30 Given some recent news, we’ve found ourselves asking: “Why are Canadian media heavyweights reemerging in the cable channel business?” First, well-known media veterans Robert Lantos and Victor Loewy — joined by a host of experienced industry players — have applied to the CRTC, Canada’s regulatory body, for a license for Starlight: The Canadian Movie Channel. Headed by Norm Bolen, former Canadian Media Production Association president and onetime Alliance Atlantis executive, the proposed channel aims to address the long-standing problem of getting Canadian audiences to watch and appreciate locally-produced films, to assist in the financing and distribution of these films, and to provide increased opportunities for talented filmmakers inCanada. “This channel will provide a home for Canadian feature films currently orphaned in the broadcast system,” said Bolen, “and will make these films readily available to the Canadian mass audience.” The Asper family’s long association with CanWest Global ended with the sale of the broadcaster a few years ago. Leonard Asper, then its president, moved on, taking an ownership stake inFN (Fight Network), a channel focused on combat sports such as mixedmartial arts, boxing, and kick-boxing. His latest endeavor is The League, a channel devoted to fantasy sports leagues, where viewers will be able to act as owners — able to create, monitor, trade and discuss their fantasy picks and drafts with others also playing fantasy sports. He sees the channel business as a good business, provided its investors clearly understand that it is intangible, volatile, and that human judgment is involved, but that the chances for good returns are there “if you get it right.” His goal is to assemble a manageable group of six or eight niche channels aimed at the male demographic in themen’s sports and lifestyle genre, using cable to anchor multiple platforms. His plans gobeyondCanada: TheFNchannelwill beavailable in two European and two African countries by the end of 2013, and in the U.S. he owns The Pursuit Channel, a hunting and fishing channel. Peter Palframan, CEO of Magic Lantern Media, shares Asper’s love of TV, sports and business: “It was easy to make the decision to get back into it with a newchannel— it’s a creative, entertaining, fascinating and exciting industry with really interesting people and personalities, all of which we loved and which made it such a fun place to work for so many years.” Ron Keast and Palframan, long-time colleagues fromtheirdaysatTVOntario,recentlygottogether to launchAcademy Television, a service offering a wide range of accessible learning opportunities, particularly for pre-high school and high schoolaged students, but also for learners of all ages. “We realized that a real national educational and learning channel was missing from the current channel offerings. All the existing socalled learning channels have increasingly moved to more general interest and populist programming,” said Palframan. They plan to deliver a learning experience that is entertaining and interesting, often almost without people even realizing it. “Then it’s doing something worthwhile, life enhancing and perhaps even life changing — and that’s a good thing,” said Palframan. Both Palframan and Keast have been involved in the television and media business — particularly in the educational arena — pretty much all their working lives. Keast was the general manager of English Programming at TVOntario in its early and formative years. Then he was president of Vision TV, heading up the small team (which included Palframan) that launched and established it as a viable and profitable operation. Later Keast took on the role of president of Access Television in Alberta. For Academy Television, like all fledgling licensees, the issue is persuading the large cable companies such as Bell, Rogers, Shaw, and Telus to carry them. After carriage, the next hurdle is growing subscribers. In 2009, ZoomerMedia Limited, a company established by Moses Znaimer devoted to serving the interests and needs of Canada’s 50plus viewers, acquired Vision-TV and ONE: The Body, Mind and Spirit Channel. Znaimer, the internationally-renowned Canadian broadcaster and media pioneer, was involved — until his departure in 2003 — in the development and oversight of a large portfolio of CHUM Ltd channels. ZoomerMedia also owns The Beautiful Little Channel (formerly Classical Digital), a service devoted to classical music videos and related fine arts programming. With the remake of Canada’s Bravo from an arts service into a drama format, a window of opportunity exists for arts-related services. MichaelMacMillan, former executive chairman and CEO of Alliance Atlantis Communications, has resurfaced too, stepping up his return to broadcasting with an array of acquisitions. His Blue Ant Media has taken a controlling interest in GlassBox Television, which operates BITE TelevisionandAux, plus six other channels not yet operating. Blue Ant also owns and runs theTravel and Escape Channel, the cottage lifestyle company Cottage Life Media, andHigh Fidelity HDTV, which includes specialty channels radX, HIFI, Oasis HD, eqhd, and three other channels not yet operating. Recently added to his growing stable is Bold (formerly CBC Country Canada) acquired from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Blue Ant Media’s main focus is on lifestyle and non-fiction content for a wide range of platforms, ranging fromprintmagazines totheold-fashioned TV set. Its strategy is to create and grow a media company based in Canada with three main aims: to look ahead to being active in the international market, to create and own content for its channels and for export and to act as a leader in lifestyle and non-fiction programming. Jay Switzer, former long-time president and CEO of CHUM Ltd, became a small investor in a refinancing phase of the aforementioned GlassBox, and joined the board as its chair, a position he held until MacMillan acquired the company. Switzer sees MacMillan’s business as a growing indie in the reality/non-fiction space, just as hisHollywood Suite is active in the drama/ movies arena. “We have a lot in common,” said Switzer “as we fight for carriage and better marketing in a world of giant vertically-integrated phone and cable companies.” Commenting on why some of his media colleagues have returned to the channel business, Switzer said, “I believe there is great opportunity in the Canadian media space for nimble, creative independent companies, especially as larger vertically integrated firms occupy more of the sandbox. Scale may be important for some defensive reasons, but large scale doesn’t give you any advantage with innovation or creativity. This has been our growing success with our recently launched multi-platform Hollywood Suite (Warner Films, MGM Channel, Sony Movie Channel, AXN Movies).” MacMillan echoed Switzer’s sentiments. “We believe it’s a great time to establish and grow a new kind of media company in Canada,” he said in a statement. Switzer summed it up: “The need for independent Canadian voices and choices becomes more urgent — in terms of Canadian media policy and choices for consumers — as fewer larger self-dealing media companies remain. Yes it is increasingly difficult for us to nurture independent voices in a media landscape where the distribution so vital for your success is controlled by your competitors. But that makes the success all the more sweet.” IB New Canadian Channel Initiatives Have Power March/April 2013 Cable-Satellite TV Networks Leonard Asper of Fight Network, The League and The Pursuit Channel
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