Amber MacArthur Gone from Citytv

Waaaah! There goes one of my few reasons for tuning in to CityTV. Bad move from Rogers. (Though I did hear that The Lab with Leo is coming to CityTV. Is that a substantiated rumor?)

I'm biased, because Amber is my friend and brought me onto commandN, but I really can't help but be happy for Amber. She's super talented and popular because she deserves to be, anyone that can't see that should get out of her way. Sorry Rogers, epic fail.

"Rogers obviously has no clue what they're losing here" - When has big red ever had a clue on how to properly serve their customers/viewers/subscribers?

I'm puzzled... I mean, Rogers has like, how many millions of Internet service subscribers? How does Rogers TV division not understand the value and popularity of tech/Internet-based content???

And the exodus continues...

Is anyone keeping track of all the good, hard working people CityTV has lost over the past year?

Five, by my count, and that's just the on-air talent.

I think the question to ask is what kind of rating(viewership) the show is pulling? I would be very surprised if it is more than a 2 rating. I am actually surprised that the show runs for such a long time.. sorry not being mean, but Rogers is running a business, and like most networks/stations, will not keep a show on air if it is not paying out..or have enough advertisers support...that's why we now have pay tv or digital stations for those who are willing to pay for s subscription

Really? That's just nuts! Sure, they have The Lab now, but imo Amber is much better suited to the 30-ish and younger demographic than Leo LaPorte is. I never managed to catch her on that channel anyways. Stupid timezone difference. :P

Anyway, that's one ball and chain gone and one more way for Amber to express herself creatively.

Sad news.

Thanks for interviewing me Amber, it was great fun. I must find a way to download the video of the citytv site now.

I smell corporate politics and battle between mainstream profit and new media passion.

Hmmm airing her favorite YouTube clips. Last time I checked she did interview folks on the show about new media and other aspects of the internet. Maybe G4TV could pick up her show.

I believe I just saw a Webnation that had Arthur Kent from Afghanistan on the webcam. I've never seen anything as innovative as that on local TV news in Toronto before.
Amber has also been the only journalist to actually cover AND understand the dangers posed by Net Neutrality and the recent Canadian DMCA laws that may be introduced in the house soon.
I bet you an iTunes gift card that most of the reporters in this town would have to look up who Prentice even is much less do a story about one of the most important issues facing Canadians today. Rogers AND Bell are doing their best to help us forget that they are the ones who have taken the wrong side of the Net Neutrality debate.
Amber is one of the few journalists in this country who has a voice of her own! She had to be set free.
Amber... it's simple - you have vision...they don't

I like Amber, and I think she did a good job reporting on issues I think are important and interesting. But usually if I like it or think it's worth watching it's the kiss of death. While most young, web-savvy BlogTO readers will miss her, most Citytv viewers won't even notice she's gone. I'm sure she will surface somewhere where her talents and insight will be appreciated by both her viewers and bosses. Citytv is not that place. Her show aired on CP24 which is now owned by CTV, not Rogers (both used to be owned by CHUM which was bought and divided up, almost everything but the Citytv brand went to CTV). Now the only place to air her show would be Citytv the channel and I bet the ratings would not generate enough ad revenue. Ironically, if web-savvy, forward thinking people want information on things like net neutrality or DRM they turn to the web, not TV which is why Amber no longer has a job at Citytv. Kinda funny in a way... You're better off Amber, Citytv sucked before Rogers, and will continue to suck long after.

Well there's a rude way to start the year...why is it some of our most talented Canadians end up being misused, ignored or treated poorly. I hope it doesn't take a strong U.S. dollar (wait a minute, that's not true anymore) to lure Amber away.

Beyond corporate conspiracy, this would appear to be just a dumb business decision and the continuing hollowing out of CHUM.

I'm so sorry, Amber. You were meant to be solely on the internet, though. I've been watching CommandN for over a year and I've been listening to you on Twit since Net@Nite was Inside the Net. Like someone commented above, you won't be unemployed for long!

younger people are abandoning traditional media in droves, and I can see why...

Guys, guys...

Amber's departure was related directly and only to her show being canceled, as far as I understand. Many of you here even confess to not watching it regularly.

As a senior Rogers exec, I can confirm that we've been trying to reach Amber since the deal closed to try to expand her presence online, but she's simply been busy.

There are a number of savvy Internet execs at Rogers, but they're hard to get to and I know for a fact that Amber wasn't able to meet any of them in the short time that we were in the same company.

If we can figure out a way to reach the "web 2.0" audience in Canada in a profitable way, we'll do so, and ideally with Amber if she's still available at that time.

