We all know the saying that politics makes strange bedfellows, but that seems to be particularly true in Canadian broadcasting.
Last week Global chairman Leonard Asper teamed up with CTV head honcho Ivan Fecan to take on the CRTC in the latest round of cable hearings. Their complaint? They want the Commission to turn down cabler requests to bypass Cancon requirements, and to compel those cable operators to pay a Cancon-supporting fee for the right to use the networks’ programming. Frustrated with cable companies hopping over the rules, Asper likened Canadian network broadcasters to frogs in a pot of slowly boiling water.
Mmmmm. Frog legs... Tastes like chicken...
Prince Asper took potshots at Bell ExpressVu, bitching about its favouritism for American cable feeds. “They don’t have room for Montreal local TV, but they have room for porn,” Asper reminded the CRTC. Porn? In Montreal? Zut alors!
Asper and Fecan also moaned about cablers’ offers of timeshifting channels, which they claim robs them of $93 million in advertising revenue. Of course, they may be forgetting that nobody actually watches the commercials anymore; they just zap through them on their PVR.
Timeshifting does seriously cut into ad revenue for networks such as CTV who offer American shows in simultaneous substitution, which Fecan threatened “is a work-around to protect the exclusive rights we have purchased—it’s not a gift.” In other words, if the CRTC doesn’t start building a dam to prevent revenue spillage, Canadian networks may take popular American programs off the air.
Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Are traditional networks fighting a losing battle? I have to wonder if Asper and Fecan are really sincere about this, or if they’re just the first rats getting ready to jump ship (to completely mix up my metaphors).
Would Canadian networks be so bitchy about losing revenue to programming from across the pond rather than across the 49th? Last week the nominees for the Banff Television Festival (being held in, uh, Banff, from June 8-11) showed that the Brits are ahead in the race for quality television, with 35 nominations to the Yanks’ 22. The only American show nominated on the Ongoing Series category is FX’s Nip/Tuck.
More than 44 countries around the globe have entered shows in the festival, up 15 per cent from last year. Yes, Virginia, there really is TV outside of North America.
Canadians have long welcomed foreign programming of the non-U.S. variety. Maybe it’s time to consider changing Cancon regulations to “non Ameri-con” regulations instead. I would certainly rather watch Skins (on Channel 4 in the U.K.) than Gossip Girl [Hey, speak for yourself, Nicola! —Ed.] or a bunch of lacklustre Canadian game shows cheaply produced to pander to the CRTC.
Speaking of Gossip Girl, the CW has decided, in a bold move, not to stream the show online because it might be too popular. The network apparently is experimenting with holding the show hostage in hopes of better ratings. It might be better off entering it in Banff, where showrunner Stephanie Savage is already slated to speak.
Banff looks awesome this year, and not just because of the shows. Where else can you take master classes with showrunners Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights), Craig Wright (Dirty Sexy Money), Doug Ellin (Entourage), Hart Hanson (Bones) and Alan Poul (Swingtown, premiering in May).
The Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles seems to be following Banff’s example year-round, but recent panel sessions with the creators and cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Mad Men (two of my fave shows of all time) ended up being basically circle jerks with lots of in-jokes. The Banff format is still about teaching and learning instead of ego-stroking.
I expect Leonard Asper and Ivan Fecan will be in Banff in June, if only to seethe with jealousy. If politics makes strange bedfellows, then just think of what a celebrity-studded festival at the Banff Springs Hotel will do. Somebody had better warn housekeeping...
