CTVglobemedia will close two A stations in southwestern Ontario when their licences expire in August, the company announced on Wednesday.

Citing ‘financial pressures’ and what it says is a broken economic model for Canadian television, the broadcaster plans to close CKNX-TV Wingham and CHWI-TV Wheatley, the latter of which is branded A Windsor — where it rebroadcasts. Wingham is a small town of some 3,000 people partway between London and Owen Sound.

‘This decision was difficult but necessary,’ said CTVgm EVP of corporate affair Paul Sparkes in a release. The news follows word that CTVgm will shut down Manitoba’s CKX-TV in the summer if a buyer cannot be found.

Sparkes added — in an apparent jab at the CRTC and its decision to withhold fee-for-carriage rights from conventional networks — that the company may need to consider similar actions in other markets ‘given the current regulatory framework.’

The loss of the stations stands to reduce local news coverage in the region — sending viewers to London or the CBC affiliate in Windsor, CBET.

In all, 26 employees will leave, according to A London station manager Don Mumford, who also oversees operations for Windsor and Wingham. He says A London will service those markets and will continue to send reporters to cover stories of ‘significant nature’ that occur in Windsor.

CTVgm also operates As in Barrie, London, Victoria, Ottawa and Halifax, while Alberta’s ACCESS channel airs A programming in certain primetime hours.

‘Since CTV is not going to re-apply for the licence, our hopes are that the licence will be up for grabs for someone else,’ says Peter Murdoch, VP of media at the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, which represents staff at the stations.

‘There’s no question we’re in difficult times, and no question that broadcasters would like fee-for-carriage, and we support that. I just hope that they’re not using the closings as a leverage for that argument… that’s not a good argument for closing a station.’

___________________________

This story has been corrected. The original did not include mention of the A station in London.