These 23 new licensees mean murky days for all, including producers.

With the exception of the fab four destined for analog – teletoon, The Comedy Network, The History & Entertainment Network and N1 Headline News – all in start-up mode with some idea of what programming they’re in search of and their independent production needs, everyone else is pretty much in limbo until the cable companies come up with a tangible plan.

What follows is an outline of all the licensees, including detailed information on the four guaranteed a Sept. 1 start-up.

For the 13 English-language services granted a licence to negotiate with cable, projected spending on Canadian programming and independent production is on paper, but with the caveat that the numbers are written in sand until a subscriber base and a launch date nailed down.

The History and Entertainment Network

Showcase president Phyllis Yaffe has been appointed The History and Entertainment Network president, the first exec at the helm of two specialties.

The service’s first new feature is the acronym ‘then,’ which takes care of the potential h&e/a&e confusion and is more directly indicative of what the channel is about.

then is owned 88% by Alliance Communications and 12% by the CTV Network. The board of directors will consist of ctv president John Cassaday and six Alliance execs yet to be appointed.

Front and center right now is the search for a head of programming to man the ambitious slate of documentaries, movies, miniseries and other dramatic programming examining current and historical events, with special emphasis on doc and drama programming relating to Canada’s past. It’s a relatively short list of people, says Yaffe, who expects to have someone in place early in October.

In terms of proposals, pitches have piled and continue to pile up on the desk and sorting through them will be priority one when the programming head is in place. ‘Original production is the highest priority, so as soon as we hire a programmer, we’ll be plowing through tons of stuff.’ Nothing to date has been inked.

Canadian content levels are geared to penetration, starting at 30% for under four million subscribers, increasing to 40% upon reaching four million, and up to 50% at the five million subs mark. Across the board, then is committed to 33.3% Cancon in the evening broadcast period.

Unlike any of the other licensees, then is being held to a first-year expenditure on Canadian programs – $5.7 million in year one and 34% of the previous year’s gross for the remainder of the licence term.

It will air a minimum of 180 hours of independently produced Canadian programs in the history genre each year, increasing to 215 hours by the end of the licence term.

With respect to drama programming, then has committed to no more than 56 hours of feature films each week, all based on historical themes with wraparound segments providing context and commentary. No more than one two-hour film will run daily during evening hours.

In terms of licence fees, Yaffe says she expects to release a program needs statement mid-October which will identify licence fee ranges and be more specific about the parameters for then’s original production.

Safeguards established by the licence include the directive that programming produced by Alliance and ctv will account for less than 5% of the service. Copyright will stay with the independent producers, except in cases where the entire cost of production has been met through then licence fees.

Programming decisions will be made by management who will act independently of the shareholders, and no preference will be given Alliance International in regard to the purchase of programs distributed by the company.

At this point, there is no benchmark for what stage a pitch needs to be at by the time it hits the desk, although with startup time limited to a year, treatments in progress with as many of the details nailed down as possible are going to have an edge.

‘We’ve got 180 hours to fill. A lot of them will be series, high-quality, popular, high-budget series which will help us brand the network, plus some shorter series and one-offs,’ says Yaffe.

Sponsorship may be an option in some cases, depending on the program, although Yaffe says maintaining the integrity of the service will be top of mind at all times. A series on corporate Canada sponsored by the corporations profiled, for example, is out, as is product placement.

‘We’ll be looking for producers to come in with some smart, appropriate ideas,’ says Yaffe.

The number of staff then will hire won’t be clear until carriage and packaging plans are established with the cable companies, with Yaffe’s preferred packaging arrangement using the new services to strengthen the second tier. The launch of then will dictate the need for a bigger space for both it and Showcase, so the hunt is on for new digs.