Huge restructuring hits Hamilton’s CHCH TV

Station fires all employees, makes new offers to some

At least129 full-time employees were let go Friday as part of a massive restructuring of local news at Hamilton’s CHCH TV.

A newsroom staffer said the number of cuts was announced in a meeting with senior management. Of that group, 71 people have reportedly been offered new jobs, but it’s unclear in what capacity.

All 129 full-time employees and 38 part-time employers were let go, said Chris Fuoco, vice-president of sales and marketing at Channel Zero, CHCH’s parent company. Moving forward, positions have been offered to 58 full-time employees and 23 part-time employees, Fuoco said.

Nightly newscasts on the station — which first went on the air in 1954 — are being cut back starting next week as part of a massive restructuring of local news at the station announced Friday. The 6 p.m. broadcast will air only Monday to Friday and the 11p.m. news will be slashed to 30 minutes from an hour, according to Fuoco.

Newsroom staffers said they were told they had until Sunday night to accept. “We need to understand what our staffing contingent looks like on Monday,” Fuoco said.

Other programs, including the noon news and Sportsline are also being taken off the air, he added. A Channel Zero news release stated that Morning Live — the station’s morning show — will return on Tuesday.

News staff learned Friday that Channel 11 LP, the company that creates local news for the station, had filed for bankruptcy. As of 4 p.m., newscasts were cancelled for Friday and the remainder of the weekend.

Channel Zero chair and CEO Romen Podzyhun went on the air late Friday afternoon to tell viewers that local news would return on Monday.

“This new reality put us in an untenable situation and as a result, in order to ensure the continued broadcast of CHCH, we’ve made some significant changes to our programming schedule,” he said. “Decisions like these are hard because they impact the personal lives of so many colleagues we care deeply” about.

Employees began asking questions Friday after money was unexpectedly deposited in some employees’ bank accounts. Fuoco said the deposits included wages earned, expenses as well as accrued vacations.

“We made sure that any full-time employee received at least $4,000,” he said. Part-time employees received at least $1,000.

The station was bought by Channel Zero in Toronto in 2009. It was on the verge of going off the air then, when Can West Global collapsed.

Executive producer of television news at CHCH John McKenna said he had few details. “It’s a very hard and a very sad day,” he said.

One staffer, who didn’t want her name used because she was clinging to the hope she might still have a job on Monday, said the mood is “awful.”

Scott Urquhart was off Friday, but came in after getting calls from the station. The 60-year-old who had worked there for 35 years was one of the ones not offered employment.

He said he left with his belongings in his arms.

“I’ve come to expect that’s the way it is these days,” he said. “There’s no golden parachute. It’s pretty hard: ‘Get your marching papers and goodbye.’ ”

“There was a lot of shock,” he added. “People weren’t really showing a lot of hurt or sadness. There were a few tears, for sure, but most people seemed pretty resigned.”

Greg O’Brien, editor and publisher of online industry magazine Cartt.ca, described the news as unfortunate but not surprising given the growing challenges facing TV news networks.

“They’re great for local news, but man, it’s expensive to do,” he said. As he understands it, local advertising is still strong, but the national advertising dollars — the real bread and butter — just aren’t there.

CHCH was one of just two independent news stations left in Canada. The other, O’Brien says, is in Victoria. For example, CHCH must keep their over-the-air transmitters running at all times to maintain their must-carry status on cable, O’Brien says — which can cost between $15,000-30,000 a month in hydro power alone. Add to that the costs of news trucks and reporters on the ground.

Unifor national representative Liz Marzari, who represents CHCH workers, condemned the way the company went about the situation.

“We were sitting at the bargaining table with them (Thursday),” she said. “To me, that’s unconscionable.”