Michael MacMillan is Chairman and CEO, Atlantis Communications, Toronto

Although, in retrospect, one can see the seeds of change in 1986, looking back 10 years from the perspective of today reveals an industry that bears little resemblance to 1986.

The change over the past 10 years has been incredible. Those who thrived here, in large part, have been the individuals and companies which were able to notice the change, adapt to it and to figure out where the new opportunities lay. In many cases, those who did best were the ones who did not respond to change but instead provoked it.

The three big trends and influences of 1986 to 1996, in my view, were the technologies, deregulation and consolidation.

Remember what it was like before pay-television and pay-per-view were stable operations in many countries? Or before satellites, before specialty channels, digital video compression, dth, new forms of telephony, indeed, even before the fax?

These new technologies have given us all sorts of new outlets for our filmed entertainment products, changing forever the opportunities and economics of production and, more importantly, distribution.

Coupled with technology, and in part provoked by it, many countries in Europe, Africa and Asia succumbed to pressure to permit significant private broadcasting. The privately owned broadcasters around the world have at least doubled if not tripled in the past 10 years. Even at home here in Canada, we have seen our version of this trend, culminating in the recent decision by the crtc to license 23(!) new channels.

The third face of the past 10 years has been consolidation. Driven (as with deregulation) by a free-trading, post-Cold War ethic, companies have been permitted and have felt it necessary to merge or acquire one another to gain strength to compete internationally. We’ve seen it everywhere, from abc/Disney to itv company mergers in the u.k. to Canadian cable consolidation to moves last month affecting Baton and Electrohome.

All this has meant that the program distributor faces a world containing more opportunities, more outlets, but at the same time, remarkably more competition. All of us are significantly more sophisticated, connected, experienced than in 1986. As they say: ‘If I only knew then what I know now!’

These trends of technology, deregulation and consolidation have also meant that the role of the distributor has changed. Now, the distributor is centrally involved in the decision of what to produce; the distributor is lining up various international commitments (in addition to the key presales) prior to production. Indeed, many Canadian distributors have a number of international offices from which they do this. In 1986, I don’t believe there were any overseas offices of Canadian distributors.

A fragmenting market everywhere, including the u.s. and Canada, has inevitably meant upward pressures on deficits, to be recouped outside of North America. Again, the functions and needs of international distribution and production decisions became more inextricably entwined.

Reflecting on the past 10 years and enjoying all these new opportunities that the decade has yielded, it’s a bit too easy to believe that because as an industry we are so much more sophisticated and market savvy that we can or should allow the market alone to determine our future.

By this is I mean that even though many Canadian producers/distributors can now sell effectively internationally, presell into the u.s., and have developed very impressive production infrastructures, the fact is that we ought not to forget that what we make is not only an article of commerce, it is also an expression of culture, of who made it, and of who uses it.

Yes, we’re all players in the market now. Yes, our shows sell around the world. But, notwithstanding all this change in the past 10 years, a few things have remained the same.

Canada still shares a geography and language with the strongest and most visual/vocal nation on earth. Canada still has a tiny (relatively speaking) English-language population, not large enough on which to amortize the cost of many drama productions on a commercial basis.

Canada still has a French-language population with an even smaller market within which to attempt to make economic sense.

In a post-Cold War, free-trading world, where ‘nations’ are no longer defined by military or tariff borders but instead by language and culture, there has never been a time in Canada where an articulate, vibrant, popular television broadcasting system has been needed more.

I hope our economic pride stemming from the fact that we are thriving in this technology/ deregulation/consolidation-driven world will not distract us from or obscure the ongoing need for revitalized, effective public structures and institutions such as the cbc, Telefilm Canada, the crtc and foreign ownership rules, which still have a relevant role in this brave new world.

The real test of our maturity over the next 10 years will be how well we continue to balance the pursuit of the marketplace with an ongoing support of a domestic Canadian system which allows Canadians of our children’s generation to be able to continue to speak to themselves.