TV station spared from closure
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Updated: July 23, 2009 6:29 PM
For the better part of the last six months, the Okanagan’s very own TV station has been in limbo.
First a spate of cutbacks sent around 20 CHBC employees into unemployment, and shortly thereafter news came from its parent company, Canwest, that the station would either be closed or sold by Sept. 1.
On Wednesday, however, the situation improved dramatically as Canwest announced that it would keep CHBC alive by re-branding it into a Global affiliate while opting to close CHEK-TV in Victoria and CHCA-TV in Red Deer on Aug. 31.
“We can continue to be the Okanagan’s very own, because Canwest is keeping its doors open,” explained a notably relieved Dennis Gabelhouse, CHBC’s general manager.
“It’s nice to get this out and get on with what we love doing. It means that we will continue to operate, and we’ll have CHBC news on Global — basically, E! programming is being replaced with Global programming.”
For CHBC employees, the decision not only means they will keep their jobs, but their pension plans will also not be wound down — an issue that came to light a short while back when Canwest was streamlining costs to make the station more appealing to potential buyers.
“Everyone was running on empty before the fires hit, so this good news is timely,” Gabelhouse said. “We’re elated, and glad we are not being closed.”
According to Gabelhouse, the reason to keep the Okanagan station open, while Victoria’s and Red Deer’s closed came down to a simple matter of economic viability.
“The market is strong and we have some unique licensing language,” he said, adding the Local Programming Improvement Fund, which helps those stations with a population of less than one million, helps.
In the weeks that come, finding how the station will work within the Global paradigm will become more clear, said Gabelhouse, adding that the current model the station functions under will have to be re-worked.
“We’re glad to have the sword removed from over our heads. And we’re anxious to make CHBC what it has been in the past — a model for local television,” said Jim Failes, president of CEP 823-M, the union that represents the station’s employees.
“Now that Global has committed to keeping us running, they have to step up to the plate with the resources and staffing to make it possible.”
Last month, Canwest reached a conditional agreement to sell CHCH-TV in Hamilton and CJNT-TV in Montreal.
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