But keep in mind that tech blogs aren't as large as you might think they are - Arrington does about 350K uniques in the US, and 100K in Canada, but neither Mark Evans nor Rick Segal even do enough to be tracked by Comscore (Mark's site says he has under 2K readers). BlogTO registers about 50K, but it's certainly not purely tech.

For us to really get behind something, it has to tip in above 100K at some point. Keep in mind that internally everything fights for attention with stalwarts like Sportsnet.ca, CityNews.ca, 680News, Chatelaine, Maclean's, etc. And that's not even counting the ISP, Cable and Wireless groups, which are organizationally separate.

We're investing pretty heavily in the web, and it's ramped up quite a bit since I joined about a year ago. You'd be amazed (I was) at how long it takes to do something interesting in a large company, but it's not because there are a bunch of idiots working here.

Really.

I know my colleagues join me in wishing Amber well and in lauding her efforts here and elsewhere in the Toronto online community. And if we can collaborate together in the future, we will.

I'm not about to share private communications, but Amber can confirm our difficulty in arranging a meeting since I first contacted her in late October.

And if you enjoy Richard Morgan's work, you might also try China Mieville.

But nothing beats Gibson.

let's hope that her loyal viewers are flooding city tv with letters asking for the show to be put back on air

Tim - yep, should'a noted that. Any sites with a sharp regional focus get screwed up in Comscore (we have the problem with all of our radio sites).

Congrats on the success of this site, by the way - Comscore may screw up the actual number, but it doesn't miss the trend - which is way up.

Sounds like you're doing great! Noticed your name in the "about" section.

Hard to find gluten-free stores, though. :-)

Hi again,

For what it's worth, here's some more background. I resigned (officially) at the end of October because I had two great offers from the US (and I felt as though CityNews wanted to target an older/different demographic than I could reach/thought was important).

In turn, management asked me over and over again to stay put and promised a national show on Citytv and G4Techtv. We worked for two months exclusively on that show (it was looking slick!). Management told me each week that all was good. One senior Rogers exec even met with me in December to reassure me that all was good (not Kevin). Friday I heard abruptly that all was not good (Rogers did not want the show) and they knew, and Citytv knew, that the new show was all I was planning to do. End of story. I ran freely out the door.

Again, I am excited to be working on other projects and I am 100% happy. It might seem odd that I keep commenting here, but the people here are my friends and part of my community - and it's important to me that they hear what went down.

I don't feel as though anyone communicated to me honestly until late Friday, but there is not a lot I can do about that. I wish they let me walk in October so I did not have to go through all of this and I could have jumped on other full-time ops...but wishing honesty is a true waste of energy.

Thanks for all the support ;-).
-Amber

I'm interested in online media, so I had tried to watch Amber's show many times. I never could get into it -- the content, format, and the host were just not compelling enough to get me to come back. Maybe it was just a bad fit and was never going to work. Above, Amber writes "I never quite felt as though I fit in at Citytv" - 'nuff said.

Rogers (and Bell) are a plague on society. I dropped their horrendous service long ago. There continuing acts of douchbaggery remind of why my decision was a sound one.

Its amazing how old farts like Gord Martinaeu and Anne Rohmer keep sticking around, obviously they don't want new fresh blood. But keep these sagging has beens for 20 -30 years.

Catherine Humphreys is the only one worth watching.

To: Kevin Bartus and other Rogers executives who are reading these posts

Your decision to terminate WebNation is a realization of precisely what was widely feared, that you will turn the innovation at CITY into a hollow mediocrity. This is a dissappointment for advertisers and shareholders, not just the audience.

You had a valuable property with a loyal following, and low production costs. But instead of doing the difficult HR/organizational work and merging it into another group that could have leveraged the audience and the enthusiasm of the team (G4 Tech TV and Macleans come to mind), you took the easy way out.

--
"For us to really get behind something, it has to tip in above 100K at some point. Keep in mind that internally everything fights for attention with stalwarts like Sportsnet.ca, CityNews.ca, 680News, Chatelaine, Maclean's, etc. And that's not even counting the ISP, Cable and Wireless groups, which are organizationally separate."
--

Clearly the opportunity for Rogers with WebNation was to GROW its audience nationally by further exploiting it across wireless, cable, print, and web-platforms --rather than rejecting it based on a siloed analysis of its existing web audience. Advertisers are waiting in line for multi-platform campaigns through a single media property and WebNation fit the bill.

Dear Rogers: Please try harder to look like an innovator, the field is wide open.

