Fairchild TV News
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| Fairchild TV News | |
|---|---|
| 新聞報道 | |
| Genre | News |
| Presented by | Ada Luk (陸小雯) Clement Tang (鄧曉恩) Kenneth Lau (劉家逸) Jessica Lai (賴佩儀) |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Original languages | Cantonese Mandarin (1993-1998; Vancouver) (1993-2001; Toronto) |
| Production | |
| Production locations | Western National (2018-2020, 2022-present) Vancouver, British Columbia (1993-2006) Aberdeen Centre, Richmond, British Columbia (2006-present) Eastern National (2001-2017, 2020-2022) Richmond Hill, Ontario (1993-2017, 2020-2022) |
| Running time | 65 Minutes (Weekdays) 40 Minutes (Weekends) |
| Original release | |
| Network | Fairchild TV |
| Release | Local October 1993 – present |
| Release | National July 2, 2001 – present |
| Release | Mandarin (Vancouver) October 1993 – May 31, 1998 |
| Release | Mandarin (Toronto) October 1993 – September 30, 2001 |
Fairchild TV News is the news division of Fairchild TV, a Cantonese cable television network in Canada. It competes against the Cantonese Omni News broadcasts aired by Rogers' Omni Television stations. Since 2017, Fairchild has produced the Chinese-language newscasts aired by Omni.
Operations
[edit]Fairchild TV produces one hour-long newscast every day. It airs at 7:00 pm local time in both Vancouver and Toronto.
From 7:00 pm to 7:30 pm, the newscast is produced in Vancouver, and the audience in each market receives its own appropriate edition. Domestic and international news items are covered (with the items often shared between the two editions). Local news items are tailored specifically for each edition so the coverage is relevant to its local audience (i.e. local news items from Toronto will seldom appear on the Vancouver edition, and vice versa).
Due to Toronto being 3 hours ahead of Vancouver and such, their newscast being broadcast first, from 7:30 pm to 8:05 pm, the non-local newscast segments are reported in Toronto and repeated in Vancouver. This section of the newscast covers news items from the Greater China region (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), lifestyle and feature reports, business news, sports and weather.
Fairchild TV does have several reporters based in both cities to cover local news. However, most local and national/international news footages are usually sourced from the mainstream networks (in general Global TV for the former, and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for the latter), with footages from the Greater China region provided by China Central Television (CCTV) in mainland China, TVB and Now TV in Hong Kong, and various sources in Taiwan.
The nightly newscast is repeated at 11:30 pm & 6:00 am local time.
The newscast goes from 7:00pm to 7:40pm on Weekends.
Fairchild TV does not have designated anchors for its newscast. Instead, its anchor lineup varies from night to night, as was the usual practice at television stations in Hong Kong. (Hong Kong’s TVB currently assigns shifts to its anchors on an approximately monthly basis).
In 2017, Rogers Communications subcontracted Fairchild to produce the relaunched Cantonese and Mandarin-language Omni News programs for Omni Television; the newscasts are produced under the direction and editorial control of Rogers.[1][2][3]
History
[edit]Until 2001
[edit]Prior to 2001, Fairchild’s Vancouver and Toronto operations were separate. The station operated as two separate feeds, one for each city, and the two feeds often had slightly different schedules from each other.
Each feed also had its own completely separate newscast, produced at its own facility. Viewers in Toronto never saw an anchor from Vancouver, and vice versa. The newscast originally aired at 8:00 p.m. local time, then moved to 7:30 pm local time in 1999, and presented by only one anchor. Each feed also had its own local weather segment, which was aired immediately after the newscast as a separate programme in and of itself.
2001-2004
[edit]However, this split-feed arrangement breached the station’s Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) licensing conditions.[4] As such, Fairchild TV was forced to merge the two feeds back into a single national feed on July 2, 2001. Vancouver viewers now received exactly the same feed (other than local commercials) as those in Toronto, only on a three-hour delay due to time difference.[5]
Under the single national feed, initially the bulk of the newscast was produced in Toronto, with only a brief segment produced in Vancouver consisting of regional items from Western Canada (primarily from Metro Vancouver itself). The weather forecast was also completely produced in Toronto. Gradually, Vancouver’s production team received more airtime, as it took over production of the Greater China news segment.
