Vancouver: Citytv’s launch in Vancouver July 22 may not be giving existing stations static today, but could be a real threat in five to 10 years – especially when it comes to news and local programming, says a local analyst.

Formerly CKVU, Citytv caters to Vancouverites aged 18 to 34, viewers not well served by older-skewing stations BCTV Global, BC-CTV and CBC, says David Stanger of DBA Baron, a media buying and planning company.

‘It takes five years for a newscast to mature and an audience to settle in,’ says Stanger, explaining that a station’s personality is defined by local programming like news. ‘[Citytv Vancouver] captures the under-30 crowd that is looking for something to call their own instead of embracing their parents’ newscast. That’s what they did in Toronto 25 years ago. [Citytv] has the opportunity to become tomorrow’s adult newscast.’

Stanger says Citytv Vancouver is doing what was expected, based on the Citytv Toronto model, and fills a void in the market created several years ago when Global, which previously owned CKVU, dumped the locally minded U.TV brand for the national Global brand.

In the station switchover last year when the Global brand shifted to BCTV, CKVU’s news fell from second to a distant third in the market share race with BCTV Global and BC-CTV, but still outperformed CBC’s news, says Stanger. That said, he doesn’t expect the senior stations to lose any significant audience share to Citytv, and instead sees younger viewers discovering a newscast that appeals to them better.

Breakfast Television, airing 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. weekdays, and CityPulse, the rebranded dinner and late-night newscasts, debuted July 22 as the first in a staggered rollout of local programming that will include noontime show City Cooks, world music show Ethnosonic and multicultural magazine show diverseCity by the end of September.

Citytv plans an average of 29 hours of local programming each week.

‘We want to hold a mirror to the town and show Vancouver back to itself,’ says VP and GM Brad Phillips. ‘Get everyone on camera, create goodwill, be local, local, local, and create attraction to the brand. We’re not trying to compete with the ‘majors.”

Last October, CHUM bought CKVU for $125 million and has spent more on renovating the station, rebranding to Citytv, marketing the new ID, and bringing in a whole second shift of production crew to handle the breakfast show, thereby expanding the employment roster from about 30 people to 150.

‘Morning television is a place to be,’ says Phillips, responding to questions about the viability of breakfast television in Vancouver. VTV’s breakfast show was cancelled when the station was rebranded to BC-CTV. ‘We believe in the future of it. It just becomes a huge opportunity to get a toehold [in the market]. Look at the American markets. They all have breakfast shows. And we think we have some expertise in how to put this kind of show on the air. We present this kind of show in Toronto, learned a few things along the way and bring that experience to Vancouver. Personality means a lot.’

To that end, local personalities Fiona Forbes and Michael Eckford host the eclectic Breakfast Television along with news anchor Simi Sara, and compete with BCTV Global’s more headline-minded Morning News for audience.

Originally, Forbes and Eckford were to be joined by comedy duo Linda Cullen and Bob Robertson – a bid to broaden the appeal of the show to an older demographic – but the chemistry didn’t work out, says Phillips.

Advertisers, meanwhile, are responding positively, says Phillips, with ad revenue volumes ‘substantial’ as the station moves into the first quarter of 2003, beginning Sept. 1. He calls Citytv an ‘affordable alternative’ for local advertisers and says the station will be profitable this year.

‘We’re sticking with what we do,’ says BC-CTV news director Tom Walters, regarding the onset of Citytv Vancouver. ‘We redefined ourselves last September and the relaunch of Citytv completes the puzzle for Vancouver television viewers. It’s nice to see everyone in place. Citytv will attract its own distinct audience and it’s not going to be a problem for us.’

-www.citytv.com