TORONTO – With open houses and barbecues taking place at all CTV stations and A Channels across Canada this Saturday, the company’s all-news channel, CTV Newsnet, will broadcast it’s mother corp.’s appeal for more money for two hours this Saturday.
The coverage, to be hosted by CFTO anchor Ken Shaw, will includes interviews and highlights from each of the local open houses. It’s all part of the broadcaster’s “Save Local” campaign which it has been pushing hard on-air, online and on its specialty channels (not to mention on Parliament Hill).
Newsnet’s two hour show will begin in Halifax and move west across the country.
As readers are no doubt aware, CTV (and other Canadian broadcasters) say this is a time of “crisis” in the business and the company has gone to unprecedented lengths to get their message across, that they need more money from cable and satellite companies (i.e. Canadian cable, DTH and telco TV subscribers).
The site www.SaveLocal.CTV.ca features a petition and a form-letter e-mail service that allows users, with a couple of clicks, to land a message in their local MP’s in-box that says: “I agree that cable and satellite companies should pay for the signals they distribute”, or something else, if they wish to modify it.
It should be an interesting two hours on Saturday. We’re setting our PVRs.
