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#1 weirdie

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 01:20 PM

http://www.timescolo...7386/story.html

Victoria’s CHEK-TV is closing its doors on August 31 after more than half a century of delivering news and local programming in B.C.’s capital city.
Owner Canwest Global announced today that financial losses at CHEK-TV and its Red Deer station prompted the decision to shut operations on that date. The company’s Kelowna station will become part of Canwest Global's larger Global television operations. Two other stations in the company’s E network, in Hamilton and Ontario, were purchased earlier this year for $12 in total.
The strategic review of its five E stations was announced in February.
Staff received layoff notice at a meeting today.
CHEK started operations in Victoria on December 1, 1956 and was headed by David Armstrong, who operated CKDA radio station.



#2 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 01:40 PM

http://www.theglobea...article1227602/

Wow, sooner than a lot of us thought eh?

Raise your hand if you think this would have been A Channel's fate had Hudson Mack not moved over to them...

#3 Jacques Cadé

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 01:41 PM

Holy freaking cow. Will their broadcast licence be for sale? If it's going for $1 like those CTV stations back east, I'm buying.

VHF, agree about Hudson Mack's move. Most Victorians see Hud and think "local news".

If he could get them to think "buy Norwalk furniture", then A-TV would really be cooking.

#4 weirdie

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 01:53 PM

http://www.theglobea...article1227602/

Wow, sooner than a lot of us thought eh?

Raise your hand if you think this would have been A Channel's fate had Hudson Mack not moved over to them...


I'm still not confident that A Channel will be around for very much longer.

#5 Mike K.

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 02:03 PM

Now that they have a virtual monopoly on the Island, there's no way they'd fold.

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#6 AnonAnnie2

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 04:50 PM

This is sad news. :confused:

#7 AllseeingEye

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 05:13 PM

Yup I agree with Susan, especially since I literally grew up on the old CHEK TV studio at Epsom Drive, where my dad hosted Club 6 "back in the day" from 1960-70. I have many fond memories of that time, particularly as he was something of a local celebrity. I spent countless hours on the set as a 5-6-7-8 year old, fascinated by the old-style cameras, boom mikes, and the excitement of seeing "live" tv firsthand. Great fun.

But by far the best benefit of being the TV star's kid was getting to see Saturday morning cartoons, purchased of course in advance by the station, on the main control room monitors an entire WEEK before the other kids...:D

#8 sebberry

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 05:20 PM

:(

I wonder what sort of salaries the news anchors and other CHEK personalities are making.

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#9 sebberry

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 05:37 PM

I will say.. CHEK news would be better with less repitition. Sometimes I hear the same news story three times in a row, Island 30 tonight was first aired back in March...

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#10 victorian fan

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 06:46 PM

Photo gallery of CHEK-TV over the years

http://www.timescolo...7583/story.html

TC story
http://www.timescolo...7386/story.html

#11 gumgum

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 07:30 PM

Yes it's sad news, but do any of us actually still watch that channel?

#12 D.L.

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 08:37 PM

yes. I don't see anything wrong with it

#13 larrobb

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 09:42 PM

i sure feel for the staff at CHEK (what's left of them), they've made the best out of a very trying time. quality people stuck in a situation that is no fault of their own. kudos to the likes of Scott Fee who has been left to hang out to dry by the robotic cameras and direction via earpiece from the mainland.....he has never flinched on air and remains a true pro.

was kind of disappointed to see Meribeth Burton filling in for Hudson Mack on A tonight. Hudson has always been gracious when reporting on the problems at CHEK, thought he would have been the ideal one to break the latest news. still, credit to A Channel for reporting on CHEK's demise with class.

#14 Caramia

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Posted 22 July 2009 - 09:55 PM

^ Well said.
Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

#15 Bob Fugger

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Posted 23 July 2009 - 07:18 AM

Interview on On the Island this morning - I believe it was the prez of the affected union local. He essentially blamed the CRTC for the demise of CHEK, for two reasons:

1) The CRTC's unwillingness to allow CHEK to simulcast the main Global feed - which they allow in Kelowna, which they are not shutting down.

2) The CRTC allowed so many new broadcast licences in the Greater Vancouver market over the past few years, of which apparently Victoria is part, that it became unsustainable.

#16 victorian fan

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Posted 23 July 2009 - 07:59 AM

I've been watching CHEK since it's inception. It's like losing an old friend.

#17 bibbety

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Posted 23 July 2009 - 08:13 AM

I am so depressed about this. Many people DO still watch the news broadcasts.

And I second what larrobb said above about Scott Fee and othes handling the idiotic feeds coming in from Vancouver. They did their very best.

#18 weirdie

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Posted 23 July 2009 - 09:14 AM

I will say.. CHEK news would be better with less repitition. Sometimes I hear the same news story three times in a row


Especially when it's the same news you heard in the morning and at lunch (when they still had the Noon newscast). Hearing it another three times during the evening news is enough to get anyone to change the channel.

#19 Bernard

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Posted 23 July 2009 - 01:12 PM

Since I do not have cable, I can not watch CHEK and have not watched it for years.

They do not provide their meager and badly done local news broadcast online.

For a TV station located in the capital of BC, their coverage of political issues has been pathetic.

As a TV station that should be looking at local issues, CHEK has not covered local government issues to any serious extent. They could have worked with the municipalities and set up a 24/7 feed from all of the council chambers. They could have then pulled off relevant things as they happen and provide a raw live feed for the public.

The simple reality is that the people running CHEK stopped trying to be relevant to this region several decades ago.

At this time Shaw provides more and better local content than CHEK and A Channel combined. If you take out the newscasts, Shaw does more Victoria related television in one week than A and CHEK do in a year.

#20 yodsaker

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Posted 23 July 2009 - 01:33 PM

Interview on On the Island this morning - I believe it was the prez of the affected union local. He essentially blamed the CRTC for the demise of CHEK, for two reasons:

1) The CRTC's unwillingness to allow CHEK to simulcast the main Global feed - which they allow in Kelowna, which they are not shutting down.

2) The CRTC allowed so many new broadcast licences in the Greater Vancouver market over the past few years, of which apparently Victoria is part, that it became unsustainable.


He forgot to mention CanWest's $4 billion debt anchor. CanWest is trying to cut every possible nickel.
It won't be enough to keep the house of cards upright.

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