Montreal: Specialty channels are gaining market share in Quebec and present opportunities for producers with the right kinds of programming.

Tracking data on market share for the 16 French-language pay and specialty television channels differs depending on the source and the jurisdiction being measured, but all the latest numbers point to continued growth.

bbm measures the extended Montreal market (2+). Its most recent data on the French specialties, fall 2000, points to a 29% increase over ’99 for a 14.8 share. A year earlier, the specialties had an 11.5 share, with most of this year’s growth coming at the expense of the conventional tv networks.

Comparative (fall ’99/fall ’00) reports from Nielsen Media Research for the Province of Quebec (francophone, Monday to Sunday, all day, 2+) indicate a higher market share for specialty tv but more moderate year-over-year growth – a 21.2 total market share and a 12% increase.

Some of the biggest gains this season have been made by lifestyle channel Canal Vie, especially among women 25-54. Vie is in its fourth season, and according to bbm, went to 0.9 in fall 2000 from a 0.6 share in ’99, while international drama channel Series + went to a 1.1 share in the fall sweeps from a 0.7 share in spring 2000.

Coproduction advantages

Judith Brosseau, senior vp, programming, responsible for Les Chaines Tele-Astral’s Canal d, Historia and Series +, says the pursuit of coproduction with English-Canadian broadcast partners in the past two years has resulted in better-quality programs, higher licences and larger audiences. ‘And you have more qualifying points with the [programming] funds. It’s good for everybody.’

Sharing windows also helps increase the size of a show’s audience, a key criteria with the funding agencies. ‘You’re picking up English Canada and French Canada, and it does wonders,’ she says.

Deep in planning for next season, Brosseau says audience and counter-programming issues are important, but no more so than flexibility in program financing. She says specialties have to be creative, ‘with different types of properties financed in different ways.’

The mix includes bigger-budget Canadian coproductions likely to meet with success at the Canadian Television Fund or Telefilm Canada, episodics financed largely through international coproductions and presales like Insectia, and lower-cost programming financed through local licences and the tax credits.

‘But I have to have all three [types],’ says Brosseau. ‘If I only have shows dependent on public financing and they [the funds] say no to half of it, I’m in serious trouble. This [planning] isn’t something we do on our own. The business relations we have with producers, whether they be in Quebec or [English] Canada, is vital. We have to work hand in hand so the series will get made.’

Some of the current Canal d programs shared with Discovery Canada include the investigative series Pieces a Conviction (Discovery’s Exhibit a from producer Robert Lang of Kensington Communications), the international hdtv coproduction Insectia ii (Pixcom International), Objectif Science (Forbidden Places, produced by Television Renaissance), Oceans of Mystery (Eco Nova) and Carnet de Vol (Flight Path, distributed by Canamedia for Screenlife).

Canal d has also committed to a second round of Frontiers of Construction (Barna-Alper).

Brand new shows

Coming coproductions for the 2001/02 season include the urban engineering and technology series Technopolis (Pixcom), licensed by both Canal d and Discovery and sold in France; Disasters of the Century (produced for Canal d and History Television); and the five-hour Women Adventurers (Cine Nova), also sold to Explore International.

New, original mid-season shows on Canal d include Insectia and Biographies Quebecoises (Poly-Productions/Communications Claude Heroux/Amerimage Spectra/Telefiction/Serdy Video).

A delighted Brosseau says to commemorate its 40th anniversary, Reseau tva has acquired seven Canal d biographies, profiling stars who have made major contributions to tva over the years.

Canal d commissions 20 original one-hour Quebec biographies each season, produced at a cost of between $110,000 and $200,000, as well as 10 Canadian biographies acquired from Great North, now a part of AAC Fact (Alliance Atlantis). The total Quebec collection numbers 100 to date.

Also new, Brosseau says Canal d will license eight pov documentaries over the next two years, typically with shared licences.

Top performers

Top performing shows on Historia this season include L’Histoire a la une (Pixcom), the service’s flagship series, hosted by the personable Claude Charron and seen four nights a week at 6:30 p.m.; the mid-season entry Histoires Maritimes (Pixcom, which also does the History series Histoires de Trains); and the popular Antiques Roadshow adaptation Trouvailles et Tresors (Pram Productions in association with the Musee de la Civilization de Quebec).

