23 jobs cut
MONTREAL — As Breakfast Television is celebrating its 30th anniversary in Toronto, Rogers Media is making cuts elsewhere, including cancelling its Montreal morning show entirely, and having some content at its Vancouver and Calgary shows sourced out of Toronto.
Staff in Montreal were informed after Thursday's broadcast that it would be their last. Eight jobs were eliminated by the cancellation in Montreal, leaving 41 people employed in Montreal between CityNews, OMNI and sales. Four jobs have been cut in Vancouver and 11 in Calgary.
"This decision was very difficult, but at the end of the day, the show was not sustainable," said Colette Watson, senior vice-president of television and broadcast operations at Rogers Media, in a written statement. "We remain deeply committed to the local market in Montreal and are redirecting resources to our news presence in Montreal at CityNews and OMNI Television with Italian news and the launch of a national third-language newscast next year in support of our OMNI 9(1)(h) licence.
“We recognize and thank all employees who worked at BT Montreal over the years for their incredible work and commitment and making mornings brighter for our viewers.”
According to Rogers Media, BT Montreal had an average minute audience of 4,700 in 2019.
BT Montreal launched in August 2013, seven months after Global Television brought a local morning show back to this market. With a staff of about 30 people and a brand new studio, Global’s effort dwarfed the meagre resources of its competitor, which operated from a tiny green-screen room.
But while Global introduced a hybrid format that combined national and local segments, BT remained local.
BTs in Vancouver and Calgary will be "refreshed" with more national content, "sharing our most popular segments across our Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary markets," the company said. The Toronto-produced entertainment and lifestyle segments will begin airing on those shows September 23. No details were available on how much content will be national, but the shows will remain "hyper-local in news, traffic and weather with local hosts, plus entertainment and lifestyle content that has broad appeal." No change is being proposed for BT Toronto, which is still a ratings success.
BT Montreal was a promise Rogers Media made to the CRTC when Citytv Montreal launched in 2013, buying the licence of ethnic station CJNT then-owner Channel Zero. It was made a condition of licence until Citytv's renewal in 2017, when the condition was deleted.
With CityNews Montreal airing 14 times a week, Citytv Montreal meets its local programming requirements and no longer needed BT for regulatory purposes. Citytv Montreal will be filling the hole in its schedule in part by replaying the previous night's CityNews newscast in the morning.
Citytv cancelled Breakfast Television editions in Edmonton and Winnipeg in 2015.
