CBC to overhaul TV news divisions

CBC is planning to make changes to its television news divisions, including a rebranding of Newsworld and more airing of its flagship news program, The National.

According to a Globe and Mail report, the following changes are in the works:

• Saturday Report and Sunday Report will be replaced by The National on weekends, starting in the fall of 2009
• Newsworld will be rebranded, and the new look that will see more text and graphics on the screen, including weather and local news reports (akin to Toronto’s CP24)
• The National may also be converted from a traditional news-desk format to a less formal structure

A CBC spokesperson said that CBC execs are concerned that Newsworld, the cable news channel CBC launched nearly 20 years ago, doesn’t score high on consumer awareness numbers.

The Globe report indicated that CBC wants to break news faster and that Newsworld will “not necessarily wait for the definitive word on a story before beginning to report.”