Montreal: At the request of the crtc, Television Quatre Saisons has revised its request to completely drop its annual $8.6-million independent production quota.

The Communications Quebecor-controlled tv network countered with an offer from president Rene Guimond guaranteeing ‘an important role’ for independent producers and saying it would commit to spending no less than $4 million a year on independent production and a total of $40 million over a new seven-year licence term.

The late June crtc hearing in Montreal was held to consider a seven-year licence renewal for the French-language tqs network, its flagship station cfjp-tv Montreal, transmitter cjpc-tv Rimouski and cfap-tv Quebec City. A new licence term would begin Sept. 1, 2001.

‘Not open for business’

apftq president and director-general Claire Samson says tqs management is projecting a profit situation next year – only if it gets out of its indie production obligation – ‘and the signal they’re sending [to producers] is that they are not open for business anymore with anybody.’

The afptq is holding firm to its position.

The producers told the crtc the tqs proposal would have the effect of transforming production expenditures into production revenues by replacing priority programs from independent producers with cheaper shows from subsidiary affiliates such as Productions Point-Final. The afptq wants tqs to spend a minimum of 20% of the previous year’s total programming budget on independent Canadian production, not including its own affiliates.

‘We feel that 20%, when they [tqs] say a role of the first order is a good enough guarantee [for producers], is very reasonable,’ says Samson.

tqs’ investment in indie production had been as high as $10 million and $12 million in recent years.

The producers also asked that tqs be obliged to spend $150,000 annually on independent program development, and increase the share of licensed Canadian feature films from the current 4% of all films aired to 7% by year seven. tqs is spending as much as $190,000 on program development this year, but has proposed a reduction to $120,000 a year in the future.

In its presentation, tqs said it is seeking ‘equity’ with Quebec’s other conventional networks, including private broadcaster Reseau tva, which has no fixed spending minimum for independent production, but currently invests close to double the amount invested by tqs.

‘Lack of control’

In its written submission to the commission, tqs said the existing indie production quota has a negative effect on financing ‘because of the lack of control on production costs.’

The producers countered in their submission, saying in-house studies at both Radio-Canada and Tele-Quebec indicate indie-produced shows are more cost-efficient for broadcasters than in-house production. According to a Tele-Quebec document, ‘for each $1 million invested in independent production the network receives $3.3 million in total production value.’

‘That’s the problem,’ says Samson. ‘Broadcasters all want to have access to the Canadian Television Fund and [money from] Telefilm Canada and everything, but they still want to remain the only beneficiaries of advertising revenues. They don’t share advertising revenues with the producer. So they want to collect at both ends.’

In 1999, the percentage of Canadian films as a share of all movies broadcast on tqs was 4%, on tva 6%, on Tele-Quebec 10%, on src 13% and on specialty channel Canal d 22%.

Furthermore, the producers say the new tqs programming plan calls for little or no increase in priority programming like drama and children’s shows, and a big hike in non-priority categories such as game shows, sports magazines and general-interest programs.

In its written submission, Union des Artistes (performers) largely sided with the apftq, as did music producers in adisq and writers and researchers in sartec. Communication workers in fnc-csn backed the tqs quota position in their presentation, saying the broadcaster should be better able ‘to control its choice of productions.’

In its submission to the crtc, tqs says it spent $37.5 million on programming this year, including $34 million on Canadian programs, including $2.69 million on drama, $3.35 million on music and variety, and $17.5 million on game shows and general-interest programs. It spent $7.4 million on non-Canadian acquisitions.

tqs says flagship station cfjp anticipates ’99/00 (current year) revenues of $41 million (including $31 million in national sales and $10.6 million in local advertising) and after-tax losses of $10.7 million. The projection for next year is $44.5 million in revenues and $8.6 million in losses.

‘If our $8.6 million goes to [Productions] Point-Final [tqs’ production company], they would be close to breaking even,’ says Samson.

Samson says Quebecor is entirely preoccupied with its counter takeover bid for Videotron, with tqs’ future as a network relegated to a secondary concern. She says tqs has to improve its program schedule if its wants to become profitable, and probably needs a 15 share of the Quebec tv audience to do that. (A share point is worth between $3.5 and $4 million in ad revenues.)

French arts on basic?

At parallel hearings held on a new French arts licence, which opened here June 27, substantive talk quickly turned to distribution issues, including the possibility of distribution on a mandatory basic basis. Distribution on basic could make sense in view of the potential importance of a new arts channel, the size of the investment earmarked for original production and the attendant reduction in cost to distributors and subscribers, said some observers.