It was becoming pretty clear long before Let’s Talk TV that modern broadcasters would have to reconsider traditional TV development strategies in the face of so much change. Shaw Media is looking to tackle the challenge by transforming itself, in its words, from a broadcasting company to a media company. This fall, it revealed one of its first steps in doing so, hiring and promoting a raft of new staff to its programming team, including the hire of former truTV exec Robyn Hutt to lead factual programming. Here, original content head Lisa Godfrey offers insight into the new strategy.

Robyn Hutt transformed Court TV into the much more successful truTV – how do you see that experience reflected at Shaw Media?
We do a lot of coproductions and co-ventures on History and she has those contacts and relationships, as well as knowledge of the marketplace, ratings, and understanding of the product in the marketplace. You have to know analytics, ratings and you have to have partnerships. That is what drives our factual team.

Barb Williams said in April that Shaw Media was evolving from “a broadcaster to a media organization.” Can you discuss this?
As we shift into into a media business, we will continue to create long-form content for 24-hour schedules but we’re expanding our content offerings, including how we exploit our long-form shows, creating extensions of our brands, short-form content, branded content, instructional videos, behind the scenes and web and social media content.

What does that mean from your point of view?
Let’s say we’re doing a show with Bryan Baeumler or Scott McGillivray: we look at where their vertical strengths are for their brand – it could be real estate or renovation – and is there a way to deepen that relationship on a multi-platform basis? The elements that resonate on digital are touchpoints with our talent, a more immersive relationship in their lives. The kind of content that we’re moving forward with gives them more family background, like Moving the McGillivrays with Scott.

You’ve had a lot of success on specialty, and with Rookie Blue, but there’s been a bit of a struggle to find that next hit for Global TV. What are you looking for next?
The Code [eOne] is building on the success of Rookie Blue, it’s a procedural about an ex-hockey player turned PI. It’s lighthearted and fun. And with Houdini and Doyle [Big Talk/Shaftesbury], we were looking to do a big, noisy show with top talent. It has a supernatural element, a bit of procedural and is a great character-driven series. I think that all of those elements will make that a hit show.

In terms of genre, what is growing and what is slowing down?
We like to keep a balanced portfolio. Lifestyle is our strength but we have reality with Big Brother Canada. That’s no slouch. It has great audience, we get a younger demo, lots of integrations and in this environment, we’re looking at those things. Can we integrate in a show? Do advertisers want that kind of show? That’s important to us. That helps finance this kind of programming.

I know Recipe to Riches was immensely complicated but can you see returning to that level of complexity and brand integration in factual/reality?
We are open to big noisy shows that have potential extensions. Top Chef was huge; I put that in the same vein as Recipe to Riches. Currently we’re working on Home to Win for HGTV and I think that is almost bigger than a Recipe to Riches. It not only super-serves our base of HGTV fans but…our advertisers are on board. They want this show.

Are you in the room with your sales team, talking to advertisers while developing a show?
We always work as a collaborative team. I work heavily with our marketing ventures team and even in the commissioning process [we ask], is this a show that will work for you? I go to sales meetings with them so that I can meet with clients and they know they’ve got someone on the content team who is listening to them.

What TV excites you at home?
I’m a reality junkie. I have watched Survivor from day one. Big Brother Canada is a great show. I love MasterChef. My latest binge watch was Transparent. But I’m a Food and HGTV junkie and I mean that honestly and whole-heartedly. A new favourite with my kids is America’s Funniest Home Videos. We can actually watch TV as a family and laugh out loud, which is delightful.

This article originally appeared in Playback’s Winter 2015-2016 edition