Corus Entertainment has released more details on how it plans to centralize aspects of news productions in Calgary and Edmonton, as the company undertook a new round of layoffs this week.
The company began pink slipping employees earlier in the week across Corus Radio and Global News “as part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen and sustain our news and audio divisions.”
Corus confirmed Thursday it’s centralizing television production for its Global News stations in Edmonton and Calgary in Toronto as part of those programming changes, with Unifor revealing that 43 unionized positions are impacted, including 28 positions in Alberta, two in B.C., five in Winnipeg, two in Saskatoon, three in the Maritimes, and three in Ontario.
Corus released a follow-up statement Friday afternoon clarifying that local news production and the Calgary and Edmonton newsrooms are not shutting down.
“Corus remains committed to local news and continues to provide more hours of local news programming in Alberta than any other broadcaster in the province,” the statement said. “In Calgary and Edmonton, we will continue to maintain our current local newscasts, with separate local content, assignment desks, producers and newsgathering teams.”
“We are moving to a regional leadership structure in Alberta to ensure our teams are aligned and equipped to cover the province, while reducing overlap and maximizing the use of our resources,” it continued, noting that while some control room roles are among those being centralized, the company plans to add newsgathering positions in both markets to further support local coverage.
Global Edmonton news anchor Scott Roberts is among those caught up in the layoffs thus far.
