Dan Lyon is the executive VP of distribution for TVA International.

Ongratulations to Playback on its 30th anniversary. I hope you will be successful in convincing your new owners, The Hollywood Reporter, to retain your independent editorial staff in order to continue serving the film and television industries of the Canadian region.

The Canadian feature film and television industries have played a key role in important political events during the past 15 years. In fact, it was Prime Minister Richard Paradis’ attempt to reintroduce legislation to protect the separation of the Canadian feature film distribution market that ultimately resulted in the military invasion of Canada (sometimes referred to as the ‘Six Hour War’).

Mixed results have been achieved since the decision of Heritage Canada to allocate all available feature film funding to the production and marketing of One Big Film each year. The first film produced under this policy, Robert Lantos’ In Praise of All Women, was a worldwide hit. David Cronenberg’s Star Trek XXX: Naked Dead Ringers Crash on Mars proved highly entertaining, although William Shatner stretched the boundaries of credibility as an octogenarian starship captain. Fans expressed outrage that Cronenberg was publicly accused (by Sid Adilman of the National Star-Sun-Globe-Post) of casting Shatner only because he is Canadian.

Following the mandate by Telefilm Canada that Canadian distributors must spend not less than $10 million on prints and advertising for each film, combined with the elimination of the non-recoupable (grant) portion of the marketing assistance program, all Canadian distribution companies have gone bankrupt. Accordingly, since 2012 the marketing of Canadian features has been handled by the Canadian Feature Film Marketing Agency. The CFFMA, based in Quebec City with a staff of 328, has so far distributed Les Boys 12, Les Boys 13 and Les Boys 14.

The Competition Bureau has launched yet another investigation into the exhibition and distribution sector, following a complaint by the Bloor Cinema (Canada’s sole remaining independent theatre) that it is unable to book first-run studio films. The new proprietor of the Bloor Cinema, Garth Drabinsky, expressed his support for ‘government intervention to protect the little guy from unscrupulous corporations.’

A new model of media convergence has emerged. Some of you old-timers may recall the cross-media convergence model (AOL Time-Warner, Bell Globemedia, or Jay Firestone’s short-lived CanWest Alliance Atlantis Quebecor Rogers Fido). The economic benefits from the creation of such companies were imagined to derive from the cross-promotion of properties, sharing of information about customer preferences, cross-selling and the multi-purposing of content. In fact, due to the incompatibility of the various media cultures, all of the conglomerates have imploded. Accordingly, the new model of media convergence (which the ancient economists sometimes referred to as ‘monopoly’) involves One Big Newspaper, One Big Cable Operator and One Big Video Chain. No clashing of cultures, no petty rivalries, and no pesky competitors.

Of course, there remains a plethora of digital television channels in order to accommodate a wide variety of consumer tastes and interests. North Americans currently have access to more than 7,000 channels (although most of them at any given time are showing Friends, The Simpsons, Crocodile Hunter or Star Trek). Fifteen years ago, average licence fees for a one-hour program ranged from $5,000 to $10,000. Today, the average has diminished to the range of $5 to $10. The CFTPA has issued a stern warning that ‘at these licence fee levels, producers may have difficulty creating and financing important programming.’

New technologies continue to evolve. Movies on the Internet gained popularity, until the Great Crash of 2009. Due to overload, the World Wide Web completely crashed and wiped out millions of hard drives. In accordance with the Microsoft United Nations Resolution on Appropriate Internet Etiquette, only written information may now be shared on the Net (no music or movies).

DVDs have thrived, although consumers have proven to have a limited appetite for ‘extras.’ The Collector’s Edition of America Pie 5, for example, sold relatively few copies, notwithstanding the separate commentary tracks by each of the 173 members of the cast and crew.

The Canadian film and television community has been united in its plea for a more flexible point system. The current criteria (10 out of 14 points, with a mandatory Canadian protagonist, antagonist, director, writer and caterer) is restrictive in comparison to the regime for official coproductions (minority participation can be as low as 5%, with no specified Canadian talent requirements).

Unfortunately, the point system issue (together with the entire ‘cultural policy or industrial policy’ polemic) has recently become moot, in light of the scheduled completion this year of the integration of Canada into the United States of North America.

Dan Lyon,

Executive VP, distribution,

TVA International, (Retired to Bermuda).