New Category 2 apps

The CRTC will hold public hearings Feb. 18 in Quebec City on a number of Category 2 digital specialty licence applications. The deadline for interventions is Jan. 24.

Vancouver-based Sextant Entertainment Group has filed an application for Hallmark Channel (Canada), an international family drama and entertainment service partnered with Toronto’s Corus Entertainment and Crown Media Holdings of the U.S., Hallmark’s parent company, listed on NASDAQ and a shareholder in Sextant, listed on CDNX.

The Hallmark Channel reaches a total of 80 million subscriber households in more than 100 markets.

The commission will also hear applications from Toronto-based Arabic Television Network; Richmond, B.C.-based LS Movie Channel for a service called Movie Express, an Asian-language movie channel broadcasting in Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese and other East Asian languages; and Ottawa-based Ten Broadcasting for a national French-language specialty channel called Canal Plaisir, an adult entertainment service featuring films, talk, phone-in shows and other sex-related programming.

AAC picks up five Golden Globe nods

Between CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Life With Judy Garland, Alliance Atlantis has received five Golden Globe Award nominations.

Judy Garland garnered three nominations: best miniseries, best actress in a miniseries for Judy Davis and best supporting actress in a miniseries for Tammy Blanchard.

CSI, in its second season on CBS, received noms for best drama series and best actress in a drama series for Marg Helgenberger.

This is the third year in a row AAC has been recognized in the best miniseries category. Joan of Arc and Nuremberg were nominated in 1999 and 2000, respectively.

The 59th annual Golden Globe Awards will be broadcast live on NBC on Jan. 20.

Study forecasts digital TV environment

The number of cable TV subscribers receiving digital service topped one million at the end of 2001, according to a new study by Decima Publishing.

The report also says the cable industry will gradually increase its share of the digital TV distribution market through 2002, at the expense of satellite TV.

Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice continued to dominate the digital environment, holding 62% of the market share at end of 2001 compared to cable’s 35%.

Those percentages, says the Decima study, are expected to be 61% and 37%, respectively, by the end of 2002.

The real test of the long-term appeal of the new digital channels, which account for the recent upsurge in digital subscriptions, will come following the free preview period, which ended Jan. 7.

The forecast is contained in Decima’s report The Digital Domain: Tracking the Growth and Development of the Canadian Digital TV Market (www.decima.ca/publishing).

ACC buys balance of History

Alliance Atlantis Communications has agreed to purchase CTV’s 12% equity stake in History Television. The deal was expected to close Jan. 7, making History a wholly owned subsidiary of AAC.

AAC is paying $20 million for CTV’s interest, implying a valuation of $167 million for the entire channel. History has close to five million paid subscribers, up approximately 9% from one year ago.

AAC has ownership interests in 18 specialty channels, including five established channels – History, Showcase, Life Network, HGTV Canada and Food Network Canada – and nine recently launched developing channels – Series+, Historia, Showcase Action, Showcase Diva, The Independent Film Channel Canada, Discovery Health Channel Canada, National Geographic Channel, BBC Canada and BBC Kids. It also has a minority interest in Scream, The Score, PrideVision TV and One: the Body, Mind and Spirit Channel.

President buys Mag North

Toronto-based full-service video and audio post-production house Magnetic North has changed ownership. Magnetic Enterprises, a company owned by Magnetic North president Bruce Grant, has purchased all of the assets of the post house from Rogers Communications.

‘Rogers has been a very supportive and understanding parent company for the past seven years, but we both felt it was time for the company to take a new direction,’ Grant is quoted in a statement. Grant says that the corporate change will not affect Magnetic North’s daily dealings with North American production studios. The post shop, entering into its 20th year, deals with international clients big and small, its focus being on Canadian productions and copros.

The sale of Magnetic North comes at a difficult time in the post industry. Like other shops, the company lost work last year as a result of U.S. guild strike threats and the fallout of Sept. 11. But there is strong belief production volume will be back on track within a couple of months, and the company looks to be ready for the increased workflow.

Astral Media TV revenues up 28%

Revenue from Astral Media’s TV operations grew more than 28% to $267.9 million during the 12-month period ending Aug. 31, representing close to three-quarters of the company’s total 2001 revenues of $345.1 million, a 22% increase over fiscal 2000.

EBITDA from TV operations in 2001 stood at $76.2 million. Total EBITDA from continuing operations is $72.9 million. Net earnings from continuing operations surged 128% to $29.7 million, or an EPS of $1.31, compared to $0.67 last year. The results include a one-time gain of $5.6 million related to tax recovery. Total net earnings in the period are $34.7 million.

President and CEO Ian Greenberg says long-term debt on Astral’s balance sheet was reduced by more than $100 million to zero.

Combined subscriber base for Astral’s pay-TV networks, The Movie Network and SuperEcran, stood at 1.1 million earlier this fall, a 23% increase over last year.

Astral raised approximately $200 million on the strength of two equity issues in 2001, with the number of outstanding shares increasing to 22.7 million.

Astral chairman Andre Bureau has relinquished his broadcasting group management duties to concentrate on strategic relations with the industry, government and the CRTC.

Astral’s AGM was held Dec. 13 in Toronto.

Telefilm feature deadlines

Telefilm Canada has announced new 2002/03 deadlines for the Canada Feature Film Fund Main Program and Low Budget Independent Feature Film Assistance Program.

There are three Canada-wide application deadlines for French-language feature films in the Main Program: Jan. 28, with decisions to be announced April 12; April 29, with decisions on June 28; and, contingent on available funding, Sept. 16, with decisions on Nov. 15.

Projects must be submitted to the Telefilm office in the production company’s home region.

The Canada-wide application deadline for English- and French-language projects for the Low Budget Independent Feature Film Program is April 15, with decisions following on May 31.

BTVF call for entries

The Banff Television Festival has issued a call for program entries for its 23rd edition, June 9-14, 2002. Entries will be accepted through to Feb. 22, 2002, with more than $100,000 in available prize money.

Recently broadcast programs (no earlier than calendar 2001) or new productions mainly slated for broadcast are eligible in 14 program categories. Original Webcast productions are eligible in specified program categories including animation, short drama and comedy.

Global Television, NHK and Telefilm Canada are among the major BTVF2002 prize sponsors. Rockie Award nominees will be announced in April.

WIFVV announces winners

Louise Clark, head of western independent production for CTV in Vancouver, is Woman of the Year 2001, one of the awards at the fourth annual Spotlight Awards sponsored by Women in Film & Video Vancouver and Wired Women Society.

Other film and TV sector winners are entertainment accountant Margaret Newton (Wayne Black Service Award), writer and past president of WIFVV Joyce Thierry (Sharon Gibbon Lifetime Member Award), and Patricia Gruben (Honorary Friend Award), who is director of the Praxis Centre for Screenwriters at Simon Fraser University.

The awards gala is in Vancouver Feb. 22.

Rogers launches TMN in HDTV

In December, Rogers Cable launched several HDTV signals including U.S. network programming originating in Detroit on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS and the Toronto test transmission of CDTV. This month, Rogers says it will begin HDTV transmission of The Movie Network and Viewer’s Choice PPV.
The wide-screen HDTV picture has five times the resolution of ordinary TV. Rogers says the service is available to subscribers with the HDTV version of its digital set-top box in those Ontario systems rebuilt to 750 Mhz standards.