Rogers Media has made cuts to its financially troubled multicultural channel, OMNI, resulting in the loss of about 90 positions.
According to Unifor union representatives for workers in Ontario, Vancouver and Alberta at OMNI and City, Rogers Media has cut nationally broadcast OMNI News in Italian, Mandarin and Cantonese at the multicultural channel, as well as “V-Mix” and “Bollywood Boulevard,” two English-language shows targeting South Asian audiences.
According to Unifor Local723M, 36 positions were eliminated in Toronto, Unifor’s Vancouver office confirmed 30 layoffs in British Columbia, and IBEW 2228 confirmed 24 people lost their jobs in Alberta.
Rogers Media president Keith Pelley told the CRTC during its Let’s Talk TV hearing last fall that changes were necessary in order to keep OMNI intact. At that point OMNI’s revenues had dropped by $40 million since 2011.
“Let me be clear, OMNI is not a viable business unless something can be done to reverse its financial situation,” Pelley told the CRTC.
Representatives from Rogers Media have declined to comment at this time.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
So Punjabi stays. Why am I not surprised. We continue to bow to the pressure. Italians matter too. If news from India is that important–move back. Anything worth knowing is reported on regular news-that the rest of us watch. Pick up a phone and call home if something is that important. This is just BS and people are out of work. It’s bad enough some whacko muslim is trying to buy a house and not pay taxes–now we are letting these people take over our media????