TORONTO – CanoeLive will be different, that’s for sure.
If the three minutes of the news program that Quebecor CEO Pierre Peladeau revealed to ad agency types and media buyers at Tuesday’s Canadian Media Directors’ Council annual conference is what comes to air, SUN TV’s CanoeLive will be a dizzying hour for TV viewers.
The clip featured a young 20-something female visible minority anchor fronting the show with an urban music track humming in the background non-stop (at about the same sound level of TSN’s background noise of local play-by-play), lightning quick cuts from one screen to the next, complete with bleeps and bloop computerish-sounding noises.
She went from story to story at break-neck speed. There was a quickie clip from a Toronto Sun newspaper editorial meeting (which, of course, was about some girl from Edmonton who looks like Paris Hilton – ain’t the Sun great!) and two newspaper reporters facing off on both sides of the minor hockey bodychecking issue (alongside game tape submitted by a viewer) who got to say one or two "outrageous" sentences each before it was off to the next story. I felt out of breath watching it.
It will also air live on Canoe.ca.
Peladeau told the audience this is a SUN TV experiment – even pulling in the techy lingo by calling it a "Beta launch" – which will air beginning this spring and through the summer. The station will gather feedback and tweak or overhaul the show for the fall of 2006. In fact, he said, the tweaking will never stop as it will take the advice of viewers to change the program.
Technologies are creating options that allow individuals to choose how and when they wish to receive content, said Peladeau in his speech. Technologies are also creating opportunities for citizen journalists to provide content that augments traditional journalism.
"Yes, technology is driving the show," Peladeau said. "But the show itself is, more than ever, all about content.
"Our plan is build on the experiences we have had so far in combining different media into successful ventures," Mr. Peladeau said, "and capitalize on the journalist skills and other strengths of Quebecor’s media operations."
Whether the CRTC will have an opinion on this new way of doing things at SUN TV might be a matter the company will have to consider. When Quebecor bought the station (formerly Craig Media’s Toronto One) from CHUM in 2005, the Commission saddled Peladeau’s company with certain conditions. Specifically, TVA (the Quebecor division which operates SUN TV) promised the CRTC that the TV station and the newspapers would have separate news functions.
The paragraph in the CRTC decision granting ownership to TVA which could be a tripping point is as follows: "Toronto One (now Sun TV) will maintain separate and independent news management and presentation structures for Toronto One television operations that are distinct from those of any Toronto One affiliated newspapers. Decisions on journalistic content and presentation for Toronto One will be made solely by Toronto One television news management."
It will be interesting to watch whether viewers or SUN TV competitors complain or if the Commission has anything to say about it once the show launches.
Peladeau noted in his speech that future success in media depends on being on all platforms in order to meet audience expectations. Kind of like having a quadruple play in the cable and telecom space (Peladeau confirmed Videotron will begin selling Rogers Wireless phones later this year), one could say.
