Wednesday, December 12, 2007

In the News: Humphreys back at CityTV

Welcome back to Citytv, Kathryn Humphreys.
"I'm so happy and so thrilled to be back," Humphreys said yesterday in an exclusive interview with Sun Media. "I never intended to leave.
"We hammered out all the details last week."
As first reported in The Toronto Sun, Humphreys reluctantly walked away from Citytv last month when she could not come to terms on a new contract. But mere days later -- in a move that obviously was not a coincidence -- longtime Citytv executive Stephen Hurlbut was let go by Rogers Media Inc., which owns the five Citytv stations across Canada.
As of this week, Humphreys is back as a regular member of the Citynews team, at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. And as part of her new contract, Humphreys will be contributing to a number of other Rogers properties, such as Sportsnet and The Fan 590.
"The focus is on Citytv, my first love," Humphreys said. "All the other extras, for me, is icing on the cake. Whatever they want, it's all icing."
Humphreys acknowledged the support from Citytv viewers upon her departure was very gratifying.
"Absolutely, of course it was," Humphreys said. "These have been confusing times. But I'm so happy that Rogers purchased Citytv. They are so professional and they're good people. They're ready to take Citytv to a new level."
The five Citytv stations across Canada were to have been part of CTV's $1.7-billion purchase of the CHUM empire. Earlier this year, however, the CRTC ruled the Citytv stations could not remain with CTV. Those five Citytv stations subsequently were sold to Rogers for $375 million.
In a statement this week, Citytv Toronto vice-president and general manager Jamie Haggarty said, "We are thrilled that Kathryn has joined the Rogers Media family."
Uh, "re-joined" is a better term!

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