Thunder Bay could lose its only two commercial TV stations Sept. 1

[mvcg66b3r 97]

Thunder Bay, Ont., could see both its local TV stations sign off for the final time Sept. 1.

 

The stations are currently in the red and running on funds from life insurance policies, not revenue, Don Caron, vice president and general manager of Thunder Bay Electronics told a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) panel in Gatineau, Que., Wednesday.

 

“The reason we’re still operating is that we’re burning those non-broadcast assets to stay in business, awaiting to see if there’s some way we can work out and the Commission can hear our plight of angst, if you will.”

 

This isn’t a threat, Caron said, it’s simply the reality for Thunder Bay Electronics, also known as Dougall Media. The two stations in jeopardy are CKPR and CHFD – Global Thunder Bay, which has local programming along with Shaw Media content.

 

The state of local TV has grown increasingly grim as advertising revenues plummet. The change is due to a number of factors, including competition from speciality channels and Internet content providers such as Netflix.

 

The CRTC panel Wednesday was part of an ongoing public hearing on local and community television.

 

The Thunder Bay stations service an area “bigger than the size of France” Caron said, the only TV stations covering local news in Northwestern Ontario.

 

http://globalnews.ca/news/2481036/thunder-bay-tv-stations-surviving-on-life-insurance-cash-shutdowns-looming/

[Journalist 893]

The shutdown of CKPR and CHFD was going to happen eventually. CHEX and CKWS may be next. Kinda shows what kind of industry Canada has.

 

Also related, the CRTC announced on the first day of the week-long local TV hearing that if the industry doesn't get its act together, more than 50% of Canadian TV stations would be wiped out of existence.

 

The surviving stations you ask? Those who simsub and in a major city, obviously.

[TheRolyPoly 1843]

Are more TV stations shut down in Canada than in America? That seems to be the trend.

[Journalist 893]

Are more TV stations shut down in Canada than in America?

Hell yeah.

[mre29 1338]

Also related, the CRTC announced on the first day of the week-long local TV hearing that if the industry doesn't get its act together, more than 50% of Canadian TV stations would be wiped out of existence.

 

Get its act together how? I haven't been paying attention to Canadian media-related news, so I'm clueless here.

[Viper550 268]

This situation has been caused by several factors:

1. Our networks are almost all O&Os. CTV and CBC have a few "affiliates" (i.e. CHEK and CKWS, and the aforementioned CKPR. CHFD used to be CTV and CKPR was CBC. CHFD later moved to Global, and CKPR later returned to CTV. Outside of the Lloydminster CBC/CTV duopoly, all of CBC's non-O&Os are, ironically, owned by Bell) but other than that, because they're mostly O&O's, individual stations mainly just air a single national schedule adjusted for time zones. The only local programming tends to be newscasts.
   
2. Also because of the above, there's barely any diversity in ownership. If, say, Regina, Saskatchewan were a U.S. city, I would assume that the stations there would probably be Gray/Nexstar/Sinclair bait (oddly enough, there's a small-market radio station chain here, Golden West, that may or may not have took pages from Nexstar's playbook regarding domain names). There USED to be, but Baton's buying spree is what ultimately consolidated CTV.
   
3. No syndication exclusivity/regional protection. Our pay television services frequently, if not always, carry out-of-market stations. There's no blackouts or anything, because they position them for time-shifting.
   

[Journalist 893]

Get its act together how?

 

If there's no investment in Canadian programming (that includes news), or the broadcasters continues the use of simsub, or stations keeps dismissing hundreds of staff, or the CRTC doesn't enable protection of local stations of some sort, or doesn't get with the time of the internet (online-streaming, etc) ... the industry would be run down faster than

.

[Eat News 4738]

If there's no investment in Canadian programming (that includes news), or the broadcasters continues the use of simsub, or stations keeps dismissing hundreds of staff, or the CRTC doesn't enable protection of local stations of some sort, or doesn't get with the time of the internet (online-streaming, etc) ... the industry would be run down faster than

.

 

Sorry to hear about this sad situation. You could try a spectrum auction...or a bake sale.

 

How about another life insurance policy on a few more older employees?

[Journalist 893]

Sorry to hear about this sad situation. You could try a spectrum auction...or a bake sale.

 

The latter can work.

[Eat News 4738]

The latter can work.

 

Well let's all get baked....for Canada of course.

[Journalist 893]

Well let's all get baked....for Canada of course.

:eek: