a `work in progress’

To date, Baton Broadcasting System execs have said little about the tremors shaking the house since industry maverick Ivan Fecan stepped in as senior group vice-president in December 1993. But today, after almost 18 months on the job and three months since his promotion to executive vice-president and coo, Fecan is willing to talk, just a little, about what he calls a work in progress.

Some might argue that Baton has been in progress since Doug Bassett, now president and ceo of Baton and chairman of the board at the CTV Television Network, took over the broadcasting company from his father, John, in 1980.

After a run at developing productions in the ’70s, Baton moved to the sidelines and has since kept a relatively low profile with the independent production community.

However, Bassett himself often grabbed the broadcasting industry’s attention, trying twice to take over the ctv network, high-balling the competition for national program rights, and building the nation’s number-one rated newscast.

Under Fecan, Baton is attracting attention for different reasons.

First, there were the January layoffs of 94 Baton staff. Then last month, Suzanne Steeves and Beverly Oda were lured into the fold, two high-profile women with backgrounds in production at a company that hasn’t been heavily involved in production since it operated Glen-Warren Productions two decades ago.

On top of that, there were tangible changes in approach in Baton’s sales department, and the rumored new co-operative relationship between Baton and its network, ctv.

That Baton is going through a metamorphosis is true, says Fecan. But he’s unwilling to qualify the contortions as stunning, or pointing to some radical new direction for Baton, which operates 20 stations concentrated in Ontario and Saskatchewan.

‘It’s only revolutionary in the context of Baton because, over time, there hasn’t been a great deal of change here. Now there is. We think we’re going in the right direction.’

Perhaps the first sign of an imminent shake-up at Baton was the hiring of Fecan himself, who left as vice-president English television networks at cbc in November 1993.

Today, Fecan’s role at Baton bears a vague resemblance to the one he played at cbc. He is again in charge of dragging a dinosaur into the dawn of the global communications market, preparing it to stave off extinction, in part by cultivating high-profile creative programs to nurture, produce, and sell internationally.

‘We think it’s important to be involved in the development of original programming and hold unique program rights for Canada. It’s a new business we’re developing right now. We have scripts in motion, including some books and other literary properties. We’re working with five to 10 writers on important projects, of which most are in their first and second draft scripts. That’s a part of our future,’ says Fecan.

Steeves, former executive director of media operations for cbc with responsibilities to the English television networks, began as vice-president, production and distribution for BBS Productions on March 27. Her primary responsibilities at bbs will be building Baton’s programming rights business, developing and overseeing the creation of new programs, and international distribution of Baton programs.

Her counterpart in programming for all Baton system-wide productions is Oda, chairwoman of the Foundation to Underwrite New Drama and Canadian Women In Communications. The once full-time crtc commissioner will oversee the licensed, regulated side of the business. Steeves and Oda will report directly to Fecan. ‘They’re both catches for us,’ he says.

Baton has formally optioned eight properties, with its hands on five more, the majority of which are miniseries or mows.

In development now are Wild Geese, being written by Suzette Couture; Proof Positive, being written by Nancy Isaak; The Other Woman and The Golden Girl: The Silken Laumann Story, both being written by Joy Fielding (Carol Reynolds of Carol Reynolds Productions, is producing The Golden Girl.); The Prodigal Husband and The Judas Kiss, based on books written by Michael Harris; Small Miracle, to be written by Chris Bryant and produced by Gail Tilson of Independent Moving Pictures in Regina; and What’s Bred In the Bone, a three-part miniseries being written by George Jonas and Guy Kay to be produced by John McGreevy.

The pilot of Wacky Palms, a children’s program produced by Noreen Young and Owl tv’s Annabel Slaight, is complete and decisions are being made about where and when to run it.

‘In the long run, there will be an emphasis on mows, although we’ll probably look at more series at some point too,’ says Steeves, who has been inundated with scripts since she started at the end of March.

According to Steeves, the mechanisms for funding those projects haven’t been decided yet, although they’re looking at producing productions budgeted in the $1 million to $2 million range.

As a developer, Baton will play different roles, including producer, coproducer, investor, and rights holder, and the ‘creative’ ways in which programs are funded will vary individually.

Fecan, like other Canadian broadcasters, is advocating broadcasters have access to production funds now that prodcos Alliance Communications and Atlantis Communications have become broadcasters in Showcase and Life Network, respectively.

It’s in the beginning stages, and there’s a lot left to be done, but what has been decided is that original production will be a significant part in Baton’s long-term strategy, says Steeves. Fecan, she says, is the driving force behind increasing emphasis on original productions and is setting Baton up ‘as a force to reckon with in the industry.’

