April 25, 2007
CH 2 B E
Starting September 1, the Hamilton television station known as CH will be rebranded as E! Entertainment Television. E! is an American entertainment and lifestyle cable broadcaster best known for its wildly successful E! True Hollywood Story series.
CH corporate parent CanWest MediaWorks will license the E! trademark and manage Canadian content programming, including online, mobile, satellite radio and video-on-demand platforms. There are also CH-branded stations in Montreal, Victoria, Kelowna and Red Deer which are included in the deal. The channels will continue to offer local news programming under their previous call letters and are still mandated under CRTC regulations to create domestic programming, particularly in prime time.
Hamilton's CHCH was the first network to adopt the CH brand upon acquisition by CanWest in 2001 after it had been operating under the woefully ineffective and horribly designed ONtv brand (established by WIC). The station was originally established in 1954 as a CBC affiliate, but then became the only English-language broadcaster to go independent without a larger network affiliation. CHCH was once known for producing some significant Canadian classic shows from their Hamilton studios like The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, Smith & Smith (which spun-off The Red Green Show), Party Game and Tiny Talent Time.
The practice of franchising Canadian versions of American brands has its critics, especially amongst the domestic production community. Canadian Idol, for example—itself a licensed British property—is a single show broadcasting on multiple nights, and it is considered under CRTC regulations as "original" programming. Inexpensive shows like CanWest's now-defunct Train 48 also ran five nights per week, at the time allowing CanWest to quickly rack-up their Canadian Content requirements despite dismal ratings. With funding for Canadian drama drying up, it's actually cheaper to pay big bucks for American shows rather than produce our own, leaving Canadian producers, writers, directors and actors without work. Canada also doesn't have the wealth or luxury of the American pilot season, where most American shows are axed even before going to air.
Though Toronto-based Star! currently carries some of E!'s programming (and! an! exclamatory! name!), it's still a relatively unknown brand in Canada. CanWest also recently franchised well-known American television brands like ET Canada and Deal or No Deal at great cost, similar to how rival CTV aggressively licensed the Canadian Idol and MTV formats, and CHUM's production of Canada's Next Top Model. The CH viewer demographic skews traditionally older, and the move is clearly meant to attract highly-sought younger viewers—a market now dominated by behemoth CTVglobemedia.
While we lament the loss of solid domestic programming funding and acknowledge those young 'uns who can never get enough Seacrest red carpet coverage, we really want to know: isn't it time we got HBO up in this joint?
Colour bars image via DX Info Centre
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Why is it that every thing that CanWest Global touches, turns to dreck? How is it that the micro-management of the daily operations that has been referred to "death by a thousand henpecks" continues to this day?
And someone at CanWest Global thinks this'll get viewers. Of course, Zev Shalev of CTV, Lofters and Toronto 1 infamy is probably behind this;
that is if he still is at CanWest Global.
Count me out of this station.
Oh good, now I no longer have to live in fear of Brittney Spears getting a haircut without my knowing about it.
Wow -- that's brutal. But I wonder how much programming CanWest will pillage from their newly acquired networks at Alliance to dump on E! Are they going to even call it E! Canada or something equally ridiculous?
Looks like the age-old Canadian identity descriptor of "not-American" is slowly (actually, quite rapidly and vapidly) turning into "pretty-much-American."
Personally, I don't see how MTV, for example, reflects anything remotely Canadian... and I doubt that E!Canuk will be any different (E! True Hollywood North Story anyone?) Don't even get me started on Train 48... (or even CBC's airing of The One) They should lose can-con points for putting things like that on air.
But, despite CTV's affiliation with MTV, I give them kudos for Degrassi and Corner Gas (the latter of which I think is the funniest show on television today, including American shows...) They actually put in the effort to produce some quality Canadian content, something I cannot say about CanWest. And I don't care how Canadian Howie Mandel is.
A couple of years ago, CanWest started to put some money into creating domestic dramatic programming, some of which are currently in the pipeline (it takes a few years for a new show to get from concept to screen), so we should start seeing some of these start arriving this summer and then more in the fall launch season, when most new shows are aired.
