Montreal: Risky development costs, growing fragmentation in broadcasting and the ongoing appeal of a light entertainment spin in many program categories are opening new doors to the tv format business in Canada and the u.s., a sector already established in Europe.

Michel Rodrigue, president of newly launched coventure Distraction Games, Entertainment & Formats, is optimistic many of his original Canadian and European properties will find buyers even if fewer people (in North America) understand what a format is.

For historical reasons, due in part to culture and language, he says audiences in non-English-speaking markets know perfectly well what an adapted version of the Wheel of Fortune is, whereas here at home, Canadians get to watch ‘the real thing.’

‘In Europe, many producers have set up format businesses,’ says Rodrigue. ‘There’s really been an emergence, particularly in the past five years, mainly because of national quotas.’

And while private broadcasters are pretty much hot-wired to American fare in primetime, Rodrigue says there’s ample space on cbc primetime for a game show or sitcom, and growing interest from a select group of Montreal- and Toronto-based producers and broadcasters whose business activity already resembles the format, ‘or remake’ and theme-oriented mind set.

The company reps a wide range of existing and indeed proven Quebec-produced light entertainment series, from game shows, sitcoms and comedy formats to children’s series, as well as the North American rights to some 40 additional programs from Harry DeWinter’s Amsterdam-based idtv catalogue.

Hot properties include the zany one-upmanship of comedy quizzes like Hot Pepper (Piment Fort), a show with close to a 60 share of the access prime audience in its fifth season on tv; Family Secrets, another light quiz formatted on France 3 where families ‘compete and the kids spill the beans on their next of kin;’ and Love Bugs (Un gars, une fille), a hip, urban sketch comedy that really proves men and women are different.

In all, Distraction’s catalogue contains 2,521 tv format episodes in all the light entertainment categories.

Distraction was launched this fall at mipcom and is a joint venture between Rodrigue’s seven-year-old format operation and Jacques Bouchard’s export company, The Multimedia Group of Canada.

Rodrigue says while he has ‘the vision for formatting,’ the operation ‘is anchored by mgc’s distribution know-how in a very complex export market.’

The company is represented in Toronto by David Seeler, vp acquisitions and development.

Distraction deal points are generally based on a percentage of the licencee’s projected production budget, with a ‘discovery’ option opening up in the $3,000 to $10,000 range. The format or ‘remake’ fee is again a percentage against the number of episodes produced, typically from 5% to 15%

DeWinter’s idtv catalogue includes nine original existing game shows and 10 entertainment programs, as well as fiction and non-fiction formats. Programs include Highway tv, profiling highway patrol cops; Sex with Angela, a show featuring a Dutch hooker who talks a great deal; and quiz shows like Lingo (created over a decade ago in Vancouver and sold across Europe), Brainstorm (adapted for Radio-Canada) and the tv rights to Trivial Pursuit.

Format executives like Rodrigue assemble at major markets including mip-tv and mipcom, natpe, Monte Carlo and Montreux in France, a specialized, competitive light entertainment festival and market.

Rodrigue says there’s a push on to create a MIP Format event, in the same way sales programs have been introduced for children’s properties (MIP Junior) and documentaries (mip doc).