Restructuring at CHUM

CHUM Television has laid off 27 full- and nine part-time employees as part of a restructuring of its NewNet stations in Ontario. Traffic operations for The New VR in Barrie and Ottawa’s The New RO have moved to The New PL in London, which also handles traffic for the stations in Windsor and Wingham. The shuffle creates nine new positions in London, however, and six at other stations. CHUM says it will incur a one-time cost of $730,000, with annualized projected savings of $300,000.

CHUM has also announced plans to rebrand its three A-Channel stations as Citytv channels in time for the fall season. CHUM acquired the Calgary, Edmonton and Manitoba outlets when it bought Craig Media last year.

AAC talks to lifestyle producers

Alliance Atlantis will hold a seminar for indie producers on Feb. 25 in Toronto, during which execs will lay out plans for their lifestyle channels. The half-day event will include presentations on ‘Looking for Production Partners’ and ‘Five Basic Elements to Making Great Lifestyle Television.’

‘Lifestyle programming is no longer just how-to shows,’ says Kirstine Layfield, SVP of lifestyle programming. ‘We wanted to create a forum to discuss new trends and directions with Canadian producers.’ To attend, e-mail david.swan@allianceatlantis.com.

Spike stays

Spike TV is staying in Canada, following a CRTC ruling that rejected complaints that the U.S. specialty competes unfairly with Canadian-owned MenTV. The commission says it found no evidence that the channels overlapped, noting that Spike aims at a wider audience than that of the urbane CanWest-owned digi.

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters had applied to have Spike removed from the dial after it rebranded in 2003. The cable channel entered Canada 19 years ago as The Nashville Network. Cable companies opposed CAB.