There is absolutely no way the CRTC should approve this request by Bell. The primary purpose for stations like CTV Barrie is local news and programming not cause people want to watch Seinfeld repeats

One thing about the Barrie newscast is that it is a pretty decent product and suspect it gets good numbers

RadioActive wrote:

We already see it in action on Global's noon newscast. Simulcast in Toronto, Montreal, Peterborough and Kingston, it serves none of those cities well as it tries to be all things to all the far-flung people.

I really don't care about a local issue in Côte-des-Neiges and I suspect those in La Belle Province haven't the slightest interest in what Olivia Chow has to say about bike lanes in the downtown core. 

But it's cheap and efficient for Global, so why worry about silly things like actually informing viewers about local issues?

Boy, did I pick a great day to make that comment. Having just watched Global's noon news on Friday, it more than lived up - or down - to that criticism. 

Its first story was about the heat, which CFTO also led with. 

But second was a very long package about a new rapid transit line that just started in Montreal, bookended on both sides by a live shot with a reporter. This could not have been more irrelevant to a Toronto viewer, especially when it gave a long list of the neighbourhoods it passes through. 

They then went to a story about a water main break and flood, also in a Montreal neighbourhood. Again, mostly unimportant if you're not familiar with that city. (To be fair, CTV also had this, but much later in the line-up and then only for a few seconds of what we call "good viz," with water on the streets. But it wasn't their third story.)

The next bit was about the result of two Ontario provincial by-elections, which meant nothing to those in Quebec. 

And then viewers were treated to a very long and very local reporter story about a Peterborough housing initiative that seemed to go on forever. A tale not of interest to anyone in Kingston, Montreal or Toronto. 

This is the epitome of why Global's noon show doesn't work. A local newscast is, by its very nature "local." It's fine to cover some out-of-town stories, but this was just ridiculous. At least Barrie is closer to Toronto, so if Bell gets the requested CRTC relief, and eventually replaces or fires most of its VR news team, maybe some of those Toronto headlines will matter to the folks up north.

But if it happens, what a loss for those viewers, who have only one TV station to tune into for truly local news. 

One way to save a buck is to close the 11PM cast (and maybe repeat the 6PM one).  I can’t remember the last time I was in front of a TV at that hour lol