CTV giving a boost to local news coverage
Bell Media says it is boosting its news coverage by adding 5 p.m. newscasts to all its local CTV stations, including Montreal.
In Toronto this summer, CTV and all-news station CP24 will each start airing live newscasts at 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. leading up to CTV News at Six.
CTV says the addition of 5 p.m. newscasts across its other various markets starting in the fall will add 35 hours of original local news production weekly.
“It’s going to probably be more community-based. It’s definitely going to carry the headlines but it might be a different set of stories than what you would see at
I think over the last couple of years, decade or longer, I think people’s consumption of news has changed.
(6 p.m.),” said Mike Cosentino, senior vice-president of content and programming.
“I think over the last couple of years, decade or longer, I think people’s consumption of news has changed, certainly people’s arrival time at home has changed.
“I think people are available at five o’clock for news and I think when you look across the border, you see local news across the border at four o’clock, five o’clock and six o’clock.
“There’s no bigger or better lead-in to news than news.”
On Monday, Rogers Media also announced it would be expanding its local newscast format CityNews to Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Montreal.
Local versions of the Toronto mainstay will start airing in Edmonton and Winnipeg on Sept. 4. The newscasts head to Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary in winter 2018.
The CTV announcement came as the network revealed its programming plans for its 2017-18 schedule.
Highlights include the Big Bang Theory spinoff Young Sheldon, a reboot of Roseanne, and the fourpart series The Indian Detective with Russell Peters.