Not sure if anyone else has noticed this, but there have been some subtle changes in approach at CTV.
 
The first one is on their radio promos advertising their primetime shows. No longer will you hear the word “watch” when it comes to seeing the programs in question. It’s been replaced by “streaming.” As in “This Is Us, streaming tonight at 9 PM on CTV.”
 
It’s a deliberate wording that shows Bell is trying to get the best of both worlds in a time of continued cord-cutting. Not only do they get the eyeballs, but people use data to see the show online, and if they’re Bell customers, that’s more money in the company coffers.
 
Meanwhile, CTV News at Noon looks like it has a lot fewer resources being thrown at it. Over the last two weeks or so, I’ve noticed there is less news and lot more live interview segments or debriefs with reporters. That’s not necessarily unusual but the length of them certainly is.
 
Some last as long as three minutes or more and in the case of one recent instance – an interview with Sgt. Kerry Schmidt of the OPP on drunk driving - went on and on and on for what must have been five minutes. All to say “don’t drink and drive.” But then, that wouldn’t have taken up much airtime and it appears they’re looking to fill.
 
They spent about four minutes taking British P.M. Theresa May’s Brexit speech live on Thursday’s show, something not even CBC News Network bothered to do. And there was a long, long chat with their reporter covering the California fires that burned up a huge amount of airtime.
 
They’ve also eliminated their Talkback Toronto segment, which was another colossal time waster. So what’s behind this? My guess is they’re cutting back on the money being spent, so fewer reporters lead to longer filler pieces to pad the time. But maybe someone working there can fill us in on what led to the change.
 
Finally, CTV News was definitely NOT the place to go for the story on Patrick Brown’s explosive new book, which pillories his former Conservative Party partners. Brown is suing CTV for the story that helped bring him down and it appears he wants no part of plugging his book on their shows.
 
As a result, while Global had a one-on-one with Brown on Wednesday, CTV not only had no comments from Brown himself, but didn’t even do it as a reporter story. They dismissed it with a bit of viz and some copy, even though the thing was exploding and was the talk of Queen’s Park.
 
All in all, the times they are a-changin’ at Bell’s flagship. But just what it portends, I’m not quite sure.