Montreal: In an effort to enhance program quality and close ranks with Canada’s independent production sector, Radio-Quebec and tvontario have established a three-year, $500,000 program development fund.

The fund is being introduced as part of a wide-ranging exchange between the two broadcasters that aims to help both tvo and Radio-Quebec cross language and territorial boundaries. Money for the new fund comes from current operating budgets, with costs shared on a 50:50 basis.

In the initial year, each broadcaster will commit $83,000 to the fund. Over five years it could trigger production in the order of $5 million, or more.

According to Francoise Bertrand, Radio-Quebec president and director general, more export-oriented television programs, conceived as multiple-language productions, are likely to be favored by fund administrators.

The agreement between the country’s leading provincial broadcasters also anticipates joint participation in coproductions, international conferences and the financing of multimedia technological research through the establishment of a media lab as well as shared marketing and sponsorship programs.

A committee, with representation from tvo, La chaine francaise, tvo’s French-language network, and Radio-Quebec, will administer the fund.

Both broadcasters are provincially funded with specific educational and cultural mandates, but their profiles are quite distinct.

tvo’s export strength is the u.s. educational market, where it sells about $2 million in programs and materials annually. It is also developing ties to Pacific Rim broadcasters.

Radio-Quebec’s forte lies in a more commercial approach to educational broadcasting, particularly in the area of merchandising, its relationships with broadcasters in France, and its extensive and largely successful use of drama in primetime programs.

At this stage, tvo program director Don Duprey views the new development fund as an experiment.

Pacific Rim Consortium

Duprey says the fund’s future may be compared to that of the five-year-old Pacific Rim Consortium, which includes tvo, nhk in Japan, Television New Zealand, pbs in the u.s., and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. To date, he says tvo has invested about $500,000 in the venture.

Initially driven by pbs, the Pacific Rim fund is directed at independent producers and provides ‘seed money’ to help trigger foreign presales, provincial funding and Telefilm Canada production money.

Under president Peter Herrndorf, who worked out the development fund deal with Radio-Quebec’s Bertrand, tvo has gone through a major restructuring and set an urgent goal of boosting commercially related revenues by 15% annually.

Increasing audiences

Both broadcasters are preoccupied with increasing audiences, particularly in primetime. The solution seems to be higher production values, in short, more expensive programming.

According to La chaine director Jacques Bensimon, neither service is likely to be shut down, but budget cuts could happen anytime, especially if audiences continue to stay away.

tvo has an annual operating budget of $75 million, $60 million of which goes into the operations of the English- and French-language television services. It raised about $4 million in memberships last year, but has no on-air advertising. tvo and La chaine broadcast 360 hours of original in-house programming a year.

Income

Radio-Quebec’s annual budget is $80 million, $63 million of which comes from government allocations. Commercial earnings, including production sponsorships, bring in about $17 million, including $6 million in revenues from direct on-air advertising. Radio-Quebec broadcasts 627 hours of original in-house programming annually, plus an additional 209 original hours of coproductions with the private sector.