Its a disaster
Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE Inc.) has left workers reeling after announcing plans on Thursday to cut nine per cent of its workforce — 4,800 jobs across the country — in a historic and unprecedented mass layoff.
On top of the workers that have been or will be let go, Bell also announced it would be selling off 45 radio stations, closing more than 100 The Source stores and ending most of its noon and weekend newscasts.
The latest round of layoffs comes after Bell cut 1,300 jobs just eight months ago in June 2023, but has followed a pattern of yearly cuts from within the telecom giant as the company cites floundering ad revenues and losses in its news division.
“Restructuring decisions are incredibly tough for all of us because it affects the people we work with and care about,” Bell's CEO Mirko Bibic wrote in a company-wide letter.
Bibic told staff the company estimated the cuts could save BCE up to $250 million a year. He also said that the company’s news operations are losing roughly $40 million a year and ad revenues had fallen by $140 million in 2023, compared with a year earlier. Bell's cuts also follow CBC and Radio-Canada's move to layoff 600 workers and end some of its programming in December to help meet a $125-million budget shortfall.
Which CTV News shows are ending?
In an internal memo obtained by the Star, Dave Daigle, vice-president of local TV, radio and Bell Media Studios, and Richard Gray, vice-president of news at Bell Media announced widespread programming changes coming to CTV News.
Here's what Daigle and Gray announced would be ending:
The last time CTV published show-specific data in 2020, the network said CTV National News was watched, on average, by 1.1 million Canadian and led Global News by 75 per cent in key demographics. CTV News at Six, that same year, was watched by 1.6 million viewers. W5, CTV's investigative program, reached 2.2 million Canadians each week in 2019-2020, CTV said.
What is happening to W5?
W5, "Canada’s most-watched and North America’s longest-running investigative series," according to a press release from September announcing the show's 58th season, will also be impacted.
CTV's central investigative program will become a "multi-part, multi-platform investigative reporting unit" across CTV, Daigle and Gray said in their memo.
The company’s' internal memo says the show is "evolving" as a stand-alone documentary series. The Star reached out to CTV and Bell Media spokespeople to ask if W5 is being cancelled, but they did not respond before publication.
Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE Inc.) has left workers reeling after announcing plans on Thursday to cut nine per cent of its workforce — 4,800 jobs across the country — in a historic and unprecedented mass layoff.
On top of the workers that have been or will be let go, Bell also announced it would be selling off 45 radio stations, closing more than 100 The Source stores and ending most of its noon and weekend newscasts.
The latest round of layoffs comes after Bell cut 1,300 jobs just eight months ago in June 2023, but has followed a pattern of yearly cuts from within the telecom giant as the company cites floundering ad revenues and losses in its news division.
“Restructuring decisions are incredibly tough for all of us because it affects the people we work with and care about,” Bell's CEO Mirko Bibic wrote in a company-wide letter.
Bibic told staff the company estimated the cuts could save BCE up to $250 million a year. He also said that the company’s news operations are losing roughly $40 million a year and ad revenues had fallen by $140 million in 2023, compared with a year earlier. Bell's cuts also follow CBC and Radio-Canada's move to layoff 600 workers and end some of its programming in December to help meet a $125-million budget shortfall.
Which CTV News shows are ending?
In an internal memo obtained by the Star, Dave Daigle, vice-president of local TV, radio and Bell Media Studios, and Richard Gray, vice-president of news at Bell Media announced widespread programming changes coming to CTV News.
Here's what Daigle and Gray announced would be ending:
The last time CTV published show-specific data in 2020, the network said CTV National News was watched, on average, by 1.1 million Canadian and led Global News by 75 per cent in key demographics. CTV News at Six, that same year, was watched by 1.6 million viewers. W5, CTV's investigative program, reached 2.2 million Canadians each week in 2019-2020, CTV said.
What is happening to W5?
W5, "Canada’s most-watched and North America’s longest-running investigative series," according to a press release from September announcing the show's 58th season, will also be impacted.
CTV's central investigative program will become a "multi-part, multi-platform investigative reporting unit" across CTV, Daigle and Gray said in their memo.
The company’s' internal memo says the show is "evolving" as a stand-alone documentary series. The Star reached out to CTV and Bell Media spokespeople to ask if W5 is being cancelled, but they did not respond before publication.
RELATED STORIES
Bell Canada slashes 4,800 jobs ‘at all levels,’ closing more than 100 The Source stores
Who is BCE? Quick facts about the company behind Thursday's job cuts announcement
Here’s how much Bell CEO Mirko Bibic made last year and how it compares to the other heads of Canada’s major telecoms
Bell Media's CEO among the highest paid executives in Canada
Just last month, weeks before Bell's seismic layoffs, Bibic was named Canada's 38th highest paid CEO in a list published by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
In 2022, Bibic made over $13.5 million in total compensation, up from the $11 million he made the year before. He climbed fourteen spots to from 2021 to join the ranks of Canada's top 50 highest paid executives.
With files from Josh Rubin and The Canadian Press.
www.thestar.com
Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE Inc.) has left workers reeling after announcing plans on Thursday to cut nine per cent of its workforce — 4,800 jobs across the country — in a historic and unprecedented mass layoff.
On top of the workers that have been or will be let go, Bell also announced it would be selling off 45 radio stations, closing more than 100 The Source stores and ending most of its noon and weekend newscasts.
The latest round of layoffs comes after Bell cut 1,300 jobs just eight months ago in June 2023, but has followed a pattern of yearly cuts from within the telecom giant as the company cites floundering ad revenues and losses in its news division.
