The Canadian Television Press Tour, which provided broadcasters an opportunity to introduce their fall lineups to press from across the country in a week-long, Toronto-based event in June, has been cancelled this year after running for the last two.

‘There were a couple of scheduling conflicts that weren’t able to be resolved, and for a few [broadcasters] there were budgetary considerations,’ says Eric Kohanik, editor of TVTimes and principal event organizer.

But for some broadcasters, convergence has basically rendered the tour useless. ‘A number of the media represented were from newspapers we own and operate,’ says David Hamilton, VP promotion and publicity at CanWest Global, whose decision to drop out of the tour came weeks before the cancellation announcement.

Hamilton estimates that CanWest Global spent $50,000 on last year’s tour. ‘I expressed my concerns over the cost and the fact that we own a number of the papers that had attended in the past…there are probably only 10 people outside that group that we need to talk to,’ he says. ‘It’s not like the U.S. where there is still a large number of different media groups that you could talk to.’

Kohanik remains optimistic about reviving the tour next year. ‘When I set out to try to coordinate this, I was only there to try to help what I saw as an industry that was mature enough to start promoting itself in the same way that American networks do,’ he says

CTV is disappointed by the tour’s cancellation. ‘The Canadian Press Tour is a step forward for the broadcasting industry in Canada. It gives a Canadian series national presence right out of the gate,’ says Allison Vale, CTV VP programming, communications. CTV is still planning to announce its fall lineup in June.

Also lamenting the tour’s demise, CBC will announce its fall lineup at an in-house event on the morning of June 4.

-www.canwestglobal.com

-www,ctv.ca

-www.cbc.ca