oh why’s that?
the structure of CTV News has always confused me a bit, especially when it was across CTV2 as wel.
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I had a job interview when I was in Victoria a few years ago with them.
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lol shouldn’t you have a grudge for them then over a soft-spot lol
It was an off-the-cuff moment. I was intending to just drop my CV in and the News Director instead decided to have an interview with me right then and there.
I’m grateful he took the time.
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I’m just having a joke mate, it’s ok.
Always sad when local news gets cut, here or overseas.
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Today, ProSiebenSat.1 launched finally a new and common news brand, well sort of… After launching a new in-house effort in January (which I covered here), finally the group’s newscasts were unified into the single Newstime moniker, now styled as :newstime. The changes were announced with little fanfare last week, but the new operation’s digital and social media channels have been named under the ProSieben news brand since the relaunch, hinting a sign of things to come.
“Where ‘:newstime’ is on it, ‘:newstime’ is in it. The brand will be an absolutely reliable source of information for people - up-to-date, fast and on all platforms,” Sven Pietsch, the editor-in-chief of Seven.One Entertainment Group, is certain. The aim is to establish the new brand “:newstime” as a "seal of quality for comprehensible and non-judgemental quality journalism in the German news landscape. “:newstime” will also become the brand on platforms such as YouTube or Instagram.
Although the brand was adopted in all newscasts, each channel retains its own editorial policy: ProSieben has been traditionally more tabloid in style due to its younger demographics, whilst Sat.1 has historically had a more serious tone, with more politics and social affairs, and Kabel 1 has taken the “news-you-can-use” route. However, the service has the same team of reporters and have many of the reports and stories covered in all editions, and plans to further unify resources coming soon.
Despite the same name, the news programmes are to be quite different. Arne Teetz, Editor-in-Chief News: "We are combining our strengths and competencies under the joint brand ‘:newstime’ and will continue to produce different programmes for Sat.1, ProSieben and Kabel Eins, tailored to the respective viewers’ interests, with our own presenters. In the future, however, we will go beyond this and, in combination with our digital distribution channels, will be able to offer an even more comprehensive and uniform journalistic service for everyone at all times.
The launch of the new brand (developed in-house by SevenOne Creative Solutions) is the second phase of the relaunch of the in-house newsroom. The logo and openers really have a Franceinfo feel to it, but the music is just too generic and production music-like. The ugly virtual set design is still there, but there is a new look to it which looks less outlandish to what they had before. Additionally, the normal channel DOGs are now being used during the bulletins.
A further launch phase will come by the end of this year, as a new real studio set is finally put in place, as well as a move to a permanent space in the new ProSiebenSat.1 Campus in Unterföhring, Munich.
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A little underwhelming, especially compared to how Newstime on Pro7 looked before this - but also that’s not surprising when the brand now has to also cover a Sat.1 bulletin that’s set up as a foil to the Tagesschau.
It’s obvious where the comparisons to France Info come from - I guess the one argument in their favour is that the colon motif at least makes sense on a brand named “Newstime”.
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That’s really cool the news director interviewed you on the spot. Victoria is such a pretty city and you probably would have made a great reporter there.
It’s so sad at how Bell just decimated CTV Vancouver Island. There seemed so much promise and potential when they launched. I mean, look at the crowds that gathered on opening day…
Even right before the layoffs, they were a shell of their former self. They had been replaying a chopped-up version of their 6 PM news at 11 PM for a few months up until June 14. CTV was offering this while CHEK was offering a LIVE newscast at 10 PM, and everyone else across the water in Vancouver going live at 11 or 11:30.
Here is the new CTV VI newscast from this past Tuesday (missed the first bulletin on Monday). It airs live at 4:30 PM on CTV VI, from the CTV Vancouver studios & control room by a former CTV VI anchor right before the Vancouver 5 PM news (sort of how 7 and 9 run Gold Coast and Brisbane news back to back from the same control room). Sadly, this bulletin is also replayed at 6 PM and 11 PM on VI, so even references to “First at 4:30” remain on the replays.
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The CTV 2/A-Channel/Newnet stations in Victoria, London, Windsor, Barrie, and Ottawa were sold to CTV by CHUM. As a condition of the sale set out by our broadcast regulator, management and oversight of the local newsrooms were not to be under CTV News, but under the board of CTVglobemedia directly. So technically CTVgm/Bell were running two separate news operations in some markets.
Even when those stations rebranded to CTV2/CTV News, management and oversight was separate. This lives on today, for example, in Ottawa where CJOH (CTV Ottawa) and CHRO (CTV2 Ottawa) are essentially two different operations/news teams/unions even though they work in the same building.
In Victoria’s case, there is still a producer in Victoria putting the rundown together and making editorial decisions. It’s just the actual production and presentation of the newscast has been ‘outsourced’ to CTV Vancouver.
