Global laying off 200 across Canada

"New digital technology will permit broadcast centres to insert graphics and sets that are tailor-made for the local news markets, while creating a look that will unify the newscasts under the Global and E! umbrellas."

From the Financial Post:

CanWest cuts 200 TV jobs; moves to more digital offerings
Barbara Schecter, National Post
Published: Thursday, October 04, 2007

TORONTO -- CanWest MediaWorks expects to shed about 200 jobs from its news operations over the next 18 months as it centralizes broadcasting operations in four cities and invests in new digital technology.

Christine McGinley, senior vice-president of operations for CanWest MediaWorks, which runs the Global Television and E! networks, said news coverage in cities including Hamilton, Montreal and Winnipeg will continue to be assigned, gathered and anchored locally, but newscasts will be broadcast from control rooms in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto.

The reorganization does not require approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission because the hours of local programming required by the broadcaster's television licences will be maintained, said Ms. McGinley.
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"We are evolving from an analogue to a digital world, and we have to be there whether we want to or not," she said, noting a regulatory requirement for all Canadian broadcasts to be switched over to high-definition signals by 2011.

Production staff affected by the cuts announced Thursday are being encouraged to apply for 50 new positions at the four broadcast centres, which are all expected to be operational by the spring of 2009.

CanWest is investing $30-million in the new digital broadcast centres. The annual savings resulting from the job reductions will be determined when the exact number of layoffs is known, a company spokesperson said. One analyst estimated the savings would amount to about $7-million to $10-million a year.

The cuts will go further than production and technical staff in the Maritimes and Quebec, where news operations are unprofitable, said Ms. McGinley.

Six full-time and two part-time employees in Quebec City were given layoff notices Thursday, leaving two full-time news staff to cover events there, she said.

CanWest employs about 2,000 production staff across its broadcasting operations, with about 1,500 of those at its stations across the country.

Steve Wyatt, senior vice-president of news and information at CanWest MediaWorks, said the new digital technology will permit broadcast centres to insert graphics and sets that are tailor-made for the local news markets, while creating a look that will unify the newscasts under the Global and E! umbrellas.