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.

CHUM’s six-pack

with only two weeks separating the specialty licence decision and the hearings for a new Vancouver broadcasting service, CHUM Ltd. execs are short-term focused on Vancouver and there’s not a whole lot going on yet with its six (five English, one French) new licences.

Like all the licensees, negotiations with the cable companies are in progress. With a guaranteed distribution space, each of these services could be up in a matter of 90 days or less.

Space: The Imagination Station

the second most expensive service in the chum set, the subscriber base for Space starts at $0.29 on the basic tier, with all programming relating to science – fact and fiction, speculative science, technology, and fantasy, and running the gamut of genres from news, analysis, reporting, informal education and drama.

Programming will run in a six-hour wheel beginning at 6 a.m. and repeated three times throughout the broadcast day. The lineup includes Spacebase, a daily half-hour sci-fi news magazine; Enigma, 13 half-hours coproduced and hosted by ‘space specialist’ David Onley on X-Files-type stories with a Canadian twist; and Beyond 50, a half-hour series about the wonders of deep space.

Acquisitions product is to include the likes of The Hidden Room, Kurt Vonnegut’s Monkey House, Max Headroom, Highlander: The Series and Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.

At least 25% of programming in the first broadcast year will be Canadian, with that level increasing to 50% of the broadcast year, 40% in primetime by year seven of the licence.

The service’s total Canadian program expenditure is $26.1 million over the licence term.

Over the seven years, Space anticipates spending $8.5 million to purchase independently produced Canadian programs, including new first-run Canadian features and series like Salter Street’s Dark Zone.

chum is also committed to contributing $50,000 annually on program development and is expected to encourage scripts from Canadian writers in the sci-fi and paranormal genres.

With a cable green light, 30 new full-time jobs will be created with the launch of Space.

Star TV

One of the wholly chum-owned pack, Star tv is a 24-hour specialty service devoted to delivering information, lifestyle and human-interest programming related to the entertainment world.

The sked will be six-hour program blocks run once and repeated three times daily. No more than 5% of the programs broadcast in primetime on Star can be of the feature film/theatrical release variety. Those films aired must be movies or feature-length documentaries about the art and industry of show business, running from biographies to stories set in the film, tv and entertainment world.

Canadian content will begin in the first year of operations at a 30% minimum, rising over the licence term to 50% by the end of the seventh year. In primetime, a minimum of 25% must be Cancon, rising to a minimum of 40% in year seven.

However, in the first year of operation, only 19.6% of Star’s original programming will be Canadian, with the chum powers arguing at the hearing that it will not be able to establish an inventory of programs up front since the focus will be presenting timely information on what’s happening in the Canadian entertainment industry.

chum also argued that since it d’esn’t expect to have more than 500,000 subscribers (based on digital distribution) at the onset and the cost of presenting its proposed daily entertainment newscast is high, it won’t have the revenue to spend on more Canadian original programming.

If it gets analog distribution, the monies at hand and arguably the first-year investment in Cancon could change.

Nevertheless, in its decision the crtc says it is satisfied that the incline in Canadian content levels committed to by the licensee ‘will ensure that an increasingly strong Canadian presence is developed on Star over the licence term.’ Each year following its first full year of operation, Star will spend 39% of the previous year’s gross on Cancon.

Star’s wholesale cable rate begins at a mere $0.05 per subscriber when distributed as part of the basic package. That, combined with its Canadianized Entertainment Tonight-type focus, could make it a potential front-runner in the analog lineup selection.

Pulse 24

Pulse 24, a regional Ontario news channel, is for the taking at $0.30 per subscriber on basic for cable operators in the Greater Toronto Area, Oakville, Pickering, Hamilton and Oshawa. chum holds a 70.1% interest. Toronto Sun Publishing, indirectly controlled by Rogers Communications, has the remaining 29.9%.

The service will offer 24-hour news with a focus on Southern Ontario local and regional news and information programming.

News flow will consist of a continuous 15-minute program wheel interspersed with talk and business programs between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. The three daily Citytv news programs (noon, 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.) will be rebroadcast on Pulse, plus a small percentage of news programming from the international market in the original language with English subtitles.

