CCR Short Takes

CBC developing ‘public service’ brand devoid of clutterThe Canadian Broadcasting Corp/Radio-Canada is working toward branding itself around a reinvigorated ‘public service’ identity, according to the CBC president and CEO. Speaking at the annual conference of the Canadian Media Director’s Council in Toronto on April 3, Robert Rabinovitch said the new CBC brand would focus on children’s television, news and current affairs, arts and entertainment, sports and "major nation-sharing" events. In comparison, he said today’s English network is a unnatural mix of conventional light entertainment and public service programming. "The result was confusion on the part of Canadians as to what our role was, especially in this rapidly changing world." The new model is designed to attract viewers and advertisers. "…I want to emphasize our goal to build and communicate an uncluttered CBC/Radio-Canada brand with clarity and consistency, and by doing so, provide advertisers with a unique avenue to reach audiences and build relationships with consumers," he said. Quebecor ups tangible benefits package to $35 millionQuebecor Inc president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau said the publishing giant was upping its proposed benefits package from $30 million to $35 million for regulatory approval to acquire Vidéotron Ltée and TVA Group Inc. Appearing March 29, the final day of CRTC hearings into the merger and the renewal of TVA’s licence, Péladeau said the extra $5 million over the seven-year licence term would go toward priority programming, specifically drama, variety and children’s programming. Quebecor was grilled by regulator’s over its initial $30- million benefits package during hearings last month (CCR, March 29/01). ‘Talking to Americans’ on CBC popular with CanadiansAbout 2.7 million Canadians tuned into Rick Mercer’s hour-long Talking to Americans special on April 1, making it the highest-rated television comedy special or series in the history of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. The spin-off of a segment on the weekly half-hour comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes, produced by Halifax-based Salter Street Films Ltd and broadcast on CBC, features Mercer asking Americans ridiculous questions about Canada. Cinar shareholders updated on fiscal 2000 activitiesRevenues were down 11% to $153.1 million for the fiscal year ended Nov. 30, 2000 from $172.6 million the year before, embattled Montreal-based Cinar Corp told shareholders in a letter dated April 6. The decrease was attributed mainly to lower revenues in the company’s entertainment division. Selling, general and administrative expenses rose 11% to $59.1 million in fiscal 2000 from the $53.4 million incurred the previous fiscal year. Overall, Cinar reported losses of $55.8 million due to a number of unusual items, such as professional fees of $14 million, and interest and penalties amounting to $7.4 million connected to tax settlements with the federal and Quebec governments. The settlements with the governments followed Cinar being accused of putting Canadian names on scripts written by Americans in order to qualify for tax cuts. The letter also said that former shareholders of Twin Sisters Production Inc and Twin Sisters Licensing on Feb. 22, 2000 had filed a legal claim against it. CTV decides to opt out of renewing network licence Independently owned CTV affiliates are worried they could be affected by the decision of Canada’s largest private network not to file for renewal of its network licence when it expires Aug. 31. CTV Inc has said it plans to work out new arrangements with affiliates that carry its programming. "CTV has contracts and we would like to update them. We have absolutely no intention of abandoning our affiliates; we value their contributions and our long partnership," CTV said in a statement. CTV and Global appear before the CRTC, beginning April 17, to renew their group licences. Mitel releases demodulators that boost digital TVOttawa-based Mitel Corp announced it has released two demodulators that enable systems to rapidly detect and tune digital channels in satellite and terrestrial set-top boxes, integrated television sets and PC applications. Its MT312 for satellite applications and its MT351 for terrestrial receivers also support interactive services, such as two-way television, video-on-demand and digital video encoding, according to Mitel. The MT312 will retail for U.S. $3.90 and the MT351 for U.S. $10.99. CRTC to look at analog, digital capacity of cable companiesThe CRTC will continue indefinitely the requirement that Class 1 cablecos with more than 20,000 subscribers file reports every six months on their analog capacity, channel lineup, number of digital subscribers and plans for deployment of digital technology (PN 2001-40). Effective April 30, Class 1 cablecos will also have to report on such matters as planned digital system capacity, Category 1 and Category 2 services and other discretionary specialty services, the percentage of analog services duplicated on digital, and total foreign programming specialty services. As well, the CRTC plans to conduct a one-time survey of the analog and digital capacity of remaining cable companies. DTH subs drive up Cancom’s revenues but losses continueRevenue from direct-to-home satellite subscribers helped boost revenues at Canadian Satellite Communications Inc to $223.6 million in the six months ending Feb. 28, 2001, compared with $185.6 million during the same period last year. Still, consolidated net losses for the six months increased to $56.8 million from $32.9 million for the same period last year. Subscription revenues at Cancom’s DTH satellite distributor Star Choice increased 18% to $62.3 million in the second quarter from $53 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2001. Telefilm Canada releases new coproduction guidelinesThe admissibility of a cameo role (the brief appearance of an internationally known performer from a third-party country) in feature films and up to four cameos in television series is among the changes incorporated in new international coproduction guidelines released by Telefilm Canada. As well, third-party country investors should not get more than 10% of the Canadian share of net revenues generated outside of Canada by a certified coproduction, Telefilm stipulates. The new guidelines were in Co-Production Guide: Partnering with Canada, which was released April 2 by Telefilm at MIP-TV. Although Telefilm said the guidelines were developed in consultation with industry, it has indicated that it will accept additional comments on the guidelines from all industry stakeholders until April 30.

CCR Short Takes

Broadcast | April 11, 2001

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