Category 1 applicant wetv has an unusually large brief for the specialty channel it’s pitching: a network focused on saving the world.

The digital wannabe thinks there’s a huge untapped market for programming designed toward that end that remains unsatisfied, giving it what it sees as a golden gap in the market.

‘We have been studying the global requirements of programming for five years, and [programming on] issues of sustainability are in high demand,’ says Linda Rankin, executive producer and gm of wetv. ‘There’s a big market gap and we moved into it.

‘Research done on a global basis indicates that Canada is among the top countries interested in issues of sustainable development and environmental sustainability. We did some research and were knocked over by the strength of the desire for more information on these themes, for programming that helps us live our lives in a different way, about people doing real things to make the world a better place to live,’ says Rankin.

Some of this research, detailed in the application, points to 75% of survey respondents saying they would select a tv channel with program themes about the environment. Similarly, the application asserts that almost 75% of Canadians say they would be more likely to choose a bundle of 10 channels if it were to include wetv.

The application also says: ‘Canadians’ interest in the environment is part of a global phenomenon. wetv’s international research shows clearly that environmental concerns outrank all other concerns worldwide. The Environmental Monitor, an annual international poll of a representative sample of the world’s population, indicates that a majority are willing to pay more for environmentally-friendly products, and pay higher taxes if they believe governments will be more environmentally responsible. They are also willing to change some of their individual behaviors to help sustain our human and natural environment.’

This is one application that’s been underway for quite a while, since the Rio summit of 1992, ‘where the notion of a global tv network was discussed and the International Development Research Council picked it up and made it happen. From the germ of the idea and concept to the reality is taking this long. And in the process, the Canadian applications were called and we were ready,’ says Rankin.

wetv is a Canadian company headquartered in Ottawa, with franchises overeseas. Murray Lester Counsel is a 63% partner in the digital application with wetv.

With such a global topic, it’s fitting the market testing was global, and that Canadian programming is to be exported to a global audience.

Right now, wetv can be seen on the air in Europe and in test markets on all continents. Rankin says there are a number of wetv franchises in development.

‘Responses to all market testing has been very strong. Audiences in diverse countries, from diverse backgrounds and diverse languages like the programming. We have test marketing in three languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese, and our main delivery patterns are through Latin America, Africa, the Caribbean and now Europe. That’s where we test market programming. We have been testing a global communications network and that platform has as part of its strategic basis a franchise.’

A benefit of this franchise for Canadian producers: overseas exposure, since ‘every bit’ of the 63% planned Canadian content will get transmission throughout the world.

wetv plans to spend $7.6 million on programming in year one, with $6.1 million of that earmarked for Cancon.

‘Part of our commitment to independent producers in Canada and what makes it doable is magazine-format series where we can take three- to five-minute segments created by [for example] a Canadian, a Zimbabwean and a European and they can all become different voices on the same subject and that program has a life in every single country.’

wetv is one applicant with nothing but good experiences in the intervention process. ‘We’ve had some extremely positive interventions,’ says Rankin. *

-www.wetv.com

-www.crtc.gc.ca