CFTO/CTV Toronto News anchor Christine Bentley to step down this Friday

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Christine Bentley, long time news anchor at CTV Toronto (CFTO-TV) is stepping down this week. Tomorrow's CTV News at Six will be her last one behind the anchor chair.

 

Christine has worked at CFTO/CTV for 35 years, with many of those years anchoring the weekend news, the 11:30pm "Night Beat News", and the #1 rated 6pm news. She and her current 6pm co-anchor Ken Shaw are one of the longest-serving anchor teams in Canada.

 

A replacement will be announced on Monday.

 

http://toronto.ctvne...mories-1.953476

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This seems a bit sudden. Was she forced to step down? I believe they have to be one of the very longest anchor teams in North America. They've anchored together since, what, 1985 at least.

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It is... more info from TV Feeds My Family:

 

http://tvfeedsmyfamily.blogspot.ca/2012/09/gord-martineau-celebrated-35-years-at.html

 

On a side note, the above blog post reveals the most recent ratings numbers for the evening newscasts on Toronto stations CFTO/CTV, CIII/Global, CBLT/CBC, Citytv, and CHCH (Hamilton).

 

CFTO/CTV News (6pm, 1hr) - 281,000

Global News Hour (5:30pm, 1 hr) - 115,000

Global National (6:30pm, 30 min) - 94,000

CityNews (6pm, 1hr) - 68,000

CBC News: Toronto (6pm, 30 min) - 61,000

CHCH Evening News (6pm, 1 hr) - 60,000

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It was a really nice send off. Plus, the minute and thirty seconds of the news theme was exquisite.

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http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=761380&playlistId=1.953596&binId=1.815892 Video

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Michelle Dube is the new noon and 6pm co-anchor, probably to the surprise of no one. She's been the regular fill-in for Christine Bentley for some time now.

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I wonder why Andria Case wasn't moved from the weekends to the weekday show. I think she's a much better anchor than Dube.

 

And frankly, I don't get why CFTO News is #1 in Toronto. Global, City, and CBC have better newscasts.

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I wonder why Andria Case wasn't moved from the weekends to the weekday show. I think she's a much better anchor than Dube.

 

I don't know what the age difference is between the two, but assuming Michelle is younger, maybe they're hoping 1) they can pay her less than Andria, and/or 2) she'll still be around when Ken Shaw leaves, so she'll be the constant while they bring in Ken's replacement.

 

At least Andria still has an anchor spot. Pauline Chan probably isn't too thrilled being stuck doing Lifetime when she used to be the 11:30pm co-anchor.

 

And frankly, I don't get why CFTO News is #1 in Toronto. Global, City, and CBC have better newscasts.

 

I've been watching Global more lately, and while I do think they're doing a pretty good job, the thing that bugs me most is how much their bantering often turns into editorializing/commentating. Not sure if this happened much while Anne Marie Mediwake was there, but it's something I definitely noticed since they brought Anne Mrockowski on board.

 

Don't watch the CBC much, but the few times I watch are usually when the rundowns on the other stations are of no interest to me (e.g. the TIFF oversaturation; I get it's good for the local economy, but still...), and their story order makes more sense to me. Maybe I should actually watch them more.

[xmattx 0]

The reason CTV Toronto is #1 is because they have been #1 for a long time and viewers tend to not break their habits unless their is a major scandal. I think with time Global Toronto will move their way up the ratings ladder and will one day and at least put themself into a more competitive 2nd place.