CHCH building sold, Hamilton TV station looking for new home
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/691563...amilton-tv-station-looking-for-new-home/
The CHCH building at 163 Jackson St. W. has been sold and the station owners are now asking viewers to help choose a new home.
CHCH posted a message on its website Monday that parent company Channel Zero last week accepted an offer on the building. It encourages viewers who know of an "awesome space within the vibrant heart of the city" to let CHCH know about it.
However, the local television station will continue to operate at the same location for at least two-and-a-half years because it is leasing the space from its new owners.
Chris Fuoco, Channel Zero's vice-president of sales and marketing, said the sale is set to close on November 15.
The company has been looking for a new, more modern facility since spring when the property was listed for sale.
Fuoco said Monday he did not know if the station would stay close to the downtown or city core.
"There are merits to the downtown. It has a lot of traffic, but it is close to city hall. There are lots of other good places (to relocate to), so it's hard to say."
The station will have about 120 full and part-time staff by Oct. 29 when it introduces its new half-hour broadcasts of evening news on weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.
Fuoco would not divulge the purchase price yet nor identify the property's new buyers other than to say they were "some local business people who have a series of real estate investments in the city".
The asking price was not disclosed when it was listed in May and the realtor required interested parties to sign a confidentiality agreement to do the same.
In December, a Channel Zero subsidiary company that was formed for the sole purpose of employing CHCH's workers, declared bankruptcy. It then terminated about 170 employees without having to pay them severances. A new company was then formed to hire some of them back.
CHCH has been in a designated historic home built in 1850, since its inception in 1954. It expanded with a large addition in 1983.