a sense of innovation with the kinds of programs Citytv produced, the open-format news program, and its willingness to take risks with the program schedule. Citytv aired blue movies in a city and province that was Sunday morning conservative. Programs like Fashion Television, Media Television, Sex TV, Queer TV, and Ed-the-Sock would probably not get a chance to make it on air today. The risk would be too high for today's conglomerates. When Much Music first aired, the set seemed like organized chaos. The viewer didn't know where the host was going to go next. Today's Much Music viewer gets a fixed position of a host. Today's Much Music viewer doesn't get to hear much music on Much Music. It's mainly a pablum of cheap reality programs with a little bit of music thrown in.

Now that Rogers owns Citytv, I do feel a loss in the sense that the station has lost its community feel. Great people started at Citytv and some went onto better things: John (JD) Roberts, Adam Vaughan, the late Bill Cameron, and David Onley (the Lt. Governor of Ontario). Citytv was the first to give different groups of people a voice who didn't have one elsewhere: gays and lesbians, visible minorities, and disabled for example.

I do think there is a loss of local programming as much as I think there is a loss of our local MP's. They both still exist in structure, but not in spirit.

Skinny Dipper said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chef Nairby said...

could these layoffs have anything to do with money roagers may have lost so far with the bills in toronto deal?

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