By Kathy Michaels - Kelowna Capital News Published: June 04, 2009
CHBC’s parent company sent a very clear message on where the station, and others included in its E! network, stand when it unveiled its fall programming on Wednesday. CanWest Global Communications Corp. announced the slate of shows they intend to run on Global stations across the country, and left the E! network off the roster. “We have all the programming we need for those stations,” said John Douglas, vice-president of public affairs for Canwest on Thursday morning. We didn’t buy additional programming in L.A. this year. We’ve talked about having a process where we are reviewing those stations and the fact that, as an organization, we are not going to carry two conventional television networks.” In addition to CHBC content, the station runs a variety of programs—many of which appeal most to reality television junkies.
But come September when those contracts expire, it remains to be seen whether it will be lights out for the Okanagan-based station. The same goes for other E! Stations in Montreal, Hamilton, Red Deer and Victoria. It’s a subject CHBC general manager Dennis Gablehouse can only speculate about right now. “We know the stations were up for sale, but there’s been interest and they’re going through due diligence and hopefully we’ll know sooner than later,” he said. “Programming is in place until the end of August and we are all anxious to know what they’ll do,” he said. While there’s no crystal ball in place to tell the future of the station, the only certainty is that CanWest is streamlining its operations. “We are calling this a strategic review, and that means stations could be rebranded, repurposed or resold…and as a last case resort they could be closed,” said Douglas. “Those operations don’t fit in the strategic plan anymore.”
The corporation has a deadline of June 15 to restructure a $3.9-billion debt load and avoid filing for creditor protection. They have already laid off close to 1,000 employees, with just over 20 of those working out of the CHBC station in the Okanagan.
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