VIDEO: Deep cuts at Global Okanagan trigger effort to save local TV

Devastating job cuts are expected to reduce Global TV Okanagan to a handful of people over the coming weeks.

The remaining reporters, mostly video journalists, will send their work to Global BC where a pre-recorded "Okanagan" newscast will be anchored from Vancouver five days a week.

But forces are scrambling to save local TV.

Sources tell KelownaNow that about a dozen jobs are expected to be lost at Global Okanagan, with six or eight positions remaining.

Former journalists Mohini Singh and Rick Webber, who once worked together at the Kelowna TV station see it as an end to local TV news as we know it.

"I'm speaking as a former employee of the TV station and a citizen of the Okanagan, not as a city councillor," said Singh.

"Seeing this hacked like this is tragic," she said. "Not good for our region at all."

Rick Webber is equally unhappy with the plans at Global.

"It's kind of a pretend local newscast," he said.

But both hope there could be some kind of local TV revival.

They believe the Okanagan can support its own local station.

"There's a lot of people that watch it every day," said Webber.

"I think it's still needed and it could be a profitable business if it wasn't tied up in a company that's trying to avoid bankruptcy."

Webber was referencing Global's parent company, Corus Entertainment.

The company's shares, which once traded at over $27 are now at 12 cents.

Singh believes a properly staffed TV station could be re-established here in Kelowna.

"A similar thing happened several years ago in Victoria," said Singh.

"The community came together, the business community came together, the employees came together and the union put in money and bought the company."

Singh is referring to CHEK News, which became Canada's first employee-owned TV station in 2009.

"That company is doing very well," she said. "They're all getting dividends. Why can't we do it here?"

Webber agrees the idea has some merit.

"It is possible if the community got behind it," he said.

Singh seems to have her mind set on setting the plan in motion.

"We can do this," she said. "All of us together."