*Despite the criticism --Kevin -thank-you for posting on behalf of Rogers, the effort is appreciated.

Let it be know, if you need to call a meeting, just start posting comments on our site to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible.

Amber, you and/or your show will get snapped up before your plane lands. Go where you can really shine but just remember you'll always be ours.

To the Rogers haters, if the numbers aren't there then the numbers aren't there. That's biz. Might as well lay into Rogers for not funding bigger/better wireless apps while you're at it.

Kevin Bartus, excellent of you to join in the conversation and add clarity. p.s. my cable bill is too high.

Palm trees? I dunno, am thinking I might stay in Toronto and stir things up a little ;).

-Amber

I, for one, will continue to watch/listen to Net@Nite, which you should ALL do, as well as Command N. All Amber-riffic!
So alas, no more WebNation, but much more Amber can be found online guys, so turn those frowns upside down!!
Rogers' loss is another stations gain, right??

Rogers is plain nuts ... Amber is just gonna go to Digg
or another busy online site and do her stories from there
hopefully she'll get a cut of all that online ad money ...

Rogers didn't put Amber on any billboards across the city .
They've got the money for all the US dramas and sitcoms and
all the billboards for all the cellphones Rogers has .

Amber worked hard at making stories - good stories that were
educational . It could have been on Discovery , PBS or TVO

I give it a month before rogers deletes all episodes of the citynews website ... people will have to search toorents or youtube for entire episodes. Rogers can't make money off
content that already exists.

The big question is can Amber actually make it without any help from Rogers or Bell.

Amber you should delete any citytv pictures / videos from your social networks ...flickr , facebook.

One more comment I remember Amber doing a story were she dis'ed Rogers regarding their customer service and that was after Rogers bought CityTV. If the producers cared they wouldn't of aired her comment on how Rogers takes forever to get back to their customers.

I really think this type of he-said, she-said dialogue serves very little purpose for either party, is counter productive AND unprofessional. Also, if you track back on this thread you will see that it was Amber who initiated this. Look, Rogers made a business decision to cancel a show that had terrible ratings, plain and simple. Amber didn't get her way so she bolted ,while at the same time trying to bring her fan base with her. We've seen this play out before but unfortuanately i will not follow, or support her any longer, she has badly damaged her integrity through this entire process. By her own admission (from above) she states that she's.. ".. not a huge fan of any local TV news coverage ". Huh !!!? Yet, she accepts a job as a tech reporter with the largest and most popular local network in the country !! It seems Amber has been using this forum to air a grievance, and to continue to plug her project of a TV SHOW that she hopes will get picked up by someone else !! Amber didn't like the rules of the game so she quit, as is her right. But what's insulting is to then so transparantly embark on a campaign of self promotion and damage control. I am not a rogers fan, never have been, never will be. I find them to be predatory and unfair but I don't think they did anything here other than cancel a show with poor ratings. The 'star' of the show didn't like it so she created a big fuss as she walked out the door. One little piece of advice to you amber - leave the past behind you, you seem very intent on always having your say on this issue, but know that it is costing you some credibility. I have followed you since the 'early' days of call for help but you have grown bitter recently and I really don't know which form of media you truly aspire to, although I think I have a good idea...

I have to agree with Frank W. It is apparent that Amber was knowledgeable about technology, but was not trained very well from a media perspective regarding delivery. On air personalities should get some feedback about not only the content of their shows, but about their voice, tone and delivery. Amber ended a lot of sentences with the awkard inflection in her voice, rambled on too fast at times and sounded unprofessional. If City/Rogers does have any committment to moving forward with a technology based show, they should invest in some consumer research to identify suitable on air personalities and content. With the right mix I believe the concept could become profitable.

Apperently CP24 and the rest of the CHUM Limited properties are owned by CTVglobemedia so this means it must have been CTV that may have pulled the plug onn CP24's Webnation V2. Rogers Communications only owns the Citytv stations.

More visionary thinking from the minds at Rogers!!!

Now both Amber(Citytv) and Leo(G4Techtv) both canceled separately in Canada...unbelievable!

Rogers considers it a high tech station with TechTv and loses its two most talented staff in this area.

To whom this may concern,
(PLEASE HELP)

Hello, My name is Lorraine. I am a teaching staff that works with Autism spectrum disorders at a local school in Mississauga, Ontario Canada. A co worker shared an email with me. She belongs to The Parent Network of the Geneva Centre for Autism, as her own son was also diagnosed with mild autism.
This email struck me emotionally and I feel that it needs to be addressed. I am unsure of how to help this person other than passing on this very sad and unfortunate situation. I do not believe that any effort was made by Immigration Canada and I'm not sure this was justified, or even possibly a human rights issue. I would like to see that this person receives the help that they need.
I have cut & pasted the opening of the on line discussion for sake of context and then skipped right to # 6. Please do the same. What is important is to view # 6.

