Canada’s Bell Media cuts jobs & TV output blaming ‘unsupportive’ government

Mirko Bibic (Source: BCE)

Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) is slashing almost 10% of its workforce, with TV output and radio stations among affected areas.

BCE’s subsidiary Bell Media said the cuts would affect its news programming output, with weekday offerings at noon on CTV stations ending in all states, except in Toronto.

Early and late evening newscasts are also being scrapped at CTV and CTV2 stations, with “multi-skilled journalists” replacing correspondent and technician roles in numerous states.

Evening shows on flagship CTV News Channel such as The Debate will also be cut and replaced with a four-hour block of news.

The details emerged in a memo seen by CBC sent to staff from Dave Daigle, VP of local TV, radio and Bell Media Studios and Bell Media’s VP of news, Richard Gray.

Bell Media is also selling 45 of its radio stations – almost half of its total portfolio – because they are “not a viable business anymore”, according to BCE’s legal chief Robert Malcolmson.

The cuts emerged hours after Bell Media’s parent, BCE, revealed it was slashing 9% of its total workforce of 4,800 as it attempted to balance books. Canadian reports put the job losses at news and entertainment arm Bell Media as likely to account for less than 10% of the total.

The company is attempting to refocus its activities on digital products while cutting costs, following deep job cuts last year. It is also paying increasing dividends to shareholders, putting a further squeeze on cash flow.

Malcolmson said the latest swathe of job losses were because of the slow implementation of regulatory overhauls via two media frameworks.

Bill C-18 is designed to ensure tech firms pay for content, while the long-awaited Bill C-11 is aimed at ensuring tech firms and streamers promote and pay for Canadian content.

Bell CEO, Mirko Bibic, also blamed the cuts – which will also affect the company’s legacy phone business – on the government, describing “unsupportive” regulatory decisions.