CTV defends decision to fund Canadian Idol from Groundbreaker Fund in CRTC letter

CTV Inc. has fired back against a story in Canadian NEW MEDIA in which producers decried use of the Groundbreaker Fund to pay for the broadcaster’s massively popular Canadian Idol television series (CNM, July 11/03). In a four-page letter to the CRTC written by Susanne Boyce, president of CTV programming and chair of the media group, the company says it is surprised by the article and defends its choice to fund the reality show from money set aside as a public benefit related to BCE Inc.’s acquisition of CTV. Boyce first takes exception to the article’s dominant theme that producers are upset with the decision and says the broadcaster had yet to hear any negative comments. Her letter was written before a July 24 CNM story in which Canadian Film and Television Production Association chair Laszlo Barna said he was "disappointed" with the news, and added: "I think the Groundbreaker Fund represented hope, excitement, for the new media community. I don’t have to tell you that this whole sector is underfunded. And yet, it represents the future. So you can imagine reaction in the community when an American franchise show - let’s call a spade a spade - is somehow hooked into this program. What does that say about innovation? What does that tell the community?" As for innovation, Boyce says Canadian Idol has pushed the envelope on interactivity. In her letter to the CRTC, Boyce writes: "The article implies that the interactive features of Canadian Idol are not sufficiently novel or inventive. The interactive component of Canadian Idol…is an integral part of the show and fundamental to its success. It is the first time, on such an ambitious scale, that Canadian viewers have the opportunity to interact with and determine the outcome of a Canadian show. In essence, in Canadian Idol, the audience is determining the end of the story, which is interaction at its most dramatic." She later continues: "The author implies that interactivity via the telephone is uninspired and pedestrian. He is missing the point. We want to involve as many viewers with interactivity as we can - and at this time, that means using telephone and wireless, so that Canadians from all economic strata can be involved in the show. "Further, using telephone and wireless technology for the voting process enabled us to control the security of the votes at the necessary level to ensure that the result of the voting process was correct and unimpeachable." Further, Boyce writes, the show’s companion web site has also proven a valuable interactive tool that has been differentiated from the American Idol template. "Web sites connected with the Idol shows in the various countries necessarily share some common topics and elements, but each also has its own distinctive ‘look and feel’ so as to connect with its own audience. Canadians have responded very strongly to the web site (with 3.3 million page views so far in July alone) and this trend is continuing to grow - Canadians are actively interacting with the show, through the use of the Canadian Idol web site, chat rooms, wireless games and updates as well as the voting to determine the outcome of the show." Finally, Boyce disagrees with those producers who told CNM that the show was an inappropriate use of Groundbreaker funding, calling allegations to that effect "nonsense." Boyce reads a "thesis" into the story "that projects with little or no audience appeal but which declare themselves to be ‘edgy’ and ‘pushing technological boundaries’ and which are deemed by a segment of the new media community to be sufficiently avante garde are the only deserving recipients of the Groundbreaker money. This is nonsense." She argues to the CRTC that only with Groundbreaker money could a popular show such as Canadian Idol, with interactive elements, have been made. In fact, CTV argues that the CNM article inappropriately labels Groundbreaker as a new media fund. Boyce tells the CRTC that the fund was intended to help fund innovative, interactive television shows. According to figures released by CTV, Canadian Idol attracted 3.6 million viewers in the final 30 minutes of the series finale, and an overall 6.46 million viewers tuned in at one point to catch the action. CTV neither contacted CNM prior to writing to the CRTC nor informed Decima Publishing Inc. that it was doing so. Only a chance comment by CRTC chair Charles Dalfen in a recent interview with Canadian Communications Reports editor Norma Reveler alerted CNM to the letter’s existence. CTV would not release the letter, but the CRTC did so after a brief delay in clearing internal permission.

CTV defends decision to fund Canadian Idol from Groundbreaker Fund in CRTC letter

News | 09/26/2003 4:00 am EDT

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