Quality, not quantity, is the best way for Canadian broadcasters to attract audiences, says Telefilm Canada executive director Richard Stursberg, who Nov. 20 called on television’s movers and shakers to rethink their spending and promotional habits.

‘We should no longer gauge our success by the sheer number of hours of television we produce,’ Stursberg told a luncheon crowd of some 100 TV execs at Toronto’s Westin Harbor Castle. ‘Rather we should focus on how successful these programs are in attracting viewers.’

His 20-minute speech echoed one made Nov. 13 to film producers in Vancouver. Stursberg pointed to Telefilm’s plans to boost Canadian viewership of domestic programming. ‘Other countries have done it,’ he said, citing the U.K., Italy and Australia, ‘we can too, in spite of the force of the American entertainment machine in our market.’

Making better shows will require upping production budgets, he says, bringing them ‘more in line with the international competition’ such as the U.S., which spends an average of $3 million per drama hour, and the U.K., which spends $1.8 million in contrast to $1 million spent in Canada.

But production values must be matched, he stressed, by strong promotion. ‘If stakeholders like Telefilm are asked to put up more money for higher-impact, higher-budget programs that are more likely to attract audiences, then we need to know that these programs will get good slots and adequate promotional spend,’ says Stursberg.

The problem, he says, is similar to the poor box-office take of Canadian movies, which Telefilm is trying to remedy by seeking greater P&A commitments from distributors. Telefilm is considering a similar tactic with television. ‘That’s exactly the parallel. Give us the confidence and then we’ll make the investment,’ he said in a later interview. ‘I think we should focus on how to reward success.’

He does not plan, however, to add a performance-based system such as the one in place for filmmakers. Telefilm will meet with the CTF and the CRTC in the coming year to discuss possible changes for the 2004/05 funding cycle.

-www.telefilm.gc.ca