Phyllis Yaffe is CEO of Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting. In this article she looks at the past, present and future of diverse Canadian programming.

Playback’s 15th anniversary marks an ideal time to celebrate the Canadian broadcasting industry, for Canadians have accomplished the nearly impossible. At the edge of the largest, wealthiest and most powerful media industry the world has ever known, despite our smaller population and smaller economy, we have established a renowned and vibrant television alternative.

It hasn’t been easy, of course, to create strong programming and keep Canadian broadcasting vital. It required a strategic and stubborn combination of visionary entrepreneurs, talented producers and artists, government regulations, public support and, most importantly, audiences.

Canadian television was founded on the bedrock of public broadcasting. Not only did that set the highest standards for quality news and entertainment, it solidified the idea that the airwaves belong to the people. TV licences were seen, therefore, as privileges to which were attached certain social responsibilities. This important balance of corporate and public objectives kept Canada’s broadcast industry moving in the right direction toward more Canadian programs, more Canadian stations and more viewer choice.

In time, the small local stations consolidated themselves into large national networks, and they were joined by the host of specialty channels made possible by cable and satellite technology. The upside was a wonderful abundance of choice. Canadians were freer to choose what they wanted to see and when they wanted to see it. In fact, though their average viewing time hasn’t changed much over the decades – 22 hours a week, or almost one entire day – the audience for ‘non-conventional’ television jumped from zero to 30% by the mid-1990s, and it’s now closer to 45%.

The downside was that Canadians were less likely to watch the same few network shows that once functioned as a kind of communal experience. That prompted a fear that Canadian production would get lost in a fragmented universe.

But such was not the case. On the contrary, Canadian programming has more than held its own. Indeed, it’s thrived. And the plethora of analog and digital specialty channels has given Canadians even more opportunities to see their own lives and hear their own stories on TV.

Take, by way of example, For King and Empire, the documentary about Canada’s involvement in the Great War, which was made by Breakthrough Films & Television and shown on History Television in November. It attracted 100,000 viewers even though it was up against the last game of the World Series, the Emmy Awards, and an expensive U.S. miniseries – not because anybody forced people to watch it, but because people wanted to watch it.

This desire for Canadian programming, as well as the outlets for showing it, have given rise to a phenomenal amount of new and original Canadian production, with much more on the way. That has allowed a whole range of small and medium-sized Canadian production companies to prosper and build a strong domestic industry.

Over the next 15 years, no doubt, technology will continue to toss up sophisticated and scary challenges, as will competitors new and old, foreign and domestic. But the most important things will also remain constant. Canadians will want as many individual choices as possible. They will want to be informed and entertained. And they will want an infinite variety of quality programs that deal directly with their own lives.

That’s why I believe the future for Canadian broadcasting is very bright. We have sustained ourselves in bad times. We have surpassed ourselves in good times. And if we simply continue to do our jobs well, the audiences will continue to reward us with their loyalty.

-www.allianceatlantis.com