March 16, 2012
It was announced today that BCE (owners of Bell Media) would take over Astra Media. This is a significant move on several fronts and the big 3 media companies in Canada get bigger, and start making in roads in Quebec.
While Astral has a huge presence in English language media there is no disputing their presence in Quebec which is more significant that Bell.
The combined forces on the surface is a monster. Astral has 83 radio stations, most of them in rural areas, and 15 cable channels. With the aqusitiion Bell will have over 110 radio stations, and more than 30 cable channels.
The big question is what what will continue and what go away, or get sold. On television many of Astral assets are unique or in french. Their most noteable operations including the Movie Network, Family Channel, and Teletoon. Most like Bell would let those channel continue unchanged.
On the Radio front Bell and Astral now own seven stations in the Vancouver area. The most likely casualty could be Virgin radio. Bell owns the Beat radio against top 40 Virgin. The Shore may also be a casualty after being reformated following the buyout by Astral.
The only real change on TV could be on one of Canada's smallest TV stations. Astral owns CFTK in Terrace, BC and CDJC in Dawson Creek. At the moment these stations have very plain branding and rely heavily on the CBC for their schedule. These markets seems likely to become a CTV Two affiliate.
A lot of this is still month away from getting setteled.
Friday 16 March 2012
The further decline of OWN
March 16, 2012
After mixing around formats for months, the Rosie Show has a new format...oblivion.
First it was a mix between Rosie's old show and what Oprah's old show was, then it was a in depth one on one show in a brightly colored basement. There was an auidence and band then they were gone, then they were in Chicago and went to New York. It was never the same show whenever I watched it, and it was always by accident that I ever watched it at all.
The cancelation I do find surprising, but wonder how much politics was involved. I was surprised to see Rosie O'Donnel take over for Pierse Morgan last night on CNN. She is a great interviewer and I wondered, what happened to your own show. It was not until today it was revealed that she has no show anymore. I couldn't find it on OWN in Canada last night no I have no idea what's it status is. In the press release it was announced that the last show would go on the air March 30th in the US.
I know I keep writing about OWN which is quickly turning into one of the biggest flops for a cable channel in history. On that note no other channel came in with this much hype before. On the heels of the most sucessful syndicated talk show ever many thought that Oraph's magic could translate to 24 hour television. For the most part it was had been decent but there is no shock value. That may be a good thing, but it dosen't do much to keep viewers in on a regular basis.
The most irritating thing about the high expectation is the lack of paitence. Yes it was a mess with Rosie changing shows every week, but it needed time to find it's voice and when your on the back of the dial you should be allowed to develop.
Perhaps we'll see Rosie on CNN more often now.
After mixing around formats for months, the Rosie Show has a new format...oblivion.
First it was a mix between Rosie's old show and what Oprah's old show was, then it was a in depth one on one show in a brightly colored basement. There was an auidence and band then they were gone, then they were in Chicago and went to New York. It was never the same show whenever I watched it, and it was always by accident that I ever watched it at all.
The cancelation I do find surprising, but wonder how much politics was involved. I was surprised to see Rosie O'Donnel take over for Pierse Morgan last night on CNN. She is a great interviewer and I wondered, what happened to your own show. It was not until today it was revealed that she has no show anymore. I couldn't find it on OWN in Canada last night no I have no idea what's it status is. In the press release it was announced that the last show would go on the air March 30th in the US.
I know I keep writing about OWN which is quickly turning into one of the biggest flops for a cable channel in history. On that note no other channel came in with this much hype before. On the heels of the most sucessful syndicated talk show ever many thought that Oraph's magic could translate to 24 hour television. For the most part it was had been decent but there is no shock value. That may be a good thing, but it dosen't do much to keep viewers in on a regular basis.
The most irritating thing about the high expectation is the lack of paitence. Yes it was a mess with Rosie changing shows every week, but it needed time to find it's voice and when your on the back of the dial you should be allowed to develop.
Perhaps we'll see Rosie on CNN more often now.
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