OTTAWA – Not every intervention filed with the CRTC over the four new pay TV license applicants were negative. Many were overwhelmingly supportive.
As reported previously, four groups are vying for new must-carry pay TV licenses from the Commission and will face a hearing on October 24th.
The applicants are: Spotlight TV, a bid led by former Alliance Atlantis executive George Burger (backed by Insight Media and now Bell ExpressVu); One from Allarco (backed by the Allard family, the former owners of WIC Broadcasting); another from a division of Quebecor Media for BOOM TV, and a unique application for The Canadian Film Channel (logo, at right), led by two senior executives who run Channel Zero – the owners of Movieola and Silver Screen Classics.
Corus Entertainment and Astral Media – as owners of existing services Movie Central and The Movie Network and their related spinoffs – were against the newcomers, as were other broadcasters, which www.cartt.ca recently reported.
But, many from Canada’s production industry are all for more pay TV channels.
“I support this application because it will provide competition to the existing pay services and provide a greater choice of programming to television viewers across the country,” writes Wayne Grigsby, of Big Motion Pictures, in his positive pitch for the Spotlight TV application. “In my opinion, the existing pay-TV services have done little more than the bare minimum to enrich the Canadian viewing experience and not much more to encourage a vibrant production community in this country. Spotlight’s research shows there’s an appetite for more viewing options and more pay options as well. A new service, a competitive service with the promised performance a condition of license would be a good think for all of us.
“I expect a new service will nudge license fees up, another benefit,” continued Grigsby. “Broadcasters have been successful at pushing license fees lower and lower while, in the case of the commercial broadcasters, profits climb higher and higher. At the same time the financial health of those involved in production becomes more and more precarious. One new service is not a miracle cure-all but it’s a step in the right direction.”
Big Motion Pictures has produced Trudeau, Blessed Stranger: After Flight 111, Sex Traffic and Snakes and Ladders.
The Canadian Film Distributors and Exporters Association also voiced its support for at least one new pay player. “We believe competition will greatly expand the pay television subscriber base and revenues,” said a letter from CAFDE’s president Ted East. “This expansion will be of benefit to Canadian consumers as well as the Canadian feature film production and distribution industries.
CAFDE is a non-profit trade association that represents the interests of Canadian owned and controlled feature film distributors and exporters. Its members include Alliance Atlantis Distribution, Christal Films, Domino Films, Equinoxe Films, Maple Pictures, Mongrel Media, Seville Pictures, Thinkfilm and TVA Films. CAFDE members distribute over 90% of the non-studio and Canadian films released theatrically in Canada each year.
Producers were not alone in their support. A joint submission from three telcos either offering or about to offer digital television over their phone lines – Telus, MTS and Sasktel – backed having more pay TV channels.
“The DSL BDUs fully support the notion of competitive licensing for pay television services. An increase in Canadian services provides a welcome opportunity for BDUs to offer more Canadian choices to Canadian consumers. The DSL BDUs agree with the applicants that there is room in the Canadian market for additional pay television services and that the market is now mature enough to support competitive services, as it does in the U.S.,” says the submission from Telus’ Jay Thomson, assistant vice-president broadband policy.
Independent producer Ronn Mann (Sphinx Productions) voiced his support for the Canadian Film Channel saying: “As a distributor of independent films in Canada, this channel would be most welcome. Honestly you would expect CBC to take this kind of direction – but sadly they are adrift in a sea of channels that all seem the same. I fully support this long overdue initiative and I look forward to the results of ‘The Canadian Film Channel’.”
But, not all producers agreed more channels is a good thing. Those with existing or past strong relationships with The Movie Network or Movie Central, were more dubious of the new applicants’ business plans.
“We would be reluctant to support any initiative that would splinter the current system and reduce the ability of TMN and Movie Central to be significant players in commissioning Canadian drama without ensuring that the actual incremental benefits of the new competition would achieve a significant increase in Canadian content production,” says a submission from Shaftesbury Films, which is producing Regenesis for TMN and Movie Central.
“The resources that support production, namely Telefilm and the Canadian Television Fund, have been stretched paper-thin by the increasing demand which has resulted from the proliferation of new channels,” says a letter from Laszlo Barna, CEO of Barna Alper Productions, which is producing G-Spot for TMN and DaVinci’s City Hall for CBC.
“It is my opinion that the licensing of new pay TV outlets would hurt the system by further taxing the subsidies that support most Canadian productions.
“At the same time, it is also important to note that both Corus and Astral – great financial supporters of Canadian feature films and television programs – would be negatively impacted by the entry of competing players… I do not understand how it is that licensees who have performed responsibly and met the conditions of license are repaid for their good faith by regulatory erosion of their market share.”
Then again… well, let’s just leave the last word to an actor, Patrick McKenna, who has appeared in numerous Canadian movies and TV shows (but may be best-known for his portrayal of Harold on the Red Green Show).
“Considering the vanishing distribution opportunities and the dwindling number of theatrical screens available to Canadian film makers today, the opportunity to have our projects viewed on television is nothing short of fantastic,” he wrote. “So many Canadian cities have no opportunity to see first run Canadian films; television can reach a whole new audience – a new audience of fans. Sometimes fans grow up to be film makers and the industry continues to grow, prosper and support itself.
“I look forward to an All Canadian Film Channel.”
