ROBTV EXITS CTV NEWS 1
By Adnews Staff
Baton/CTV's 24-hours-a-day 15-minute-news-loop channel, CTV News 1, is showing Report on Business Television the door in order to make way for its own expanded business news coverage. "Interest in business is growing and our audience is telling us it wants more," says Henry Kowalski, senior vice-president of news at Baton/CTV. "To meet the demand we need to grow and we need the ability to pursue business stories under our own direction." To do so, News 1's existing business editor, Deirdre McMurdy, will be joined by Mike Eppel, previously of 680 All News Radio, and Brenda Craig, formerly of ROBTv. The expanded coverage, to be phased in beginning April 6, will include an around-the-clock scrolling ticker displaying continuously-updated financial information. ROBTv, a partnership between The Globe and Mail, WIC and Cancom which debuted on News 1 in September 1997, will cease to be broadcast on April 6. "ROBTv has had an extremely loyal audience while on CTV News 1," says Stephen Petherbridge of ROBTv. "We are pursuing other opportunities that we hope will enable us to launch ROBTv in its own right this fall, and we look forward to serving these viewers, and others, in the future."