‘Ivan’s always been a big fan and supporter of talent in this country, and that’s what he will gravitate towards and contribute in this fashion, to provide more vehicles for Canadian talent, the writers and producers in this country. He’s well-known for what he’s done for the industry in terms of raising its stature internationally, and he will continue to do that.’

Says Reynolds: ‘We feel great that there’s now another good, strong player in the industry and we’re expecting to see terrific results (from Fecan’s appointment) in the productions coming out of Baton,’ she says.

The need to fund those high-end, higher profile projects that are going to build brand equity for bbs is in part what’s behind the new-found friendship between Baton and ctv. The rifts between the network and Baton, the affiliate that brings in just under 40% of ctv’s audience, have been the stuff of newspaper articles for years.

Those battles are in the past, say both Fecan and ctv vice-president of entertainment programming, Arthur Weinthal.

According to Weinthal, there has been an ‘evolution’ of the relationship between the two groups, born out of opportunities last year to invest in the joint buying of some foreign programming. They have already co-optioned the rights to some foreign pieces and are coproducing The Silken Laumann Story, which is shooting in September with an eye to a February 1996, pre-Olympic release.

There is a real possibility of more coproductions in the future, says Weinthal. ‘They’re trying to find ways to help us, and therefore help them, finance more high-end Canadian productions.’

For the first time, the two will work co-operatively on a schedule to maximize audience results, bringing to a close the era when Baton and ctv would tussle for the national rights to popular American programming.

Fecan adds that the relationship between Baton and ctv is structurally the same as it’s been since ctv’s shareholder agreement in January 1993. Baton continues to own 14.3% of the equity of ctv. ctv still buys 40 hours a week of programming on cfto, Baton’s flagship Toronto station and another 12 Baton stations. The final arm of the relationship is a kind of landlord/tenant agreement where ctv rents space, crews, and facilities to produce the ctv national news.

The relatively separate structures between bbs and ctv may remain intact, but according to media buyers, Baton is looking more and more like ctv in the sales department since Paul Robertson moved over as senior vice-president, marketing in January of this year.

Robertson is the mastermind behind sales tactics that have become a ctv trademark: offering advertisers custom-built packages that include everything from traditional broadcasting time to in-house produced mini-infomercials and direct marketing.

Says one media buyer: ‘We’re all waiting for Paul Robertson to make a move. The theory is that he’ll do much the same thing at Baton he did at ctv – make the advertising more responsive to customers and give them the opportunity to charge more for their product.’

Fecan acknowledges that Baton is extending its marketing efforts and working more closely with advertisers so they’ll stay aboard long-term. Robertson will have new things to show in the fall, and ‘I’d like to let him do that,’ says Fecan.

While some believe that Baton has already established itself with the business community through aggressive bidding for programming, others think Fecan has a tough job ahead of him.

CanWest Global’s gone into national programming, WIC Western International Communications is getting into cellular and pay-tv, says one media buyer who asked not to be identified. ‘But Baton’s nowhere, as far as I can see. From a business standpoint, they’ve got to get their share prices up, and they need to do something drastic to do that.’

Fecan is the first to admit that Baton in the past has kept a relatively low profile and that raising the ‘brand equity’ of the broadcaster is a priority. Making original productions is, in part, geared towards that, as is the new in-your-face bbs logo filling up television screens since last fall. Overall, the industry will be progressively more aware of Baton as a major player, says Fecan.

What has attracted the most attention so far this year was the announcement in January that 94 employees were being let go, a business decision that will eventually save the company more than $5 million a year.

About a quarter of those layoffs involve eliminating departments at cfpl-tv London and the sale of Carlton Productions, a mobile production unit rented out of cjoh-tv Ottawa. But the remaining losses will come straight from the heart of the Baton system, including 10 people out of cfto.

Yes, those kinds of cuts hurt, says Fecan. But it’s a necessary streamlining of the organization that was weighted down with layers of people doing the same job for each of Baton’s 20 affiliate stations.

‘As a company, Baton isn’t as profitable as it should be, and we haven’t been in quite some time. Since the recession, most other broadcasters in the country did their own restructuring and we didn’t. We’re doing it now,’ says Fecan.

The streamlining of staff fits case and point with the philosophy working its way through Baton.

Says Fecan: ‘As we’re moving forward, in every single thing we do, we’re saying, `in light of what’s coming in the future and how business is being done today, what contributes to our core business and what don’t we need?’ It’s a zero-based approach. It’s healthy for all concerned, painful but necessary for a company to do periodically.’