BRANDON – The final newscast of CKX-TV Brandon will happen tomorrow at 6 p.m., station owner CTVglobemedia told staff Thursday evening. Thirty-nine employees will lose their jobs.
The company that had announced in July that it was purchasing the station, Bluepoint Investments, has walked away from the $1 deal to buy it, a surprised CTVgm CEO Ivan Fecan told employees today, calling a letter he received from Bluepoint late Thursday an “unanticipated development”.
“Bottom line, they didn’t think there was a sustainable business without satellite coverage, which they cannot get,” said Fecan in a memo to staff.
“Brandon, like many of our smaller stations, is not carried by satellite companies, who say they don’t have room for all of Canada’s local TV stations, while finding plenty of room for foreign channels,” he added.
“As you might recall Shaw also offered to buy Brandon and then backed out. Two knowledgeable buyers, two cratered deals.
“I have talked with Alan Cruise the general manger of CKX-TV Brandon, and we agreed it was in the best interest of everyone, including the employees, to get on with life, close immediately and pay out severances,” added Fecan.
So tomorrow, CKX-TV Brandon, which was owned by the Craig family for 50 years and went on the air in January of 1955 as the first privately-owned TV station in Manitoba (and which was operating as a CBC affiliate until recently) will close tomorrow after its 6 p.m. newscast.
– Greg O’Brien
