A Cancon event that zeroes in on consumer demand – am I in the right country?

The 20th edition of the CFTPA’s Prime Time in Ottawa (Feb. 17-19) focuses on the current and future demands of end-users, so don’t be dissuaded by the redundant conference title – ‘New Brave New World.’

‘There’s a big focus on how people are actually using media and how people are monetizing content with regard to these new forms of consumption,’ says CFTPA president and CEO Norm Bolen. ‘We’re asking ‘What are the models out there to make money in the new world?”

Bolen is a media veteran who took the helm of the CFTPA 12 months ago with transformation in mind. This is his first Prime Time as its president and CEO, and he’s underlining change: ‘We’ve tried to focus much less – if at all – on standard issues of the day. We’re not hosting a big conversation on ‘terms of trade’ or ‘fee-for-carriage’ or the big issues that everybody rehashes all the time. We’re actually looking at the brave new world.’

One year into his open-ended contract, Bolen promises that the primary focus on what content ‘needs to become’ in the multiplatform universe will provide insight into new finance models. And producers will have the opportunity to listen to the youth market that considers Internet viewing a right.

‘We’re going to bring in some young people and have them talk about how they use media and what they think about what we’re doing, in an attempt to try to connect with them,’ Bolen says of one unique hands-on panel.

‘It’s a daunting time,’ he continues. ‘We’re in a period of transition where the old models are starting to be threatened and breaking down; the new models are not yet clear. There’s a lot of confusion – and I’d say even fear – in our sector about where things are going. And [that’s why] we’re bringing in people whose [recent] past shows that we can all be successful.’

And since Bolen wants to ‘shake things up a bit,’ even the annual CRTC speech has been revamped. ‘Trina McQueen is going to interview [its chair] Konrad von Finckenstein, in a kind of ‘Konrad Unplugged’ session.’

Bolen says the new Prime Time focus on content fills a vacuum left by the cancellation of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters conference, among others.