Hit U.S. shows fuel rivals within Canadian television by Etan Vlessing
Source : Hollywood Reporter
December 23, 2005
TORONTO -- Such American hit TV series as "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost" help make up a CTV ratings arsenal that will be front and center in its clash with a rival Canadian broadcast titan in 2006.
CanWest Media is marshaling its own U.S. hits including "My Name Is Earl" as well as hit reality shows in a bid to oust CTV as the ratings leader.
CTV's continuing dominance is forcing CanWest Media Works, which ruled Canadian primetime during the 1990s on the strength of such NBC hits as "Seinfeld" and "Friends," to play catch-up.
Last month, CTV had seven of the top 10 and 13 of the top 20 programs in the 18-34 demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research.
CTV president of programming Susanne Boyce pointed to her network's programming bench strength, with such franchises as "CSI" and "The Amazing Race" continuing to shine and sophomore series including "Grey's Anatomy" and "Medium" moving up the charts. CTV also has "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost."
But CanWest Media Works managed to stop the bleeding in the fall and is positioning itself for audience growth in fall 2006.
Barb Williams, senior vp programming and production at CanWest Media Works, said the network recovered some recent ground with such shows as "Prison Break" and "My Name Is Earl," coupled with continuing ratings success from "Survivor" and "The Apprentice."
"Our fall season was stable -- we had important spikes around new programs," Williams said. "That was the absolute best thing that we would have hoped for out of fall and gives us a stable platform to go forward with."
Williams noted that the Los Angeles Screenings in May could be a make-or-break time for the Canadian broadcaster as it looks for significant ratings upticks in the fall. The screenings afford the studios an opportunity to show off their new-season pickups to international program buyers.
"We're in a terrific position to go back to the screenings more ahead of the game compared to where we were a year ago," she said.
The focus on blockbuster hits in the ratings war ironically comes amid increasing efforts to develop homegrown content to survive in the digital world, so popular U.S. shows will continue to be the arena in which Canadian broadcasters battle for key ratings and revenue in 2006.
New and original homegrown shows will continue to appear on TV schedules here, but domestic advertisers will, as ever, pay out their biggest dollars for popular American shows acquired from U.S. program suppliers, often as part of output deals.
Only CTV's "Corner Gas" and the CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada" routinely made it into the top 20 table of most-watched TV shows in Canada during the fall season.
Unlike other international TV markets where U.S. series are overshadowed by homegrown fare, licensing and airing new indigenous shows remains a risk for Canadian broadcasters, competing as they do astride the U.S. market.
So next year, domestic broadcasters will continuing jumping onto the brandwagon by developing homegrown versions of popular U.S. shows, hoping stardust surrounding the original shows falls the way of the Canadian clones.
In the latest move, Chum is readying a Canadian version of "America's Next Top Model" for a May primetime bow after the UPN series proved popular on the Chum schedule.
CTV already has done big ratings with "Canadian Idol" while also airing "American Idol" on its schedule, and CanWest Media Works recently launched "Entertainment Tonight Canada" and is readying a Canadian version of "Fear Factor" to find the most fearless Canadian in 2006.
Besides pursuing first-run U.S. network series to woo audiences, broadcasters here also believe Canadians eventually will download digital content that interests them off the Internet or onto their phones or iPods. So they're increasingly developing original digital product, beyond renting U.S. series for their primetime schedules.
A third broadcast rival, Chum Ltd., has gone further than most here by adopting a multiplatform strategy to build ratings and revenue in the emerging digital universe.
"We're connecting with audiences in the way that they connect with us and with each other," Roma Khanna, senior vp content at Chum Television, Chum's TV arm, said.
An example is the Chum reality series "MuchMusic VJ Search," where viewers choose a new VJ on the network's music video channel, MuchMusic.
"From the beginning, everything from voting and who's going to win is determined by the audience. But another aspect of story is taking place on interactive platforms," Khanna said.
