April 2014 36 Canadian Buyers Love Substitution studio shows, the Canadians are the first in and the first out. Their broadcast schedules are determined by something unique to Canada, called simultaneous substitution. It drives purchasing choices, and buyers are on the lookout for programs that meet this requirement. Both Canadian and American signals are carried by Canada’s cable and satellite operators. When a Canadian over-the-air broadcaster and an American over-the-air broadcaster schedule the same program at the same time, the Canadian broadcaster can request these operators swap out the American station’s signal for the Canadian signal. By doing this, the Canadian broadcaster does not lose audience or advertising dollars across the border, and maximizes revenues as its ads appear on two channels. Because they are lining up their schedules in tandem with the U.S. network schedules to make the most of these “simulcast” opportunities, the Canadian buyers in L.A. make their deals right away, usually after four days of intense screening. Then they rush home to present their fall schedules to media buyers and advertisers. Looking back over 2013-14 screening purchases, Barbara Williams, SVP of Content, Shaw Media, pointed to the success of The Blacklist on Global TV. “We are elated with the success of this new series, which is averaging 2.2 million viewers and is consistently ranking in the top-10 across key demos,” she said, adding that the even bigger story for Global is the strength of its Monday night lineup as a whole. “We are owning Monday nights, beginning with Almost Human at 8 p.m. and followed at 9 p.m. by the surprise hit of the season, Sleepy Hollow.” Bell Media is also having a strong season. Mike Cosentino, SVP of Programming, CTV Networks, credited CTV’s success to the continued strength of returning programs including The Big Bang Theory, Criminal Minds and CSI. For mid-season, he added the muchanticipated titles Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Intelligence to his roster, along with returning fan favorite The Following. On the commissioning front, the CTV broadcast season kicked off with The Amazing Race Canada. “It was the most-watched Canadian series on record when its first season wrapped,” said Corrie Coe, SVP of Independent Production, Bell Media, adding, “Saving Hope returned to CTV with a season two ratings high and we also launched Masterchef Canada and brought back Motive in mid-season.” Original productions for Bell Media’s English entertainment specialty channels, added Coe, “include the factual series Highway Through Hell and Canada’s Worst Driver, the dramas 19-2 and Bitten and the recently renewed big-buzz series Orphan Black.” Season one of Orphan Black was the most-watched Space original series in its history, contributing to the audience growth of the sci-fi channel. “The premium TV business in Canada remains strong, driven by exclusive, high quality programming from our core partners HBO and Showtime,” said Maria Hale, VP, Television, head of Content Distribution and Pay-TV at Corus Entertainment. “We are excited about the next generation of sureto-be hits from them, including Looking and True Detective from HBO and Penny Dreadful from Showtime, as well as Sensitive Skin from Toronto’s Rhombus Media.” At Blue Ant Media, two series in particular headed its success list: BBQ Pitmasters, a cookoff series on Travel+Escape and Epic, which spearheaded the launch of Cottage Life, its newest channel. Epic features extravagant cottage amenities and the people that design them. Andrea Harrick, director of Acquisitions at Blue Ant, described them as “daydreamers who took their passion to another level.” Moving west to British Columbia, Rudy Buttignol, president and CEO of Knowledge Network, is proud of the success of Hidden Cities of Asia in the branded documentary strandEast is East. “We are reaching out to our changing demographic with Asian-Pacific programming, and it did spectacularly well. And taking a chance on Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, an Australian attempt at the British mystery genre, was another coup.” For RogersMedia, its success story of 2013would likely be taking Canada’s television crown jewel, the NHL, away from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for its Sportsnet outlets. The CBC will still have access to some hockey games through its arrangement with Rogers, but the national broadcaster has other program assets. Looking at just one genre, Jennifer Dettman, executive director of Studio and Unscripted Content, named a slew of factual successes including Dragons’ Den, Battle of the Blades, Four Rooms andNHL Revealed. More Canadian success stories abound; those mentioned above just give a taste of the diversity available in the Canadian broadcast landscape. By Isme Bennie Off-the-shelf purchases for Bell Media’s English entertainment specialty channels include The Daily Show, Suits, and The Day of the Doctor, the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special. “These have resonated with our viewers,” noted Catherine MacLeod, SVP, Specialty Channels and Bell Media Production. For Shaw’s specialty channels, Williams pointed to a tremendous start to the winter season with two brand new Canadian original series dominating in the rankings, Food Network’s Chopped Canada and HGTV’s Timber Kings. “Chopped Canada’s January 2 series premiere broke audience records across the channel, making it the network’s highest rated premiere to date,” said Williams. Looking at more Canadian successes and challenges, Ellen J. Baine, VP of Programming at Hollywood Suite, said that the bouquet of movie channels is growing its subscriber base, and subscribers seem to be interested in more and more SVOD titles. For her, the challenge has been to find product to serve that appetite, “especially for older critically acclaimed titles that may not have been big box office successes but are more off the beaten path.” Barbara Williams of Shaw Media Maria Hale of Corus Entertainment Their broadcast schedules are determined by something unique to Canada, called simultaneous substitution… and buyers are on the lookout for programs that meet this requirement. (Continued from Cover)
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