One of the best things about the Banff TV festival is the lunches. Not because the food is good – although it occasionally is – but because guest speakers come and say some very interesting things. This as opposed to Banff breakfast sessions, where guest speakers may be saying interesting things, but I’m still in bed, if only in my mind. This year, the lunches were no different.

One was the annual Canadian Association of Broadcasters lunch, which featured CHUM president and CEO Jay Switzer who echoed what appears to be the consensus that the Canadian funding system is in need of a major overhaul. He articulated an idea that is gaining momentum in many circles of creating individual broadcaster envelopes that can grow if a broadcaster can attract more viewers to Canadian programming.

He also floated the radical idea of making tax credits available to advertisers who spend specifically on Canadian programming. ‘This could have two major effects,’ he told broadcasters. ‘One, it would create commercial success for hit shows, that would in turn allow the broadcaster to make stronger investments in Canadian programming. Two, it would give private broadcasters an added incentive to invest in Canadian drama instead of taking more mediocre U.S. shows.’ Both are good ideas worth serious consideration.

The annual CFTPA luncheon was another notable gathering. A lifetime achievement award was presented to former Alliance Atlantis TV production executive Mary Kahn, while Bill Murray (not the Ghostbusters guy, but the EVP and co-COO of the U.S. Motion Picture Association) was the guest speaker.

Murray drew a road map to how film and TV productions will soon suffer the same fate as music in terms of Napster-like online file sharing. ‘It is now possible for pirates to copy a television program the night it is first aired, and make it available to millions of consumers across the globe,’ he told producers. ‘Digital piracy represents an enormous threat to our business, different from anything we have ever seen.’

It was a wake-up call and I think it got the attention of everyone in the room.

Another moment that caught the attention of everyone came when Dufferin Gate president Patrick Whitley was honored with the CFTPA’s entrepreneur of the year award. Whitley spent his entire acceptance speech lambasting Playback – Canada’s ‘production industry rag’ – for not giving him what he considers his rightful place on our annual independent production list. Judging by his comments, Whitley believes Dufferin Gate, at $141 million in production budgets serviced, should have placed second (after AAC and before Fireworks) on the list, which ranks producers according to total production volume dollars.

When we were gathering data for our report on independent production, Whitley had expressed concern that service producers such as his company were not getting their due. After all, the sector accounts for roughly 40% of total production in Canada. We agreed and decided to create a separate list of service producers, which, it turns out, featured Dufferin Gate as Numero Uno. Whitley failed to mention this minor detail.

I’m not complaining, of course. As I say, these lunches are always of interest to me. Particularly when Playback becomes the centre of attention. We’ll take it every time.