TORONTO – Fully rebranding a Canadian over-the-air broadcaster in favour of a U.S. cable channel is certainly out-of-the-box thinking.
In an agreement that will include Canadian development and production initiatives and involve multiple platforms of content, CanWest MediaWorks today announced a new licensing deal which will see its secondary broadcast outlets now called CH rebranded as E!, the U.S. entertainment/celebrity channel.
The exclusive agreement will directly impact CHUM Limited as its Star! celeb channel relies heavily on E! programming. “It’s unfortunate. It’s a loss,” CHUM’s senior vice-president, content, Roma Khanna told Cartt.ca Tuesday afternoon. “We certainly were… hoping to continue that relationship.”
On September 1, 2007, "CanWest will bring one of the world’s definitive entertainment brands to Canadians across multiple platforms including broadcast, online, mobile, video-on-demand and satellite radio. As part of this agreement, CanWest’s current CH Network will be rebranded as E! beginning this fall," explains the press release.
E! is strictly a cable channel in the States and has never been an over-the-air station
"In an ever-changing broadcast landscape, the opportunity to enter into a strategic alliance with a multi-platform pioneer like E! represents another defining moment for CanWest’s broadcast business," said Kathleen Dore, president, Canadian Television at CanWest MediaWorks, in a press release.
"This innovative alliance affords us access to multimedia content to help drive success within our broadcast business. We are very confident that the powerful combination of the E! brand and content, alongside our Canadian and local programming, will resonate strongly with Canadian audiences. While Global Television continues to experience strong momentum, the launch of the E! brand in Canada will redefine our second conventional television network,” she added.
“The challenge on the CH stations in terms of making them successful as a business is we didn’t have a brand that was pulling it all together,” CanWest’s senior vice-president of programming and production Barbara Williams told Cartt.ca. “We didn’t have a cohesive programming strategy that took people through daytime right through to night time we didn’t have that unique position in the market that gave people an understanding of what these CH stations were all about and consequently it didn’t have its own unique place beside Global either.’
Williams says the new branding is strong enough to attract new audiences and still allow the channel to keep its local news and U.S. simulcasts. Everything else beyond that will change. “We needed a brand that’s big enough to hold local news and Two and a Half Men and yet was specific enough and narrow enough and clear enough in its identity,” she explained.
Of course, those who rely on the local broadcaster for news will automatically wonder if instead of stories from the University of Victoria and the Montreal Canadiens for example, viewers will see more of people like Victoria (Posh Spice) Beckham and Canadians such as Jim Carrey and Elisha Cuthbert.
The release says worries like that are unfounded and the CH stations will return to their roots, sort of. "Each station will also continue to serve its local audiences via local news and information programming. Concurrent with the E! launch, each station’s local content will relaunch with a refreshed on-air image under the banner of their historical call letters (CHCH News [Hamilton], CHEK News [Victoria], CHBC News [Kelowna], CHCA News [Red Deer] and CJNT [Montreal]). This is an acknowledgement of the depth of the connection that the stations have with their local communities – some for over 50 years," says the press release.
The news relaunch shows “a renewed commitment so that local news continues to be the cornerstone of the schedule it’s always been,” said Williams.
"The opportunity to partner with CanWest to bring E! to Canada as an over-the-air network and multi-platform entertainment service is a tremendous step," added Ted Harbert, president and CEO, Comcast Entertainment Group, in the release. "I applaud the amazing work of Comcast Entertainment Group, international president Kevin MacLellan and his talented team for their success in putting together this groundbreaking channel deal with CanWest MediaWorks."
This deal (terms of which were not disclosed) will see E! delivered OTA and the Canadian E! schedule will continue to feature a mix of primetime network programming. However, it will add the library of breezy, inexpensive and popular E! content during daytime, late primetime and weekends. The network’s complete programming schedule will be revealed at the CanWest MediaWorks fall launch event in June 2007.
CHUM’s Khanna says that they were in the game to try and renew the expiring content contract CHUM has with E! but that CanWest seized an opportunity – a CHUM in a state of flux as it awaits regulatory approval of its purchase by CTVglobemedia – to do its deal.
“We’re in this transition period with the transaction and CanWest was able to come in and do that deal with them,” explained Khanna. “It’s not that we’re not doing business. It’s business as usual but certainly there was an advantage there for CanWest coming in at this particular moment in time and they took advantage of it. That’s what business is about.”
"Another key element in the dynamic alliance with E! features a commitment to develop and co-produce Canadian content programming, in genres including drama, documentary and factual entertainment. In addition to CanWest’s existing roster of Canadian content, the new initiative will be supported by a dedicated development fund," adds the release.
In addition to the E! broadcast network, viewers will begin to see channel-branded access points including E! Online, mobile, video-on-demand and satellite radio. E! Online will be customized for Canadian audiences and CanWest will be "aggressively seeking providers for the distribution and delivery of Canadian content" for all of the new brand’s multi-platform offerings. E! will work closely with CanWest MediaWorks supporting all new media businesses related to the E! brand and content within the alliance, says the release.
