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>> Announcer: This is 'A' Channel News at 6
>> Tony: Good evening. A blockbuster media merger is in the works
tonight, and it marks a major shift in the Canadian media landscape.
Bell Globemedia, the owners of CTV Ottawa, are offering a takeover bid worth $1.7 billion
to buy over our parent company CHUM Limited.
Gord Martineau has the full story.
>> My brother Ron and I, together with the executors of the Estate of our father Allan
Waters, recognize the need to create a strong future for the stations and the brands that
have been built over the past fifty years.
>> Gord: The CHUM Board met today, after word leaked of a takeover bid by rival broadcasting
giant Bell Globemedia.
Trading in CHUM shares was halted on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
At that time, the company had a market valuation of more than $904 million.
CHUM Limited owns:
Bell Globemedia owns:
CHUM holdings include this flagship television station CityTV.
And the familiar CHUM building on Queen Street West in Downtown Toronto, also houses the
company's major specialty channels.
[MUSIC]
>> Gord: The specialty channels include the highly popular MuchMusic, along with Bravo,
Space and Star! TV.
The radio stations include CHUM on Younge Street, Where Allan Waters founded the broadcasting
empire nearly fifty years ago.
After he passed away late last year, his son Jim said there were no plans to sell the company.
>> With Bell Globemedia, we not only found value for our shareholders, which is important,
but a sense that we would be placing CHUM in the hands of an owner with the financial
resources and track record to continue to grow and build on our collective legacy.
>> Gord: The $1.7 billion bid includes taking over CHUM's debt.
Bell Globemedia is offering shareholders 50% above the day's last trading price.
In Toronto, Gord Martineau, 'A' Channel News.
>> Tony: Meantime, some more big changes here at 'A' Channel tonight, as a new plan is announced
to move this station toward a healthier bottom line.
In fact all of our stations across Canada are undergoing some cost-cutting measures.
[SOUNDS FROM TV]
>> Tony: There's no denying it, it's a competitive business.
In a 500 channel universe, private television stations like 'A' Channel are working harder
and harder for viewers, and for the advertising dollars which keep them on the air.
>> We have struggled, as have all conventional television stations, to turn a profit
at this operation.
>> Tony: For years, 'A' Channel Ottawa has been losing money.
Today our parent company CHUM is announcing changes to preserve many of the local programs
you've come to know an rely on, while at the same time moving the station toward a healthy
bottom line.
>> The time finally came for them to say "Look, we know what our revenue potential
is in this market, we believe we have greater access to audiences here if we can preserve
what we're doing now."
The bottom line was though is that we had to tidy up the bottom line.
>> Tony: Now the biggest change you'll be noticing on the air is during the lunch hour,
Monday through Friday. Effective immediately, 'A' Channel Noon and
'A' Channel News at 12:30, will no longer be on the air.
>> Some of those resources, candidly, can be taken to the bottom line, that we can actually
take some savings, but also that we can actually redeploy some those resources either towards
the morning show, or towards the 6:00.
>> Tony: 'A' Channel Morning, which is Ottawa's only local TV morning show, and 'A' Channel
News at 6:00 and 11:00 will continue to be strong, locally focused and locally produced.
One of the biggest changes being made to cut
costs here at 'A' Channel is on the technical side.
In about six months time, CHUM will be replacing our manual production control room with an
entirely automated system.
Those changes will all together result in 19 full-time and 4 part-time jobs being eliminated
at our station.
>> It would be nice to retain the traditional template for running TV stations, is that
when the competition move in that direction, eventually we have to follow.
It's a competitive business, we're all vying for the same advertising dollars, and if they
can drop their costs, we're gonna have to follow them.
>> Tony: Right across the country, CHUM's television restructuring will affect a total
of 280 jobs.