Not only did the Vancouver newsroom receive less airtime overall; it was also unable to cover local news effectively. The Vancouver newsroom had been heavily dependent on Global BC for local news footages, and prior to the changeover, it routinely taped footages off Global BC’s 6:00 p.m. newscast to air on its own bulletin. However, under the single national feed, the Vancouver newsroom had to link up with Toronto at 4:30 p.m. Pacific in order to meet the 7:30pm Eastern deadline for the newscast. As such, the Vancouver newsroom now had to tape Global BC’s noon or even morning newscast instead (which often carried items from the previous day), resulting in Vancouver news items often being shown on a one-day delay.
To partly remedy this problem, the station launched a 11:00 p.m. newscast, titled Western Canada Late News (加西晚間新聞) on June 23, 2003. This gave the Vancouver newsroom another opportunity to link up at 8:00 p.m. PT for a 11:00 p.m. ET deadline, and allowed it to use footages from Global BC’s 6:00 p.m. newscast. Western Canada Late News was completely produced at the Vancouver studio.[6]
The main evening newscast's starting time was moved up from 7:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time on June 23, 2003. In conjunction with the schedule change, the Vancouver operation debuted a new open studio, with a view of the newsroom behind the anchors.[6]
Since 2004
[edit]The shortcomings of this national setup were apparent to Fairchild, which petitioned to the CRTC to amend its licensing conditions. The request was granted, and Fairchild revamped its news production on October 4th, 2004.[7][8] (Details of the revamped newscast have been discussed in the “Operations” section.)
Since the Vancouver newsroom now had more airtime and no longer had to run any items on a one-day delay, “Western Canada Late News” was promptly cancelled after October 1st, 2004.
In early 2006, the entire Vancouver studio was relocated to the third floor of Richmond's Aberdeen Centre (a shopping mall owned by the Fairchild Group), and a new newsroom studio was opened. Visitors of Aberdeen Centre were able to watch the studio production of newscast through the windows until the introduction of a green screen studio in August 2019.
Format
[edit]Until July 2nd, 2001, each feed’s newscast was presented by a solo anchor, who was not seen at all on the other feed. After the single feed went into effect in July 2001, most of the newscast is presented by a Toronto-based anchor, with a Vancouver-based anchor presenting a brief segment of Western Canadian news.
On June 23rd, 2003, in conjunction with the move to a 7:00 p.m. starting time, the evening newscast also became completely duo-anchored, with two anchors based in Toronto and another two in Vancouver.[6] With the introduction of the duo-anchor format also came "happy talk", involving the two co-anchors exchanging supposedly casual conversations. Initially the bantering was at times rather forced and awkward; however, the conversations now sound more natural, as the anchors have apparently become more accustomed to this format. The "happy talk" format was further supplemented with the addition of a Toronto-based sports anchor in October 2004.
For its entire existence, Western Canada Late News was solo-anchored.
Between October 4th, 2004 to December 31st, 2017, sports reporting was presented in the Toronto newsroom with an alternating sports anchor.
On January 1st, 2018, the newscast was converted into a multi-market content (MMC). This resulted in Toronto's newscast being entirely anchored out of the Vancouver newsroom. The Vancouver newsroom also took over production of Greater China news segment, finance, and sports, while Toronto retained sports reporting, photo-tips, stock market exchange, and weather report in the second half. This resulted in the same anchors having to anchor newscasts that applied to local viewers.
The introduction of a green screen studio on August 12, 2019, led to changes in the order of segments during the newscast. The weather report is showcased at the end instead of before the finance segment. Additionally, the finance segment is aired before the photo tips segment rather than after, and the sports segment is now shown after the Greater China news segment instead of at the end of the newscast.
After the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada began, the newscast has been reduced to a solo anchor and remains to this day.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, Toronto's newscast was reverted back to being locally produced on March 29th, 2020.
Since May 2nd, 2022, Toronto's newscast has been reverted back to MMC with the Vancouver newsroom now presenting the weather report. Gradually, Phototips segment was discontinued.
Eventually, to this day, Vancouver's newscast became pre-recorded before the scheduled airtime. The anchor presents local news segments during the first half of the newscast. National and international news segments are typically tailored for Toronto viewers and are then rebroadcast for Vancouver viewers. However, there are notable exceptions to this format. Special news reports and coverage of municipal and provincial elections in British Columbia and Ontario, as well as federal elections, are aired live at 11:30 pm local time. In Vancouver newscasts, a different anchor is occasionally featured on Wednesdays and Fridays. This is no longer the case since July 2025 as the anchor will now present both newscasts that applies to local viewers.
