Can TVA Win with Toronto 1?
By Laurel Hyatt Broadcaster November 2, 2004 OTTAWA – TVA Group Inc. and Sun Media Corp. can succeed with Toronto 1 where Craig Media Inc. failed because it can better promote the fledgling station, the group told CRTC commissioners in Gatineau yesterday during a hearing to approve its bid to take over the station. Toronto 1, the Toronto-Hamilton station aimed at an ethnically diverse audience aged 25 to 54, has had a rough ride since launching over a year ago with what many thought was an innovative concept, eventually laying off more than two dozen staffers after just nine months. But it’s a concept that could work if only more people knew about it, says Serge Gouin, president of TVA and its parent company Quebecor, which wants to buy Toronto 1 for $46 million from Craig Media, which was recently purchased by CHUM (also subject to CRTC approval). CHUM had to sell off the station to avoid conflict with its Toronto flagship Citytv and nearby Barrie station, The New VR. TVA doesn’t have
