Repackaged programming critical to survival of new digital channels, CRTC told

CRTC commissioners are quickly that more digital television channels doesn’t necessarily mean a wealth of new original Canadian programming. The first two weeks into the commission’s licensing hearing for digital specialty channels – PN 2000-22— revealed a trend by many applicants to rely heavily on repeat programming from their other television channels, at least during the early days of low digital penetration. The practice – referred to as "nesting" by some – poses a difficult policy dilemma for the CRTC, which has a mandate to promote diverse and original Canadian programming. Category 1 applicants said crossover programming is needed to ensure the long-term viability of the new services. Rogers Broadcasting Ltd told the CRTC that about 75 per cent of the programming on its proposed biography channel would originate from partner A&E in the first two years. Similarly, much of the content for its proposed high-tech channel Tech TV Canada would come from its partner, the 24-hour cable network Tech TV, formerly ZDTV. "(But) Because of the nature of the programming and the fact that it’s very immediate and does not have a long shelf life, there will be more hours produced than there might be with a channel that had more drama … or animation that can last for many, many years," explained Alison Clayton, executive director of the Rogers Cable Network Fund. On the opening day of the hearing, Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting told the commission it planned to nest its proposed Health Network Canada on the Life Channel, but vowed that no more than about 10 per cent of the schedules would actually be duplicated. It’s a practice that the hearing chair, Andrée Wylie, suggested was "a bit contradictory" to diversity and original programming. "Should we take into consideration the advantages of whether it’s nesting or extending services or leveraging what you already have because you are a (current) licensee?" Alliance Atlantis president Phyllis Yaffe said the concept had contributed to the suc-cess of Home and Garden Television, which was nested on Life Network. She argued that the Health Network "is exactly the same kind of opportunity that Life Network gives rise to because we have always done, and continue to do, some very successful health programming on Life Network." The company also hopes to use its Showcase channel to nest its proposed Independent Film and Documentary Channel. For its proposed Canadian Documentary Channel, Corus Entertainment Inc also plans to rely on the resources and libraries of its partners, the CBC and the National Film Board. "What enables us to provide a much richer, deeper and more varied schedule than others is a combination of the best independently produced documentaries with the unmatched archive of courageous, thought-provoking documentaries that exist in our public institutions, the NFB and the CBC," said CBC executive producer of television Mark Starowicz. CTV Inc’s VP of dramatic programming, Bill Mustos, noted that CTV’s proposed mystery service Shadow would contain limited amounts of programming running on the main network that year, but it would tap the company’s archives. "What we hope to do is reach back into programming like the first few seasons of Cold Squad, …and we have quite purposely not sold off the rights to the early seasons to that show to other specialties, to a second-tier broadcaster, because we felt that those episodes would have great value on a mystery platform like Shadow," he said. The president of CTV’s Discovery Channel, Ken Murphy, said a reasonable repeat factor gives people access to relevant programming, noting that each show on its Health Channel would be rebroadcast three or four times a year, as is currently done on Discovery. "Based upon our experience with Discovery Channel and @discovery.ca in particular, it is frequent to have a higher audience at our 11 o’clock airing than for our 7 o’clock airing." He added that, historically, the word ‘repeat’ has been "pejorative and speaks to dilution of the value of the program schedule."

Repackaged programming critical to survival of new digital channels, CRTC told

Broadcast | August 31, 2000

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