There is no specific weather or business presenter as the task is completed by the anchor.
Current Affairs programming
[edit]Along with its nightly newscast, Fairchild TV News also produces programming pertaining to current and public affairs, including:
- Chatting Platform (時事評台) - from Vancouver, every Sundays at 8:10 pm
- Media Focus (傳媒對焦) - from Toronto, every Mondays at 6:45 pm & 10:20 pm
- Timeline Magazine (時代雜誌) - from Toronto, every Wednesdays at 6:45 pm & 10:20 pm
- Magazine 26 (26分鐘見證實錄) - from Vancouver, every Fridays at 9:50 pm
TVB News
[edit]Instead of producing its own morning or noon newscasts, Fairchild TV airs satellite feeds of newscasts from Hong Kong's TVB during these day parts:
- An overseas edition of TVB's 1 pm newscast is shown twice, at 07:30 and 07:50 local time;
- An overseas edition of TVB's newscast from the TVB News Channel is shown once at 8:30 local time
- An overseas edition of TVB's flagship 6:30 pm newscast is shown twice, at 9:00 am and 12:00 pm local time
News Team
[edit]News production studios and bureaus are located in Toronto (Richmond Hill, Ontario) and Vancouver (Richmond, British Columbia).[9][10] Reporters (and camera crew) may travel to remote locations if needed and mostly within Canada. There have been several occasions where reporters have travelled overseas, mainly to Hong Kong.
| News & Public Affairs Director | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ada Luk (陸小雯) |
Toronto (Richmond Hill, ON) Bureau
[edit]| Reporters | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Jenny Kwong (鄺芯榆) | Kate Chan (陳品姬) | Lawman Au (區憲章) | Catherine Ho (何家碧) |
| Matthew Mui (梅志輝) | Ernest Ho (何永康) | Crystal Wu (胡曉琳) | Titus Leung (梁超明) |
| Steve So (蘇漢文) | Lias Cheong (張桂燁) | Gilbert Shek (石潤深) | |
| Sports Reporters | |||
| Matthew Mui (梅志輝) | Lawman Au (區憲章), also hosts Vibe Loop | ||
| Program Host & Reporters | |||
| Catherine Ho (何家碧) - Host, Media Focus | |||
| Matthew Mui (梅志輝) - Host, Timeline Magazine | Adele So (蘇瑞軫) - Reporter, Timeline Magazine | Sherona Leung (梁嘉兒) - Reporter, Timeline Magazine | |
Vancouver (Richmond, BC) Bureau
[edit]| Anchors | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ada Luk (陸小雯) | Clement Tang (鄧曉恩) | Jessica Lai (賴佩儀) | Kenneth Lau (劉家逸), also producer |
| Reporters | |||
| Albert Tsui (崔源明), Deputy Chief Interviewer | |||
| Nikki Tong (唐宛荍) | Kevin Cheng (鄭家穎) | Lilian Liang (梁嘉倩), also reporter for Talentvision TV News | Janice Luk (陸文倩), also reporter for Talentvision TV News |
| Tommy Chow (周仲文) | Wing Shan Lui (呂穎姍) | Issac Chung (鍾瑋鉻) | |
| Editors | |||
| Vincent Ng (吳偉基) | Clement Tang (鄧曉恩) | Nikki Tong (唐宛荍) | Tommy Chow (周仲文) |
| Program Hosts & Reporters | |||
| Ada Luk (陸小雯) - Host & Producer, Magazine 26 | Kevin Cheng (鄭家穎) - Reporter, Magazine 26 | Tommy Chow (周仲文) - Reporter, Magazine 26 | |
| Clement Tang (鄧曉恩) - Host, Chatting Platform | Annie Law (羅珮珊) - Host, Chatting Platform | ||
Former Anchors and Reporters
[edit]- Chan Yiu Yin (陳耀燕)
- Tsai Hiu Tung (齊曉東)
- Chan Long (陳朗)
- Chan Yim Wai (陳炎威)
- Cheung Chee On (張子安)
- Cissie Yee (余思詩) - former reporter
- Endora Fan (范美芬) - former anchor, now with Richmond Hospital Foundation
- Eric Chau (周浩輝) - anchor/reporter, now with Fairchild Radio
- Michael Fung (馮錦禮) - anchor/reporter, later with OMNI News; now dismissed or resigned due to Castle Kingdom Scandal[11]
- Cheung Yan Ping (張欣萍)
