In a move that the company says will “strengthen” its positioning in the province, Bell Media will “regroup the expertise” of both its Québec teams under the leadership of its provincial VP of Content Development, Programming and News.
Just don’t call it a reduction-in-force initiative at the fiscally wobbly owner of radio stations run by iHeartRadio Canada.
With Suzane Landry in charge, Bell Media insists that it “continues to invest, and be a leader, in the development of enhanced news and entertainment programming across all of its platforms.”
That said, some jobs could be lost with the combination of Francophone and Anglophone departments.
Bell Media SVP of Content and Sales Stewart Johnson downplayed such a possibility, stating, “Our Quebec team members are our best assets in this market, and this new structure enables us to maximize our strengths by bringing together the expertise of the News and Radio in Quebec under the leadership of Suzane Landry. This change provides the opportunity to work more collaboratively, optimize resources, and support growth across our platforms.”
Thus, all Bell Media Quebec journalists will now work as part of a collaborative newsroom in Quebec. This merges French-language news service Noovo Info and radio journalists from its Québec-wide French Adult Contemporary Rouge and French Rock-oriented ÉNERGIE brands; CTV News Montreal, Anglophone News/Talk leader CJAD-AM; and the team from digital platform Noovo Moi.
“This unified newsroom becomes one of the largest in Quebec and strengthens Bell Media as a major contributor to news journalism in the province,” Bell Media said.
Meanwhile, heritage Rocker CHOM-FM in Montréal and Top 40 sibling CJFM “Virgin Radio 95.9” are joining ÉNERGIE and Rouge by combining to create a single team. “This new approach brings together the expertise of team members across the stations to bolster Bell Media’s leading portfolio of audio brands in Quebec and better position them for future growth,” Bell Media believes.
Meanwhile, omnipresent all-news cable TV channel CP24 has formally moved from its longtime home of 299 Queen Street West in Toronto to a suburban locale in Scarborough, Ont. CP24 will maintain a small news presence in downtown Toronto, however.
