UCC Meets Rogers OMNI TV Re Programming Cuts

Toronto – Ukrainian Canadian Congress Presidents Paul Grod (National), Stefan Andrusiak (Ontario Council), and Oksana Rewa (Toronto Branch) met with senior management of OMNI Television to discuss recent changes to Ukrainian television programming on its channel, in light of non-renewal of Svitholiad.

“The Ukrainian community is very disappointed in the sudden cancellation without consultation of the important Ukrainian language programs Svitohliad and Objektiv.  We would like to have these important programs reinstated for the fall television schedule,” stated Paul Grod.  “Svitohliad has been a fixture in the Ukrainian community for over 30 years.  I encourage all members of the Ukrainian Canadian community to express their views on this cancellation to Rogers OMNI.”

During discussions in this meeting, OMNI Television expressed its commitment to continue to showcase the diverse voices of Ukrainian audiences, and reaffirmed its decision to continue to broadcast Kontakt, in addition to exploring new production opportunities.

“OMNI Television has a deep-rooted history with Canada’s Ukrainian audiences and is committed to working closely with the community to accept independent production proposals for a new Ukrainian-language show,” said Madeline Ziniak, National President, OMNI Television. “We’re also prepared to assist the community with archiving television footage for future Ukrainian productions or research.”

Currently, Ukrainian programming is available in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia with access across Canada via Bell Satellite TV.

UCC will be organizing a community session in early August where interested parties can express their ideas and assist in developing new programming concepts.  We encourage our community to participate in an online survey where they can express their opinions on content and format for Ukrainian television, radio, print and internet media. 

The survey will be posted on the UCC website at: www.ucc.ca and will be open until August 23 for input.