“Restructuring decisions are incredibly tough for all of us because it affects the people we work with and care about,” Bell's CEO Mirko Bibic wrote in a company-wide letter.
Bibic told staff the company estimated the cuts could save BCE up to $250 million a year. He also said that the company’s news operations are losing roughly $40 million a year and ad revenues had fallen by $140 million in 2023, compared with a year earlier. Bell's cuts also follow CBC and Radio-Canada's move to layoff 600 workers and end some of its programming in December to help meet a $125-million budget shortfall.
Which CTV News shows are ending?
In an internal memo obtained by the Star, Dave Daigle, vice-president of local TV, radio and Bell Media Studios, and Richard Gray, vice-president of news at Bell Media announced widespread programming changes coming to CTV News.
Here's what Daigle and Gray announced would be ending:
- Weekday noon broadcasts will end at all CTV stations except in Toronto
- CTV's weekend 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. newscasts are ending for all stations except in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa
- CTV's evening programs — The Debate, This Hour and Top 3 Tonight — are all being shut down and being replaced by a weekday nightly news broadcast
- BNN Bloomberg's weekday daytime programming is also being "streamlined," to "reduce the number of separate broadcasts"
The last time CTV published show-specific data in 2020, the network said CTV National News was watched, on average, by 1.1 million Canadian and led Global News by 75 per cent in key demographics. CTV News at Six, that same year, was watched by 1.6 million viewers. W5, CTV's investigative program, reached 2.2 million Canadians each week in 2019-2020, CTV said.
What is happening to W5?
W5, "Canada’s most-watched and North America’s longest-running investigative series," according to a press release from September announcing the show's 58th season, will also be impacted.
CTV's central investigative program will become a "multi-part, multi-platform investigative reporting unit" across CTV, Daigle and Gray said in their memo.
The company’s' internal memo says the show is "evolving" as a stand-alone documentary series. The Star reached out to CTV and Bell Media spokespeople to ask if W5 is being cancelled, but they did not respond before publication.
Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE Inc.) has left workers reeling after announcing plans on Thursday to cut nine per cent of its workforce — 4,800 jobs across the country — in a historic and unprecedented mass layoff.
On top of the workers that have been or will be let go, Bell also announced it would be selling off 45 radio stations, closing more than 100 The Source stores and ending most of its noon and weekend newscasts.
The latest round of layoffs comes after Bell cut 1,300 jobs just eight months ago in June 2023, but has followed a pattern of yearly cuts from within the telecom giant as the company cites floundering ad revenues and losses in its news division.
“Restructuring decisions are incredibly tough for all of us because it affects the people we work with and care about,” Bell's CEO Mirko Bibic wrote in a company-wide letter.
Bibic told staff the company estimated the cuts could save BCE up to $250 million a year. He also said that the company’s news operations are losing roughly $40 million a year and ad revenues had fallen by $140 million in 2023, compared with a year earlier. Bell's cuts also follow CBC and Radio-Canada's move to layoff 600 workers and end some of its programming in December to help meet a $125-million budget shortfall.
Which CTV News shows are ending?
In an internal memo obtained by the Star, Dave Daigle, vice-president of local TV, radio and Bell Media Studios, and Richard Gray, vice-president of news at Bell Media announced widespread programming changes coming to CTV News.
Here's what Daigle and Gray announced would be ending:
- Weekday noon broadcasts will end at all CTV stations except in Toronto
- CTV's weekend 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. newscasts are ending for all stations except in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa
- CTV's evening programs — The Debate, This Hour and Top 3 Tonight — are all being shut down and being replaced by a weekday nightly news broadcast
- BNN Bloomberg's weekday daytime programming is also being "streamlined," to "reduce the number of separate broadcasts"
The last time CTV published show-specific data in 2020, the network said CTV National News was watched, on average, by 1.1 million Canadian and led Global News by 75 per cent in key demographics. CTV News at Six, that same year, was watched by 1.6 million viewers. W5, CTV's investigative program, reached 2.2 million Canadians each week in 2019-2020, CTV said.
What is happening to W5?
W5, "Canada’s most-watched and North America’s longest-running investigative series," according to a press release from September announcing the show's 58th season, will also be impacted.
CTV's central investigative program will become a "multi-part, multi-platform investigative reporting unit" across CTV, Daigle and Gray said in their memo.
The company’s' internal memo says the show is "evolving" as a stand-alone documentary series. The Star reached out to CTV and Bell Media spokespeople to ask if W5 is being cancelled, but they did not respond before publication.
RELATED STORIES
Bell Canada slashes 4,800 jobs ‘at all levels,’ closing more than 100 The Source stores
Who is BCE? Quick facts about the company behind Thursday's job cuts announcement
Here’s how much Bell CEO Mirko Bibic made last year and how it compares to the other heads of Canada’s major telecoms
Bell Media's CEO among the highest paid executives in Canada
Just last month, weeks before Bell's seismic layoffs, Bibic was named Canada's 38th highest paid CEO in a list published by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
In 2022, Bibic made over $13.5 million in total compensation, up from the $11 million he made the year before. He climbed fourteen spots to from 2021 to join the ranks of Canada's top 50 highest paid executives.
With files from Josh Rubin and The Canadian Press.
CTV cancelling most noon and weekend newscasts as Bell cuts 4,800 jobs. Here’s what shows are coming to an end
The layoffs of a historic magnitude come just after a report that Bell Media’s CEO landed in the top 50 best paid executives in Canada in 2022.
