Last Friday, CKX-TV in Brandon, Manitoba (population 51,000) signed off after the 6PM newscast. Dark, for good. CTVGlobemedia, who owned the station, stated that a deal to sell it to Bluepoint Investments for $1 Cdn. had collapsed when Bluepoint walked away from the deal. CKX-TV had been on the air since 1955, and was the first privately owned channel in the province of Manitoba. Earlier in 2009, CTV spun off two other local stations, (CKNX in Wingham and CKWI in Wheatley) both in Ontario. The Manitoba station was to be included in that deal (3 stations, $3), but like Bluepoint recently, Shaw backed away from that transaction.
It merits the question, is the Canadian situation analogous to media disruption challenges in the US? Much of the high visibility focus on the challenged old-media model in the US has been on newspapers. Curiously, Canada’s daily newspaper industry is not suffering through local closures in the way the US market has in Denver and Seattle. The Canadian newspaper market, appears healthy, although I suspect, is being propped up somewhat by Canwest, a media company burdened with debt and teetering on insolvency. Its sustained print assets will be sold off and consolidated by new, more experienced owners. The chain of local papers owned by Canwest serves a number of Tier 2 and 3 communities, which are hard to maintain without classified ad support and with declining readership, amid increasing publishing costs. The reconciliation of print in Canada is out on the horizon. And the local TV challenges for Canada are right here, right now.
So will US TV local stations find themselves on a similar path as those in Canada. The answer is, likely, but like papers in Canada, that day of reconciliation is pushed out on the timeline. Tier 2 and 3 markets have more competition, and more at stake currently. There is still a glut of network shows, talk, sitcoms, reality, sports and news, in all dayparts – more than any one or two channels could air. But that is only sustainable as audiences and ad dollars are available. This market is more competitive, and less regulated. But we’re on parallel paths with our friends from north of the 49th here – the weaker properties will go dark. The sudden jolts to Canada’s local stations over this past summer is a precursor to the challenges that US Local TV will face in 2010 and 2011 over a continued period of market disruption.