- Kit Ching Ho (何潔貞) - anchor; former TVB news anchor; now retired
- Koo Ming (顧明)
- Shelley Wong (黄瑜) - anchor/reporter
- Ka Lai Ming (賈麗明)
- Kwok Kam Chau (郭錦洲)
- Lam Wing Tim (林泳甜)
- Lee Yee Lam (李伊琳) - reporter
- April Lee (李尹諾) - reporter
- Lee Chai Ming (李濟明) - now with Talentvision
- Kenneth Lei Lap Poon (李立本) - now anchor with OMNI.2 Toronto
- Lee Ping Yan (李炳恩)
- Isa Lee (李思韻) - former anchor and now Markham City Councillor
- Eric Lee (李潤庭)
- Leung Kwok-Shu (梁國書) - now with KTSF-TV San Francisco
- Loh Yan Wai (羅恩惠)
- Luk Man Yee (陸曼怡)
- Luk Ngai Pang (陸毅鵬)
- Stanley So (蘇凌峰) - later anchor and producer with OMNI.2 Toronto; now retired
- Charles Mak (麥世文) - now anchor at CHMB AM1320
- Karen So (蘇嘉欣) - now anchor at OMNI Vancouver
- Wong Ka Yin (黃嘉妍)
- Wong Tai Kwan (黃大鈞) - former anchor
- Ivan Wu (胡耀國) - sports anchor/reporter
- Nelson Yu (余世釗) - anchor/reporter
- Simon Lee (李景鴻) - former anchor/reporter, now with Bloomberg News in Hong Kong
- Florence Ho (何潔雯)
- Anthony Ting (丁樂堯)
- Karen Tso (曹嘉欣)
- Karen Ha (夏婉嘉)
- Joanne Lau (劉頌恩)
- Spencer Gall (過智溢) - former anchor, now at Richmond Hospital Foundation
- Sabrina Chan (陳妍筠)
- Aurelien Ng (吳雲甫) - now with TVB in Hong Kong
- Daniel Ting (丁晧峯) - former sports anchor
- Laurence Leung (梁健恆) - Sports Reporter, now with Fairchild Radio
- Ritch Lau (劉肇麟) - former anchor/reporter, now Markham Ward 2 Councillor
- Hon Sang Chan (陳瀚生) - former anchor/Assignment Editor, now BC MLA for Richmond Centre
- Kelvin So (蘇學楠) - Editor/Reporter, now Government of British Columbia, Media Relations Office
- Helen Pang (龐希倫)
- Carol Xu (許嘉雯) - former anchor/reporter, also anchor/reporter for Talentvision TV News; now Communications Coordinator at City of Richmond
References
[edit]- ^ "Complaints against Rogers Media Inc. alleging non-compliance with OMNI Regional's third-language news requirement". CRTC. Retrieved 2018-04-14.
- ^ Wong, Tony (2017-08-31). "OMNI Regional launches Sept. 1 amid controversy over contracting out newscasts". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
- ^ "Unifor challenging OMNI subcontracting". Unifor National. 2017-09-06. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
- ^ Government of Canada, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). "ARCHIVED - Decision CRTC 2001-271, Subject: Complaint resolution - CFMT-TV vrs Fairchild TV - Unauthorized operation of Fairchild TV specialty service as two regional feeds". crtc.gc.ca. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
- ^ "FTV Online -". 2001-12-04. Archived from the original on 4 December 2001. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
- ^ a b c "FTV Online - Manager - Special News". 2003-08-07. Archived from the original on 7 August 2003. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
- ^ Government of Canada, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) (2004-07-30). "ARCHIVED - Fairchild Television - Licence renewal". crtc.gc.ca. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
- ^ "FTV Online - Entertainment". 2004-10-24. Archived from the original on 24 October 2004. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
- ^ "多倫多 新聞記者及公共事務部節目主持". 新時代電視 Fairchild TV (in Chinese). Retrieved 2024-12-09.
- ^ "溫哥華 新聞主播及公共事務部節目主持". 新時代電視 Fairchild TV (in Chinese). Retrieved 2024-12-09.
- ^ Pao, Ming. "新時代姓馮前新聞主播被控 行騙27萬美元 法官判要清還". www.mingpaocanada.com. Retrieved 2025-08-06.