Historia’s annual programming investment is in the order of $6 million.

Among the top-performing acquisitions on Series + are the hit HBO Original Programming series The Sopranos, Sexe a New York (Sex and the City), Nash Bridges, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and La Firme de Boston (The Practice).

Non-u.s. programs with good results include the Aussie cop show Sydney Police and the French tv movie collection Combat de Femmes.

At high-tech and sci-fi channel z, noteworthy shows include the flagship mag La Revanche des nerds (Pixcom) and the brand new ‘how’s it done’ half-hour magazine Comment C’est Fait (Productions maj), hosted by freestyle ski champ Jean-Luc Brassard.

Sci-fi drama is also effective for z and includes aac’s Chroniques du Paranormal (Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal), Tek War and Invasion Planete Terre, Highlander (Jaylar), Star Trek: La Nouvelle Generation (Paramount Television) and The X Files (20th Century Fox Television/Ten Thirteen Productions). Other international program suppliers to z include zdrv, GRB Entertainment, Beyond Productions and bbc.

Lifestyle at Vie

Marie Collin, senior vp, programming, responsible for Les Chaines Tele-Astral-owned Canal Vie, z and vrak-tv, says Vie’s strongest performing shows have all been around a while, reflecting a more mature schedule and stronger branding identification.

Top shows, she says, include the new day-part movie showcase Cine-Cure; Les Copines d’abord (Montreal’s Zone3), where mostly female friends discuss social and personal issues weekdays with host Isabelle Marechal; and Andre Montmorency’s topical gay magazine, Sortie Gaie (Zone3).

‘What’s interesting in Vie’s case is that among our top 10 shows, seven are original [Quebec] productions,’ says Collin. She says that’s something new, because previously the sked was anchored with acquisitions. Dominique Bertrand’s Salut Beaute (Zone3) and Sylvie Ledoux’s sex-talk mag Eros et Compagnie (Zone3) are also well-rated Vie programs.

‘Zone3 understands our network very well and has been there since the beginning in terms of productions,’ says Collin. ‘We have other producers as well such as Trinome, which produces [the emergency medical personnel reality series] Quelques secondes’pour la vie. They’re a new producer for Vie, but they’ve quickly seized what our needs are,’ she says.

Collin says the audience for the cultural and social affairs show Jeux de Societe (Pixcom), offering insights into unusual lifestyles and social trends, has increased each of the past four seasons.

Vie and z are obliged by licence to reinvest 45% and 40%, respectively, of the previous year’s gross revenues in Canadian program expenditures.

Collin says at this point there’s been little coproduction with English-language specialties, language being the obvious deterrent. But Life Network has broadcast an English version of Eros, and Vie and Discovery coproduce the higher-budget doc series Ca Sex’plique (Sex Files).

As for new programming trends, Collin says Vie is licensing more human-issue documentaries. ‘We’re going to continue to develop [programs] on issues like relationships, whether it’s couples or parents and their children.’

In the case of z, Pompiers en Alerte (Firestation, produced by La Fete Productions) shares a licence with Discovery.

VRAK is for tweens

The crtc denied Astral’s request to air commercials on vrak-tv, the former Canal Famille, but did permit its on-air period to be extended to 10 p.m. from 7 p.m. vrak’s significantly remade schedule is aimed at tweens 10 to 14, with Denis Dubois taking over as vp programming from Monic Lessard, who long championed Famille’s children’s lineup.

vrak’s annual program budget has been increased to close to $6.5 million.

Collin says the channel’s website (www.vrak.tv) receives between 400 and 500 e-mails daily.

Top acquisitions include La Vie a Cinq, Buffy, Clueless and Sabrina. Quebec-produced series include the sitcom Big Wolf on Campus (Telescene), Dans une galaxie pres de chez vous (Zone3) and Real-it (Productions J), an extended series of ‘live’ three-, four- and five-minute capsules, inserted like commercials, treating topical subjects conceived and produced by young people.•