broadcasters in general have had a trying year, blasted by programming and viewership challenges from every direction. Pubcasters, facing stiff competition and the usual funding crunch, have had a particularly financially trying time of it. While the verdict is still out on many of the larger issues these embattled corporations face, new programming initiatives offer hope as they win regulatory favor and new audiencesÉ

When the National Hockey League went on strike this fall, the cbc lost its biggest money-making program. In 1994, the public broadcaster made major changes to its children’s programming schedule to conform to the crtc’s conditions of license renewal, and continues to be subjected to government hearings questioning its very mandate.

It’s been a difficult year for the cbc, especially those working in English television, which has born the brunt of criticism from the public, private broadcasters and the government.

But Jim Byrd, cbc’s vice-president, English Television Networks, looks back on 1994 as an exciting year filled with challenges and rewards.

Shortly after taking over the position from Ivan Fecan in November 1993, Byrd was faced with a number of decisions, many relating to programming changes in the schedule.

The audience numbers for CBC Prime Time News and the late-night news had been under scrutiny for some time as had the numbers for Friday Night! with Ralph Benmergui and Street Legal, says Byrd.

He describes many of these decisions as having evolved to the point of ‘necessity.’ The Benmergui show was on a slippery slope to cancellation with an average weekly audience of 300,000 viewers. Prime Time News had lost its position as Canada’s top newscast to the CTV Television Network, and Street Legal was midway through its eighth season.

Canceling Street Legal was perhaps the toughest decision, says Byrd.

‘We had a series that by most people’s yardsticks was considered to be a success. It was a proven audience winner, and the decision to move on was not easy.’

As the year wore on, what looked like it might be dying on the air was the network’s national newscast, Prime Time News. Audience numbers were indicating that moving the show from 9 p.m. back to its old 10 p.m. time slot was becoming necessary. In addition to a lower Homes Using Television (hut) level and intense competition, shifting Prime Time to the later slot would also eliminate the separate family and adult prime blocks set up during the repositioning strategy years before.

In 1994, the cbc committed to block programming during core prime, and with Prime Time News at 10 p.m., shows like Witness and This Hour Has 22 Minutes were given better time slots during peak viewing hours.

It wasn’t an easy decision to move Prime Time back to its original 10 p.m. slot, says Byrd.

‘Anytime you tamper with the composition or the scheduling of that program, you’re running a risk.’

Three series were canceled, significant changes were made to the arts and entertainment schedule, and two new series have been introduced: Rita and Friends, the network’s one-hour musical variety show, and Side Effects, a weekly drama series set in an urban medical clinic.

Byrd is pleased with their performances to date. Rita MacNeil captured a viewing audience of 1.1 million for the week of Nov. 11 while Side Effects is off to a somewhat slower start with 764,000 for the same period.

‘Side Effects is performing about where we thought it would. Any dramatic series like that will take time to grow, but we are quite proud of the way the series is performing so far,’ says Byrd.

Liberty Street, Epitome Pictures’ new drama series for cbc based on the mow X-Rated, will be launched in January.

1994 was also a year of intense and heated debate about the future of the Mother Corp.

The crtc heard arguments for and against cbc during the licence renewal hearings in April. Byrd says the discussions ‘focused our eyes on the volume of American (programming) we have on our schedule in the daytime and on what was perceived to be an insufficient attention to children’s and youth programming.’

The impact from the hearings, which resulted in a five-year license renewal for the public broadcaster instead of the desired seven, was evident in Byrd’s schedule for 1994/95.

cbc has knocked two American strips out of its afternoon schedule and replaced them with two Canadian series. In the morning children’s programming schedule, an extra half-hour of programs has been added.

Pressure also came from Canada’s largest private broadcaster, ctv, which in August argued that the cbc spent too much on the acquisition of sports rights for television. The issue at hand was the cbc’s estimated us$20.75 million bid for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. The bid stunned many, including ctv, whose bid was valued at between cdn$14 million and cdn$18 million .

Byrd’s response is concise. He says sports are an important part of the schedule; they have allowed the network to exhibit sporting events that would otherwise not be covered, and they will remain a part of the schedule.

This was the year in which Molson Hockey Night in Canada was supposed to be aired as a double-header, filling the Saturday evening block. The hockey strike, which started at the beginning of October, put a crimp in this programming strategy.

American feature films running in place of nhl games are drawing reasonable audiences of 1.2 million to 1.3 million, but regular season hockey games drew 1.4 million, and playoffs more than doubled viewership. A playoff game between the Los Angeles Kings and the Toronto Maple Leafs drew 3.5 million viewers in 1993.

cbc isn’t defining the loss in revenue in hard numbers, but Hockey Night in Canada was its highest revenue maker. The network worked from a ‘demand card’ instead of a rate card for Hockey Night in Canada, which allowed it to raise its rates at any time. A 30-second spot is said to have cost between $25,000 and $30,000 last year.

In an attempt to expand viewership, Newsworld International was launched in October of this year via the Northstar program. Its partner, Trio, was another initiative to extend cbc’s program reputation.

With parliamentary appropriations declining and loss in advertising revenue continuing in 1994, the Corporation had to appear before Parliament’s standing committee on Canadian Heritage, which attempted to examine the financial status of the public broadcaster.

For Byrd, the results of the hearings will affect much of the programming strategies for the future.

‘It’s a crossroads, depending on what the government decides to do with those recommendations.’