WIV is proceeding with plans to launch a new specialty television channel in partnership with The Globe & Mail – Report on Business.

The channel, titled ROBTv (Report on Business Television) will be devoted to programming that focuses on all aspects of business, finance and economics, with an emphasis on Canadian news. Mark Jan Vrem, vp of news for WIC Television in Alberta, is responsible for the introduction of the new business channel, scheduled to air Sept. 1.

A television news veteran, Jan Vrem has worked in various news management roles for wic’s television operations since 1972. Jan Vrem is working in partnership with Stephen Petherbridge, publisher of the Globe’s Report on Business Magazine, to build a management and production team.

The most recent addition to that team is executive producer Jack Fleischmann. Currently president and ceo of News Theatre, a corporate communications and production centre in Toronto, Fleischmann, in partnership with Pamela Wallin, also runs Current Affairs Group, the prodco responsible for Pamela Wallin and Maclean’s TV. In the 1980s, Fleischmann was exec producer at CTV Television Network, responsible at different times for CTV News, Canada AM and a handful of ctv news specials.

The Globe and Mail is part of Thomson Newspapers, publisher of 55 dailies in Canada and the u.s., which generate annual revenues of US$6 billion.