At least 90% of programming will be Canadian content. Its seven-year projected expenditure on Cancon is $17.7 million. The application promises to spend $77,000 on program development over the licence term, specifically on the training of videographers and ‘local specialists,’ specifically from crtc-designated groups.

Given adequate launch distribution numbers, the addition of Pulse to the spectrum could amount to 37 new full-time jobs.

MuchMoreMusic

Much more music for the boomer set, minimally if at all attractive to the Nirvana screeching herds gathered around MuchMusic, this chum-owned service also g’es to the cablecos for a pittance, $0.03 per sub when distributed on the basic service.

The contemporary music lineup includes adult contemporary, light rock, classic hits, and some soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, reggae and New Age music. At least 65% of the broadcast week will be videos, with no more than 30% of them country music. No more than 15% of the week can be devoted to music-related programs in the feature film and animation categories.

At least 60% of the year and 50% of the evening broadcast period will be Canadian content, with not less than 30% of the total music videos Canadian. By condition of licence, chum is also required to schedule its Canadian music videos ‘evenly’ throughout the broadcast week and in a ‘reasonable manner’ throughout the broadcast day.

MuchMoreMusic’s cumulative Canadian programming expenditure is a projected $16.9 million over seven years, including $700,000 over the licence term for the production of Canadian concerts and music specials.

In year one of operation, the licensee is committed to spending $150,000 on the production of music videos through its Videofact funding stream, which has invested over $8 million in Canadian music video production since its inception in 1984. In subsequent years, not less than 5% of gross or $150,000 will go into the Videofact fund through MuchMoreMusic.

In its application, chum made a commitment to create a new arm of Videofact, Promofact, which will assist artists in producing electronic promotion and press kits. Through Promofact, chum expects the Videofact fund to grow another $1.9 million over the licence term. Terms and conditions for Promofact are a work in progress.

There’s no hiring going on yet, but MuchMoreMusic will be looking to bring on 31 full-time people, ‘conscientiously recruiting on- and off-air people who reflect the full human rainbow in our society.’

Canadian Learning Television

Like many of the other services, there’s a mix of nothing happening and something happening at this stage of the game. clt president Ronald Keast says he’s in the process of negotiating with the cablecos and is planning a trip to England next month to finalize bbc’s 15% investment in clt.

Programming for the chum-controlled (60%) service will focus on adult education, with all programs drawn from categories 2, 5a, and 5b (analysis and interpretation, education-formal, education-informal.) A minimum of 55% of programs aired during the broadcast day will be adult ed.

Cancon will run 60% of the broadcast day and 50% of the evening. Over the licence term, clt will produce or coproduce 920 hours of original education programming and spend $7.8 million on independent production. The acquisitions budget is $12.5 million, $3.7 million of which will be spent on Canadian.

For its second full broadcast year and subsequent years of the licence, 36% of gross will go to Canadian each year.

The sked includes a two-hour branded block of BBC Worldwide Learning programming, which will include product from the bbc education catalogue supported by learning material produced in Britain and Canada.

In terms of programming, Keast says clt needs documentary and other entertainment programming that connects to the learning courses offered through the service in partnership with Canadian colleges and universities.

Production on one series – 10 $11,000 half-hours produced by Sleeping Giant Productions’ Jim Hanley based on a psychology elective offered by the University of Guelph – has already been greenlit, although there is no official production or development wing in place (Keast and Hanley are old friends). The program will air on Vision, Access and clt.

On average, licence fees will run $10,000 per half-hour, although naturally they will vary depending on the particular program, says Keast.

Top of mind for producers should be finding ways to make educational material interesting and entertaining, creative ways to make connections between the program and the learning institution.

‘People need to get turned on by the television. It makes the leap into taking advantage of the educational courses less frightening,’ says Keast.

clt is backed by chum (51% ownership), Moses Znaimer (17%), Keast (13.5%), chum exec Jay Switzer (3.5%) and BBC Worldwide Learning at 15% by the end of the year.

clt is based in the Alberta Learning and Skills facility in Edmonton. Projected revenue over seven years is $76 million. Price per sub on basic is $0.15.

For information on chum’s French licence, see p. 19.