CBC to lay off hundreds, cut production cost

 Facing diminishing advertising revenues and demands for budget cuts from the federal government, CBC/Radio-Canada announced Monday it would shed about 10 per cent of its work force and reduce production, in an effort to address a budget shortfall of $125-million in the next fiscal year.

Catherine Tait, the public broadcaster’s president and chief executive officer, said during a meeting with staff Monday afternoon that a total of 800 jobs, including 200 vacant positions, would be cut.

The broadcaster said in a news release that the CBC and Radio-Canada would each be losing 250 positions. The remaining 300, it said, would come from technology and infrastructure “and other corporate divisions.”

Some of the 600 union and non-union layoffs, it said, “will begin immediately,” with the rest to take effect over the next 12 months. (Globe and Mail)

TVO strike ending!

Dozens of workers at Ontario’s public broadcaster will return to their jobs Monday after voting this weekend to accept a new collective agreement and end a strike that’s stretched on for nearly three months, the Canadian Press reports.

TVO says the accepted offer includes a wage increase of 7.7 per cent over three years — three per cent retroactive to 2022, 2.75 per cent in 2023 and 1.75 per cent in 2024.

“Everyone at TVO is looking forward to having our team at full strength once again and focusing our efforts on delivering the important educational content and current affairs journalism TVO is known for,” CEO Jeffrey Orridge said in a news release. (CP)

Metroland newspapers in bankruptcy

Toronto Star publisher Nordstar Capital LP announced plans to put Metroland Media Group, its regional newspaper business, into bankruptcy protection on Friday.The move. eliminated 605 jobs, or two-thirds of Metroland’s work force, and will convert more than 70 weekly papers into digital-only publications.Nordstar-owned Metroland launched the court-supervised restructuring after suffering what the company called “unsustainable financial losses stemming from the changing preferences of consumers and advertisers.” Court filings show Metroland owes creditors $74.2-million. (From the Globe and Mail)

Bell making major cuts in CTV news!

 The changing world! Bell Media has cut hundreds of CTV news staff including the Ottawa bureau steadies Glen McGregor and Joyce Napier as well as Tom Walter in Los Angeles and Paul Workman in London. Are people no longer watching TV news? Just getting news online? 

Brian McKenna dead at 77

Brian McKenna, long-time documentary film maker and a producer of CBC's The Fifth Estate, died Friday. at the age of 77, the CBC reports..

McKenna was best known for the award-winning series The Valour and the Horror. The three-part series examining Canadian involvement in three battles during the Second World War was the subject of controversy after its release and led to a five-week investigation by the Senate, a CRTC hearing, a $500 million lawsuit and a CBC ombudsman's report.