Geo Perdis
Wayne MacPhail
Marc Weisblott
http://www.mondoville.com/2010/01/jay-leno-fiasco-motivates-citytv-to-better-serve-audiences/
Layoffs, Cancelled Shows At Citytv
2010/01/19 | CityNews.ca Staff
It’s a tough time to be in the news business and Citytv is not immune.
On Tuesday, the company announced it would be restructuring its television operations, leading to lay-offs and cancelled shows. Citytv will continue to produce Breakfast Television and CityLine for all markets, as well as CityNews at Six and CityNews Tonight in Toronto.However, there will no longer by a CityNews at Noon, CityNews at Five, or CityNews International. Stations in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver will no longer produce a six o’clock newscast. "Today's changes, although difficult, are necessary to align our operations with the economic and regulatory realities of our industry," Leslie Sole, CEO, Rogers Media Television, acknowledged in a press release."We are improving our core business by tightening our operations and concentrating on the strengths of our top performing local programs."Long-time CityNews at Six anchor Anne Mroczkowski was laid off on Monday evening. Other affected employees found out about the lay-offs on Tuesday morning. Many were crying. A full list of the remaining on-air employees can be found here. Aisling Slattery, who anchored Breakfast Television and News@ Noon in Calgary, was one of the first on-air personalities to speak publicly about the changes.“Today was my last day @ #citytv - it has been an absolute honour anchoring the news in #yyc - i will miss you all very much,” she wrote on Twitter.Rogers Media acquired five Citytv stations – Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver – in 2007. It was part of the sale of CHUM to CTVglobemedia. The CRTC ordered the network sold over concerns about media concentration.Citytv began with a single UHF outlet in Toronto back in September 1972.
