In my last editorial I heralded 2002 as the year of the coproduction, and while two weeks later I maintain that the year ahead will yield a throng of innovative and strategic relationships among Canadian producers and with the international production community, I think it could be said in the same breath that 2002 is the year of integration for Canadian media giants.

After a tempest of media acquisitions that marked the last two years, the newly formed conglomerates, whether vertically (Alliance Atlantis) or horizontally (CanWest Global) integrated, are shifting their focus from buying to operating, at least in the short term.

And while the economy and the potential for another market-halting terrorist attack will dictate the extent of this short term, what we are seeing now (in Canada and around the world) is media companies trimming assets, laying off employees and reducing debt in an effort to focus on their core business.

In the case of Alliance Atlantis, which recently laid off 9% of its workforce (following major layoffs at CTV and Corus Entertainment) and consolidated its television and film production activities, that core business is broadcasting. The company has made no qualms about where it sees its profits soaring despite ingesting a $20-million loss in launching seven new digital channels last fall (see AAC story, p. 2).

‘We’re not getting out of any of our other businesses, but we’re relatively underweight in broadcasting,’ says AAC topper Michael MacMillan, whose Broadcast Group boasts interests in 18 specialty channels and counting. While the majority of the company’s business is still in the production and distribution of TV shows, the company’s recent restructuring puts into motion a move away from middle-of-the-line TV series produced mainly for a syndication market that seems to be fast diminishing alongside the growth of media consolidation.

Massive media mergers and acquisitions over the past year or two, particularly in the U.S., seem to provide just cause for content creators worldwide to shy away from dramatic series that could once find multiple returns through syndication.

Likewise, many of the same peddlers of those once-coveted drama series no longer relish their yearly sprees to NATPE, a market that has stretched far beyond its roots in syndication. But while attendance is down by 40% at this year’s Las Vegas conference, Canadian participation has grown to 53 exhibitors from 20 last year, thanks in part to the Canadian Pavilion, which makes the market far more accessible to mid-level Canadian players and in part to the fact that cheaper reality and doc-style programming has become increasingly attractive across the board (see NATPE story, p. 1).

With the rise of specialty channels around the world, the most lucrative TV programming will have sequential uses – that is the ability to cross multiple borders and channels over the course of many years (a concept Canadians are all too familiar with).

What’s more is that with the growth of subscriber-based channels and cheaper access to the 30-second spot, the pie has actually grown, says MacMillan. ‘At the end of the day, the returns are better, but take much longer.’