In the wake of last week’s layoffs at Bell Media, CTV Vancouver Island will debut a single, half-hour newscast today anchored from Vancouver.
The newscast will be helmed by Andrew Johnson, the Vancouver Island bureau’s former Managing Editor and 6 p.m. anchor, who joined CTV Vancouver last year and now co-anchors the 5 p.m. newscast for B.C.’s Lower Mainland, alongside Nafeesa Karim.
According to a post published by the network, the live weekday newscast will be anchored by Johnson at 4:30 p.m. and then replay at 6 p.m., in place of the former supper hour newscasts.
Stuart Adamson, News Director and Manager of Operations for the Vancouver Island bureau, said in the announcement that the new format will make it more convenient for Islanders to connect with their content across multiple platforms outside of traditional news delivery times.
“Greater Victoria’s workforce, demographics, viewing habits and varying industries, combine to make this in many ways an “early city,” with traffic picking up in the 4 p.m. hour and people arriving home at 4:30 p.m., ready to see what they missed during the day,” said Adamson, in the post.
CTV’s Vancouver Island newsroom was hit hard in last week’s layoffs with casualties including anchor Jordan Cunningham, a 20-year veteran of the station through its branding as The New VI and A-Channel, along with his 5 p.m. co-anchor and reporter Anna McMillan.
Other changes in B.C., see CTV Morning Live Vancouver start a half hour later to be hosted solo by Keri Adams. Co-host Jason Pires moves in to the noon news time slot, in addition to returning to reporting.
As of publication, Bell Media had not commented on whether it’s making structural programming changes in other newsrooms in the network or how it plans to meet local expression programming targets.
Subscribe Now – Free!
Broadcast Dialogue has been required reading in the Canadian broadcast media for 30 years. When you subscribe, you join a community of connected professionals from media and broadcast related sectors from across the country.
The Weekly Briefing from Broadcast Dialogue is delivered exclusively to subscribers by email every Thursday. It’s your link to critical industry news, timely people moves, and excellent career advancement opportunities.
Let’s get started right now.