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Well, the launch of The New VI followed the Citytv ethos, much like its sister The NewNet/A-Channel stations, but with differences: first, programming was less edgy and more “AC-tone” in style, but still with many of its traits, including its programming having a conversational style of writing and using lots of close-up and horizontally tilted camera angles; newscasts also went for the CityPulse style, but less edgy and tabloid, with a more suburban feeling and more lighter stories.
Additionally, The New VI had two studios at launch: its main “Pandora’s Box” studio in downtown Victoria and a full-fledged bureau studio in Nanaimo. Its newscasts had boasted a large lineup of personalities, and its evening newscasts were hosted by Tasha Larson, a Nanaimo native which had worked in Calgary at Access and Canadian Learning Television (both CHUM ventures at the time) hitherto, and controversial former BC/NDP minister Moe Sihota.
However, none of these moves helped to establish an audience to the station, as local viewers were loyal to CHEK (now under Asper ownership and as part of the now-defunct CH loose network, or TV system in CRTC parlance); the high-profile hirings left within months and the schedule became heavily reorganized. Until Hudson Mack moved from CHEK to CIVI in August 2004, the station found its audience and became more competitive with its rival, which still had a head start in the ratings. And, by October, the loose CHUM format was dropped in favor of… The Awakening and sauntering anchors. Mack retired from TV news in 2014, but he was not a victim of Bell’s budget cuts.
CHEK is currently thriving as a locally-owned station (the local Sampson family has a large share and the employees do have an equity investment), and has brought some veteran local journalists to its staple, so there’s some possibility it could happen at the short term.
Scott Fee, a longtime anchor during the Canwest era, served as news director until his retirement this last February, whilst the 6pm news was anchored by Ben O’Hara-Byrne (a former CTV/Global world correspondent) until he went to join the world of investment management (he’s now back at Global helming a global affairs show for Corus’ talk radio stations). Fee quickly hired a CIVI veteran, Joe Perkins, to fill the role. And in 2021, Rob Shaw, a longtime Vancouver Sun legislative columnist and reporter, was hired as its first political editor.
Its news programming is quite decent: weekdays at 5, 6 and 10pm (plus daytime news flashes) and an hour-long LIVE weekend newscast at 5pm. The station is also beneficiary of a (controversial) local news funding scheme by the Canadian Government, to which CHEK is elegible because of its “community television” status; however, the money is invested for the coverage of feature stories and other kinds of community issues airing in the newscasts.
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Thanks mate! I loved Victoria and the News Director was keen to hire me, but the higher-ups said no as they didn’t want to deal with my residency requirement paperwork if i was to move from Australia to Canada.
I also was a CHEK the same time and had a chat with the news director there.
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Not only that, but CHEK also has a LIVE 2-hour mid morning sports program, and a handful of political, current affairs and talk show programs aimed at the wider Vancouver-Victoria market, and done out of studios in Vancouver provided by “Oh Boy Productions”. They also have several podcasts and digital shows as well as the CHEK+ streaming service.
CHEK is really doing well for itself and seems to have found a balance between serving viewers on Vancouver Island, programming for the wider Vancouver-Victoria market, and making a space for itself in the digital realm.
CHEK’s fall 2023 sizzle reel
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Makes you wonder doesn’t it, how did Australia get to a point where such a quality local service wouldn’t work, yet overseas we see the sort of things servicing relatively small markets and doing it so well.
It’s probably just a case of companies having the desire to provide purely local content such as news that focuses on and caters to community needs/expectations. CHEK IFAIK is one of two independent stations owned by CHEK Media Group. the station itself held affiliations with all major Canadian commercial networks and even broadcasted E! programming in Canada in the past before going independent. CHECK/CHCH/My Network TV/The CW can also access syndication rights to various programs which may be one of many reasons why these stations focus heavily on local news.
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Yeah I get that, just imagine if we had companies like that here? I feel like it’s the sort of thing that could have happened years and years ago, but is unlikely now.
I think that the concept would struggle here in Australia simply because if a regional broadcaster like SCA or WIN went independent they would have trouble sourcing content to fill both their main channel and multi-channels. Relying on content deals for archival materials from other broadcasters/production companies would result in a UK-style local tv situation where programming would be used to fill gaps in schedules not to mention the fees either would have to pay Nine/Seven/Paramount for access to their production archives.
That’s what I mean, it simply wouldn’t happen now, it’s the sort of thing that would have needed to have been built on since day one.
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After KBS launching its SBS clone set, MBC has moved to a wholly new and larger studio inside their Sangam Digital Media City headquarters.
As part of the move, MBC Newsdesk has adopted new graphics, a new open (emphasizing the Digital Media City building) and a new remix of its Lim Taek-soo theme music used since 1991 (with some exceptions). Additionally, there is no more headline sequence, now straight into in-depth coverage of the top story. The second opening sequence looks very much inspired by VTM Nieuws.
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Montage of the Toronto mayoral byelection news specials this past Monday (June 26) from CP24, CityNews, CBC News, and Global News.
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