Located in Montreal’s Ville-Marie borough, a major water main break on René-Lévesque Boulevard and de Lorimier Avenue on Aug. 16, 2024 sent a deluge of water into homes and business in the area, including Bell Media’s offices where CTV, RDS, Noovo, Rouge FM (CITE-FM), Energie (CKMF-FM), CJAD, CHOM, Virgin Radio (CJFM-FM) and TSN Radio (CKGM-FM) were impacted as control panels and other equipment were destroyed.

A little more than a year later, CTV is introducing its new virtual studio environment, following the debut of a similar set that went into use last year by Bell Media French-language news channel, Noovo Info. 

The virtual studio environment includes multiple modular screens to accommodate high-quality news graphics, video footage, and live interviews. 

“This innovative new virtual reality studio not only delivers a visually striking news environment for our viewers, it also allows us to tell stories in dynamic new ways,” said Jean-Philippe Pineault, General Manager, Quebec News, Bell Media. “Building on the success following Noovo Info’s transition to a virtual set, and thanks to the technological advances offered by this state-of-the-art studio, we will continue to evolve our newscasts for years to come.” 

The new set will be used during CTV News at 5 with anchor Maya Johnson; CTV News at 6 with anchor Mutsumi Takahashi; and CTV News at 11:30 with anchor Caroline Van Vlaardingen, as well as the 6 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. weekend newscasts. 

The post CTV Montreal unveils new virtual studio following devastating flooding appeared first on Broadcast Dialogue.

The network announced Tuesday that Bell Media Quebec journalists will now work as part of a collaborative newsroom that will include French-language service Noovo Info, including radio journalists from Rouge and ÉNERGIE; CTV News Montreal; CJAD; and the team from digital platform Noovo Moi.

“This unified newsroom becomes one of the largest in Quebec and strengthens Bell Media as a major contributor to news journalism in the province,” the company said in a release.

Bell Media also announced that its Quebec music radio stations – CHOM, Virgin, ÉNERGIE and Rouge – are combining to create a single team.

“This new approach brings together the expertise of team members across the stations to bolster Bell Media’s leading portfolio of audio brands in Quebec and better position them for future growth,” the announcement stated.

The unified team will be led by Suzane Landry, Vice-President, Content Development, Programming and News, Quebec.

“Our Quebec team members are our best assets in this market, and this new structure enables us to maximize our strengths by bringing together the expertise of the News and Radio in Quebec under the leadership of Suzane Landry,” said Stewart Johnston, Senior Vice-President, Content and Sales. “This change provides the opportunity to work more collaboratively, optimize resources, and support growth across our platforms.”

The announcement follows last week’s move by Bell Media to relocate Toronto’s CP24 from the iconic 299 Queen St. West building in downtown Toronto to a central news hub at its Agincourt Studios in Scarborough, alongside CTV National News, CTV News Toronto, CTVNews.ca, and CTV News Channel.

The post Bell Media combining Quebec French- and English-language newsrooms appeared first on Broadcast Dialogue.