[SteelTown]

Canwest head says CH-TV programming unsustainable

November 22, 2008
Daniel Nolan
The Hamilton Spectator

Canwest Global head Leonard Asper is quoted on a website as saying the amount of local programming produced by CH-TV cannot be sustained.

"We're doing 35 hours a week in places like Hamilton and Victoria," the industry website Cartt.ca quoted Asper telling analysts in a conference call last week after his company announced 560 layoffs, 14 at CH-TV, due to massive losses.

It said Asper noted this cannot be sustained and predicted, "There's going to be a new norm in the obligations."

Asper's comments have come out at the same time he held a closed-circuit town-hall meeting Thursday with Global and E! staff (CH-TV is part of E!), in which he touched on the issue of obtaining flexibility in local broadcasting requirements from the CRTC.

His comments sent some CH-TV staff reeling as they deal not only with staff cuts, but the cancellation of four shows that will see the station's local hours drop to 37 hours from 41.5 hours Dec. 1.

"Almost nothing surprises us anymore," said Nick Garbutt, president of Local 1100 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, which represents CH-TV's members.

He expects Canwest to seek a reduction of CH-TV's hours when its licence comes up for renewal in April.

Canwest spokesperson John Douglas was on the conference call and said yesterday, "I honestly don't know if he (Asper) made that comment or not, but if you go to the end of that quote ... ultimately, it will be up to the CRTC to determine every licence. It's not something we can unilaterally do."

He noted CTV has also asked for flexibility on requirements relating to conventional television.

"The conventional television model ... is broken. Today in the digital world, the cost structure is very, very different, and that model has not kept up with the time."