PLEASE HELP,
Lorraine

Please read below:

Geneva Centre for Autism: Weekly Parent Requests (Oct 27-31), Mtg Dates, & Other Info
Subject: Geneva Centre for Autism: Weekly Parent Requests (Oct 27-31), Mtg Dates, & Other Info
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:12:14 -0400
From: ARodrigues@autism.net

Hi Parent Network,

Happy Halloween! I hope your children have fun trick or treating tonight and I am sure they will have wonderful costumes!
1. I didn't send this email last week as I was attending our International Symposium from October 22 to 24 at the Metro Convention Centre. I am sure the parents that attended found it as informative as I did! I would say Tony Attwood (Aspergers guru) was my favoUrite speaker.
Look for the Symposium again in 2010!
Also, please look at this email in "Other Information" for information on Geneva Centre's FAMILY HOLIDAY PARTY!!
Please find some requests from parents, dates of upcoming Parent Network meetings and other information in the email below.
PARENT REQUESTS:
To make a request to the Parent Network:
-Send requests directly to Andrea Rodrigues at arodrigues@autism.net
-Andrea posts the requests weekly to the entire Parent Network.
-The email address of the person making the request is posted in the Network email and is viewed by all parents on the Network email
-When other parents respond to the requests their responses go directly to the email address of the parent who made the request.
-Responses do not go to Andrea or to the entire Network.
-Questions regarding publicly funded services at Geneva Centre for Autism and other community agencies can be directed to your Social Worker or by calling reception at 416-322-7877 dialing "0", and then asking to speak to a Social Worker

Request #5
1. I am looking for a Registered Nutritionist in the GTA for our 8 year old daughter -who has been diagnosed with Autism. Also, has anyone had any success with diet intervention or found a Nutritionist who has worked with children with Autism?
Pls. write me at ubaxyusuf777@yahoo.ca Thank you very much!
Request #6
I have a son going to be 7 years old in November 2008 with diagnose of autism spectrum disorder. I am having lots of trouble with immigration Canada, My son born in new york premature 26 weeks. When we moved to Canada as a refugee in January 2004 my son was two years old with no diagnose, in end of 2005 he got diagnose of Autism, for me this word was very new as i never heard it before in my life. in short my Refugee case was denied while saying its a more humanitarian case i went to Federal court they refused me too than i went to apply for Immigration within Canada call as humanitarian and compassionate ground and i have proved them with my work as a tax payer and also a good responsible person while giving my volunteer service since 2004 in a social group called ACORN and now i sit with Board of Directors in Canada. Immigration Canada has approved my case in may 2008 as first stage and second stage was medical, security and passport requirement every thing has been done i got my health card issued too, now suddenly they send me a letter saying ( YOUR DEPENDENT IS SUFFERING FROM AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER, DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY AND HEARING LOSS. THIS LEADS ME TO BELIEVE THAT YOUR DEPENDANT MAY BE A DANGER TO PUBLIC HEALTH OR WILL CAUSE EXCESSIVE DEMANDS ON HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES IN CANADA WHICH IS CAUSE FOR REFUSAL OF YOUR APPLICATION FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE). Kindly any one has gone from this type of stress full time please advise me and support me because i believe you parents will understand me more than any one else in the world. Thanks for your time
bimran786@yahoo.ca

Amber is an informative & fun host for digital media. Rogers, City TV,
budget cut backs are part of a problem within the canadian Television
industry, that sadly effects many talented people, like Amber. We need
stronger goverment funding for canadian productions, in TV & feature
films. Why does our goverment continue to fund american programs while
canadian produced TV & Film is being cut back in greater numbers.

Its time that canadians get more involved and demand action from
our elected officials!

Nice work

Hope it will always be alive

Hi there,

I'm a journalist who will be covering a feature on the changes at Citytv. I'd love to talk more about this with you, you can email me at l_aubin06@hotmail.com.

Best,

Lindsey A

Swimming upstream here. I don't find her informed in the geek community- in fact I think she knows less than most. But for the people not into tech, I think her communication skills are excellent. But recommending the Apple store for curated apps- I really expect more; or highly rating Runkeeper- I mean I've used it for years. I wish you well Amber- no celeb can be liked by all the people all of the time- I'm just the one guy who's bored when it's your voice I'm listening too.