What Canada needs to have are franchisable, sellable shows. Degrassi and Corner Gas are financially successful because of foreign sales, and a show like Kenny vs. Spenny makes significant money on format/franchise sales. If our networks had original concepts that could be licensed globally, like Pop Idol, Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, Big Brother, etc., that's where the big money is.
As it stands now, funding has been cut so dramatically that it's not viable business-wise to dump a tonne of money into a project and hope it works, especially considering the competition with U.S. shows for a limited amount of time slots. The United States and India are the only countries that are able to support their own television industries without government funding, and the lack of quality Canadian productions is a direct result of the government's commitment to arts funding, coupled with the secondary issue of private broadcasters having to answer to shareholders, who want nothing but an increasing bottom line.
The out-of-control corporate mergers and runaway reality programming, both here and south of the border, can be blamed almost entirely on government deregulation and a Western business model that demands perpetually increasing profits in a ultra-competitive marketplace. CTVglobemedia and CanWest MediaWorks need to adopt American-style tactics to compete even on a basic level, despite how effectively people think these organizations are run.
Getting H B O would be great. I love it. But it would kill the domestic TV business. Which is why the 10 families that own broadcasting in Canada have made sure their lap dog, the CRTC, will everything in it's power to make sure that never happens. Canadian Broadcasters loath the notion of having to compete, because it would be so costly. And as things stand now, the families are all getting rich by keep the status, quo.
Mass communications has changed. But in Canada, the regulatory board answers not to the public, but rather to the Family Compact who run the broadcast monopoly.
Bring me HBO and I cancel a lot of the shit on my cable plan.
Buying US formats on the cheap is a short-term solution that benefits neither the networks, the industry, nor the viewer.
Recognizably Canadian programming can sell very well abroad, as Marc points out. I think that a lot of producers have been suckling at the government teat for so long that they've forgotten the advantages of producing in Canada: loads of talented people, a (relatively) low dollar, and the fact the we speak 'Merican.
Producing CanCon just for Canadians won't work no matter how many tax dollars you throw at it - the market simply isn't big enough to sustain the industry. The key is getting the overseas buyers to view Canadian programming as premium content.
you could have all the arts funding you dream of, and that wouldn't save canadian television if the shows being produced weren't being watched. the problem with canadian content isn't a lack of funding. the problem with canadian content is that most of it is crap.
people didn't watch degrassi because it was government funded or made in canada. people watched degrassi because it was a well written show that wasn't afraid to touch on issues affecting young people in a very honest and gritty manner. people watched degrassi because it was good.
people watch corner gas and trailer park boys because they're good shows. people watch kenny vs. spenny because its a good show.
you want to talk about government arts grants? how the fuck are government arts grants responsible for the massive success of Trailer Park Boys. that show was developed on a shoestring budget without any government funding.
a show can succeed in the marketplace regardless of how well or how poorly funded it is. IF it's entertaining.
the best quality tv service i ever recieved was years back when i had grey market american DirectTV service. as far as i'm concerned, bring HBO up here, give me the USA Network while your at it (only if they still broadcast the Eco Challenge), and let me keep the canadian channels that show GOOD can content like CTV and Showcase.
The Canadian television broadcasting industry (hell, most forms of mass media in general) with rare exceptions* is an unfortunate pile of shit. It seems like every time I turn around, Rogers or CanWest have bought another slew of channels or magazines or newspapers. Why do we even have Canadian content regulations or the CRTC when these companies can just buy up everything and run the same shows from coast to coast on every outlet they have, and tweak American properties just enough to squeeze in, all the while trying to emulate FOX (without the innovation or risk-taking)? The media concentration in this country is terrible, but other than continuing to not buy cable there's not a damn thing I can do about it.
warmer - You can be sure if HBO came to Canada - as HBO Canada, naturally - you'd have to buy about 19 tiers of cable channels to get it.
*Intelligence (CBC) and ReGenesis (CanWest now?) are about two of the only things worth watching.