This wasn't just CTV Sports in Calgary. Deeps cuts were made inside CTV Sports departments across the entire country.
Mirtle is great, and he made a gutsy move over to The Athletic. Don't blame him. But I worry a bit when I read smart journalists like him explaining how they only recently twigged to what is gutting the media business.
For goodness sake, ad revenues have been falling sharply for years. Advertisers moved to digital, plain and simple, and it really sped up post 2008, because kids these days are not reading print media, or watching TV networks. They are getting all of their info and a lot of their entertainment on their smart phones, phablets, whatever you wanna call them.
That's not exacly revelatory. The question is: How will media survive when digital ads pay 1/10th what print and broadcast ads pay? Answer: They won't. They aren't.
Viable alternative models exist, ie: crowd funded, user pay, non-profits supported by foundations. The Rebel (Ezra Levant's vehicle) is attracting piles of cash from supports and donors. The Athletic is trying do do something similar. God bless them all.
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