Montreal: Canal d has 800 hours of new programming for its ’98/99 season, including 300 hours of new Canadian acquisitions. The documentary and entertainment service currently invests $8.8 million a year in programming, of which $2.8 million is original production.

Some 135 hours of new programs are licensed (commissioned) annually. And with the advent of advertising in November, those figures will increase next year, says Judith Brosseau, Canal d’s vp programming.

Brosseau says there are a couple of things interested producers might keep in mind. Firstly, Canal d’s audience resembles Discovery’s or tsn’s and is tilted towards males with a completed secondary education. ‘But the approach isn’t necessarily highbrow,’ she says.

‘We’re interested in series – biographies, history, adventure, civilization, a little science would be appreciated,’ says Brosseau. ‘When we’re talking about licence fees, I would say there’s an average of maybe $25,000 [an hour]. This is very important because we are talking series here and money can be managed differently. We could go as high as $30,000.’

In Quebec, Canal d on occasion looks to share a window with other broadcasters on quality, original programs, but Brosseau says because of its smaller audience, the network wants the first window.

Films d’auteur

At the core of its current branding practices is Filere d, an important two-hour film d’auteur documentary showcase broadcast Sundays at 9 p.m. Former politician and publisher Claude Charron (Le Match de la Vie) is the host.

The showcase includes new docs as well as productions deserving additional exposure, says Brosseau. The principal suppliers are the National Film Board, distributor Cinema Libre and producer Nathalie Barton and InformAction.

‘We are very pleased because it maintains Canal d’s tradition of offering films d’auteurs. It’s important because there aren’t many [similar opportunities],’ says Brosseau.

Another newly commissioned highlight this season is Les Annees Mode, 20 one-hour series on the role and history of fashion produced by Nicole Faucher of Pixcom. Pixcom also produces Le Gout du Monde, a winning 18-hour series on ‘cooking and culture in faraway places.’

‘Pixcom has been a partner with Canal d from the very beginning [January 1995]. They are a major player for us,’ says Brosseau.

Pop classics for sweeps

Sogestalt (Amerimage Spectra) and producer Guy Latraverse have produced a new 10-hour series on the 100 most important Quebec tunes of all time. Les 100 Chansons is strictly sweeps material and will be broadcast in two parts, in late October and November, and in March, says Brosseau.

This year, Canal d has acquired more than 100 hours of a&e programs including Tresors (Treasures), Biographies and the two-hour Saturday evening documentary showcase Hors Series, presented by radio talk show host Gilles Proulx. Producer/journalist Pierre Nadeau is the presenter of Biographies. Profiles include great thinkers, stars and historical figures.

The channel also has a Quebecois Biographies series that includes profiles on Jackie Robinson, Jean Grimaldi, Andree Lachapelle and Ludmilla Chiriaeff sourced from three primary suppliers, Jacques Lina and Productions Carrefour, Communications Claude Heroux and Coscient Productions.

Other new Canadian acquisitions include Carnet de Vol, an aviation history series from Toronto producer Les Harris and Canamedia, and Aux frontiers de l’inaccessible (Forbidden Places), an 18 one-hour acquisition from Discovery Canada.

Highlights include 25 half-hours of new Juste pour rire shows from Distribution Rozon and ‘cult’ classics like Hawaii 5-0 and Star Trek, broadcast in strict conformity (no cuts) with their original u.s. broadcasts, says Brosseau.

Canal d has movies – lots of them – sourced mainly from two catalogues, Alliance Vivafilm and Behaviour Distribution.

Brosseau says the movies won’t be interrupted by commercials. ‘That’s quite a lot for us because we have six hours of movies per day.’

Winter ’99 highlights include Insectia from Pixcom, Productions Cirrus’ (Jacques Blain) Arnaques, a series about scam artists, and Les Nouveaux Detectives, an extended forensic science series from Robert Lang and Kensington Communications.

According to recent AC Nielsen data, Canal d has a 1.6 share of the francophone market.

Earlier this year, Brosseau took over from Andreanne Bournival as Canal d’s program vp. She has 20 years in the business with Radio-Canada, Tele-Quebec and Television Quatre Saisons, most recently as director of strategic planning with src’s communications service. Nancy Rouleau is responsible for all of Canal d’s acquisitions.

Pierre Roy, president and ceo of Reseaux Premier Choix, the Astral Communications subsidiary which operates Canal d, says the target is to sell between $4 million and $5 million in airtime annually. The service is repped by TVPlus Media, which also sells Canal Vie, the Radiomutuel health and lifestyle channel.

Roy told the crtc Canal d will invest 40% of its gross commercial revenues in original Canadian program acquisition and production, worth $12 million in new licence fees to producers over the anticipated seven-year term. Roy says the $12 million will generate up to $35 million in additional production, for an average annual increase of 35% more hours of Canadian content. Cancon is 35% throughout the day.