CanWest to bring celebrity-focused E! Network to Canadians
Trevor Trevor
The U.S. cable network that popularized "where are they now?"
celebrity exposés and red carpet reporting by Joan Rivers is heading
north of the border.
CanWest will bring E! Networks to Canada by rebranding its CH network
E! as of Sept. 1, CanWest MediaWorks announced Tuesday.
In an agreement with the U.S. network, the upcoming Canadian version
of the celebrity and entertainment-focused channel will feature a mix
of E! programming as well as Canadian-produced content, CanWest said.
Current E! offerings include the popular celebrity documentary series
E! True Hollywood Stories, the Playboy mansion-set reality show The
Girls Next Door and a news show hosted by American Idol's Ryan
Seacrest.
CH stations will continue to have relaunched local news and
information programming, CanWest said.
"We are very confident that the powerful combination of the E! brand
and content, alongside our Canadian and local programming, will
resonate strongly with Canadian audiences," said Kathleen Dore,
CanWest's president of Canadian television.
Bob in Jersey
Tragically, this will come too late for you Canucks to see last night's
(24th) "Daily 10" IMBS-ish stunt by Debbie Matenopoulos.
#1 on the nightly countdown was (the already skanky in some folks'
opinion) Miss Snuffleupagus' trip to some La-La Land dance studio
offering "burlesque" classes...flashy costumes, feather boas, the whole
shootin' match...and at the end, rather than resume her semi-cute street
clothes, Deb parted the studio in a Britney-esque plaid miniskirt and a
starch-white T with "Debra" in yooge black type across her bosom...she
herself admitted she looked like a hooker...
I know, I don't usually pay any attention to her.
--
BOB
Kevin Marousek, RPCV
I'm sure you only buy her for the articles.
--
Kevin M.
Doug Eastick
Over-The-Air. Now, that's actually more than 6 *markets* cuz CHCH has
repeaters all over the place (my city included -- pop: 160,000)
somebody is quick on wikipedia. the E! change was made on the following
pages by late today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CH_%28television_system%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHCH
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E%21 (stating the Star! network loses E!
rights)
Sean Healy
> I can't believe that 6 OTA channels in Canada are getting E!-equivalent
> Over-The-Air. Now, that's actually more than 6 *markets* cuz CHCH has
> repeaters all over the place (my city included -- pop: 160,000)
It will be interesting to see how they handle the local news covered by
the CH stations now. Maybe a good opportunity for someone else (Sun TV?
Rogers via CFPL or CKVR?) to step in and fill what will likely be a void
for TV news in Hamilton-Halton-Niagara.
If you're bringing E! to the channel, it's a totally different market
than the audience that currently tunes into for local coverage on the CH
Morning Show. Canwest is effectively using a throwaway over-the-air
network to get very good cable coverage for what should really be a
cable channel.
Oddly, they will also get some decent coverage in Buffalo where CHCH is
carried on cable.
Mark J.
On Apr 26, 2:31 pm, Sean Healy <she...@pobox.com> wrote:
> It will be interesting to see how they handle the local news covered by
> the CH stations now. Maybe a good opportunity for someone else (Sun TV?
> Rogers via CFPL or CKVR?) to step in and fill what will likely be a void
> for TV news in Hamilton-Halton-Niagara.
>
> If you're bringing E! to the channel, it's a totally different market
> than the audience that currently tunes into for local coverage on the CH
> Morning Show. Canwest is effectively using a throwaway over-the-air
> network to get very good cable coverage for what should really be a
> cable channel.
The Wikipedia entry--and yes, I consider the source--says that most
prime time programming and newscasts will continue on the CH stations
as before. The newscasts will also be branded with the station call
letters, so CHCH will still be around to keep the Toronto papers from
doing nostalgic remembrances of "Tiny Talent Time," "The Hilarious
House of Frightenstein" and "The Party Game."
Relevant paragraph from this Media in Canada article:
E!'s sked will mix network prime-time shows with E! library content,
airing during weekends, late prime and daytime. Each CH station's
local content will relaunch with a refreshed on-air image under the
banner of its historical call letters (CHCH News, CHEK News, CHBC
News, CHCA News and CJNT Montreal). The network's complete programming
schedule will be revealed at the CanWest MediaWorks fall launch event
in June.
http://www.mediaincanada.com/articles/mic/20070425/canwest.html