Familiar comments about homegrown TV drama voiced at CFTPA conference

Debate over what ails the Canadian TV drama had a familiar ring at the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) conference in Ottawa earlier this month. Producers and unions continued to cry that the private broadcasters aren’t spending enough on homegrown programming and that they aren’t scheduling it appropriately. But armed with data from Profile 2005, the industry’s statistical report that is released each year at the conference, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) said its members are spending more on Canadian content. While the volume of total film and TV production in Canada declined 2.1% to $4.92 billion in 2003-04, spending by broadcasters on Canadian independent production was on the rise. Profile 2005 stated that specialty TV services spend $326 million, an increase of 13%, or $38 million, compared with 2002. The private conventional broadcasters spend $122 million, an 11% increase, according to the report. Of the amount spent by the conventional stations, $80 million, or 65% was on licence fees for drama productions, the report noted. Spending by pay TV services on Canadian independent production rose by 17% to $34 million. The data in the eighth annual report covers the period from April 2003 to March 31, 2004. "While other traditional business partners of the Canadian independent production sector, in particular international markets, may be in decline, Canada’s private broadcasters continue to be independent production’s strongest partner with year-over-year growth of investment in independent production of 13% in the 2003 broadcast year," said CAB president and CEO Glenn O’Farrell. But the executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada continued to insist that Canadian broadcasters pay the lowest licence fees for TV drama compared with other industrialized countries. "The difference is the $130 million that CTV spent in 2003 as part of their benefits package (BCE acquired CTV). When that expires in 2007, what do we do then?" asked Maureen Parker during the panel Profile 2005: State of the Canadian Industry Report. "If you remove the CTV benefits, then spending on Canadian TV programming is 31% less than in 1998." Demand is down for Canadian TV drama, she noted, and much of the reason for that can be traced back to the broadcasters. Parker also questioned the commitment of the private broadcasters, who rely on money generated from the simulcast of popular U.S. programming, to homegrown TV drama. "Look at how (Canadian) drama is treated. It is moved three times or more (in the schedule), and it’s placed on Saturday nights when not a lot of people watch TV or it’s scheduled in the summer," she said. It’s tough scheduling in a very competitive world and in a market where audiences are increasingly fragmenting, noted Slawko Klymkiw, executive director of network programming at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. during the panel Tracking Eyeballs: Building Audiences for Cancon. He suggested that the industry needs to put more money and imagination into the development process, and that more resources go towards promoting Canadian shows. Other broadcasters responded that there were Canadian success stories. Bill Mustos, senior VP of dramatic programming at CTV, pointed to the popularity of its Corner Gas series. "We have a passion for Canadian TV," he said. "We’re spending more money to get the message out. We use the American shows to promote our Canadian shows." He also noted that with Corner Gas drawing 1.5 million viewers, CTV has advertised the show on billboards at Toronto’s Eaton Centre, rather than American shows. Phyllis Yaffe, COO of Alliance Atlantis Communications, boasted that six out of the top 10 shows on specialty channel HGTV were Canadian. The popularity of those shows, she said, was partly spawned by public’s access to the program hosts. "They go to design and home shows, where their target audience can be found," she noted. She also attributed the popularity of Showcase’s Trailer Park Boys to reaching out to its demographic. The core audience for the show, she noted, is the same one that is into music. So the "boys" have appeared in music videos and recently participated in the Tsunami relief benefit concert, and have had guests such as Rush on the show. These arguments have been made before. Canadian broadcasters say that they are doing as much as they can for Canadian TV drama, given what it costs to produce. The producers and unions beg to differ. They argue that the Canadian broadcasters don’t schedule homegrown programming appropriately and don’t pay enough for it. Carole Vivier, CEO and film commissioner at Manitoba Film and Sound, noted that a similar debate over Canadian content takes place every year at the CFTPA conference. "It’s like a dog wagging its tail," she said. "Whether you are a producer or a broadcaster, what we have now is not working," she noted.

Familiar comments about homegrown TV drama voiced at CFTPA conference

Broadcast | February 14, 2005

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