CBC-TV ends production on Fashion File, Steven & Chris
Last Updated: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 | 3:21 PM ET
CBC News
Citing economic concerns, CBC-TV announced Tuesday it is ending production on two lifestyle shows: daytime chat-fest Steven & Chris and long-running runway chronicle Fashion File.
"Like every other media organization right now, we're facing big challenges as a result of a significant drop in advertising revenues," Kirstine Layfield, CBC-TV's executive director of network programming, said in a statement.
"We're not able at present to make the kind of expenditures we ordinarily would."
Steven & Chris will conclude production April 15, while Fashion File will wrap up March 31. According to CBC spokesman Jeff Keay, the decision affects 34 jobs: six permanent and 28 contract positions.
After production ends on the two programs, the shows will continue in their respective time slots in reruns, until the announcement of a new afternoon schedule "in several weeks," Keay said.
Praise for hosts, show staffers
The cancellation of Fashion File and the indefinite hiatus for Steven & Chris have nothing to do with the hosts of either program, Layfield said.
Steven & Chris, hosted by designers Steven Sabados and Chris Hyndman, "has seen increased viewership over the past year, and Steven and Chris have a terrific relationship with their live studio audiences," Layfield said. "We very much hope to continue to work with [them] in the future."
She also praised Fashion File host Adrian Mainella and the show's production team "for their creativity, passion and commitment."
Layfield said CBC will retain the Fashion File brand, which it co-owns with Fashion Magazine.
"We're looking at ways to use that [brand] at a later time or possibly in other ways," Keay said, acknowledging that future possibilities could include a new TV show or an online venture.
Steven & Chris, which made its debut on CBC-TV in January 2008, features the real-life partners exploring topics related to fashion, decor, food, health and wellness, in front of a live studio audience.
Mainella was selected as the new host of the internationally syndicated Fashion File in April 2007, after winning a CBC-TV reality show competition designed to fill the post after Tim Blanks ended his 17-year run helming the program.
