Almost two years since Kevin Shea, ytv’s first president and ceo, left broadcasting behind to join the ranks of the production community as president of Atlantis Communications, he’s returned to broadcasting, his self-confessed first love.

In September, Shea joined the team led by broadcasting guru Izzy Asper, taking over as president of Global Television in Ontario, CanWest’s flagship Toronto-based station.

Shea also assumes the role of president of CanWest’s operation in Eastern Canada, which expanded last August with its $12 million purchase of mitv in the Maritimes. Should CanWest’s application for its first Quebec-based station, ckmi-tv Quebec City, a joint venture with Montreal-based Tele-Metropole, make a successful go of it at the crtc hearing set for Nov. 30, Shea’s territory will get decidedly larger.

After three weeks in his new office on Barber Greene Road, Playback spoke with Shea about the challenges facing the Canadian broadcasting industry and about the year ahead in his new position at CanWest.

The inevitable onslaught of a global marketplace with its multiple channels and multiple new service providers has created unease and confusion within the ranks of the Canadian broadcasting industry for the past several years. According to Shea, the environment he turns back to now is markedly more stable than when he left in early 1994. It is, as he says, ‘ a terrific time to be in broadcasting.

‘Seven or eight years ago, there was a panic in the industry that conventional broadcasters were headed towards Dinosaurville. In retrospect, it ended up being a kind of wake-up call to say how do we position ourselves, how do we evolve into multichannel, multiservice, with more competition and less regulation. I think that there is significantly more security now, even over the time since I’ve been with Atlantis.

Less than 10%

‘The specialty channels, although they have had impact, have taken less than 10% of the market. Now with multichannel providers, dbs, there’s a number of ways we can go because we truly are experts on the content side, particularly in news and current affairs, and more and more so, with our links to independent producers, with drama content.’

That being said, there are battles ahead to ensure Canadian broadcasters are able to capitalize on the opportunities new technology holds out, says Shea. As an industry, he says the biggest challenge ahead is ‘that we have a broadcasting system that continues to respect Canada as a separate and unique country in terms of rights.’

Gives us revenue

‘Keeping this market separate allows us to keep doing what we’ve done for the past 30 years, and that is using the best programming in the world, buying the rights to it, and selling advertising around it. The byproduct of that is that it gives us revenue to create Canadian news, local programming and dramatic television. That’s how the system works. It’s real simple.

‘So I see our biggest obstacle – which is also then our biggest opportunity – to maintain this as a separate country.’

Given the existence of the gray market, the technology seems at odds with rights agreements. While Shea admits the technology sometimes looks like it is getting ahead of regulation, he is adamant that the crtc exercise its obligation to protect Canadian interests.

‘There’d be a riot’

‘If tomorrow Global and City and Baton said, `We’re going up on WestStar 3 and put our service right into America, and you know what, it’s free!’ there’d be a riot in Washington, phone calls to the prime minister and we’d be shut down. On very sound business reasons – we don’t have the rights to that territory.

‘As tradition has held, we have a Canada-first policy, and the crtc keeps services like hbo off the list. That’s what they’re doing and should continue to do. For example, this current application by Rogers and Shaw to have a bunch of superstations added to the list because they made a marketing error. There’s tons of other packaging and marketing efforts that are possible, but to add superstations? Not until you’ve given every Canadian broadcaster a chance to say, `I can do that service.’ ‘

While the crtc needs to come down hard on the rights issue, it needs to clear the way for broadcasters to increase their capital and be stronger competitors globally, by way of increasing foreign ownership regulations and getting out of regulating advertising, says Shea.

‘There’s a bunch of advertisers sneaking into this market that are selling international rights on services like a&e and cnn. There’s an opportunity, particularly with today’s technology, to be getting control of that commercial inventory. Maybe it’s pooled by broadcasters – which may be altruistic because it’s an awkward thing to manage – but I think we and cable should be given the right to joint venture in a number of different areas as they pertain to marketing and advertising.

‘In other words, we go to cnn, for example, and say now that ExpressVu is pulling down your signal and putting it up again on a Canadian bird, why don’t we joint venture the advertising time. We have to get more control of the outlets as a nation.’

Programming

On an individual level, the most important aspect of branding for broadcasters has become programming. Says Shea: ‘Having long-term access to quality programming that is unique to you is going to be the trick over the next 10 to 20 years.’

While he’s not advocating changing the methods of rights negotiation, five years from now Global’s viewing audience could be split into off-air, cable, dth and telco suppliers.

‘Suddenly our viewers are now in different viewing camps. What’s going to be important at the end of the day is ownership, discreet and definite ownership of product that can be used to have the consumer say, `I know Global, they’ve got the best shows.’ ‘

Canadian drama, series like Due South, ‘has probably never seen a better time,’ says Shea.

The best shows, defined by ratings, may leave Canadian culturally driven television without a lot of support from the major private broadcasters.

The success of Bravo! and tvontario points to the demand for this kind of culturally specific television, although the backing of private broadcasters will be based on the product’s marketability. ‘If it brings in the audience and it becomes a smart business decision to do the programming, we’ll see more. But it has to be a smart business decision,’ says Shea.

Of the business machinations on the agenda at CanWest, which has been expanding exponentially over the past year, Shea’s first priority is CanWest’s application for ckmi. He will play a pivotal role in the application (and in CanWest’s applications for new specialty services in the next round of hearings.).

Ad revenue flowing out

According to Shea, there is between $7 million and $8 million in advertising revenue flowing directly out of Montreal to English-language border stations. Cumulatively for Quebec, that number could reach $12 million. Outside of the ad revenue, it’s a key market for CanWest, which regularly buys national programming rights but is without significant representation in this part of the market.

Last week, Shea made the trip to Montreal to speak with independent producers and let them know of CanWest’s plans.

‘There’s a host of independent producers there, producing just for Quebec, that should be aware that ongoing development funding is going to be open and available to them. It is now, but they haven’t been tapping it because there is no outlet.

Not going into Quebec

‘And for a number of independents we currently deal with, by and large their product hasn’t been going into Quebec because we’re not there. Quebec-based broadcasters haven’t been buying it, but mostly they’re not aware of us. Filling in that blank is Global East’s number one priority.’

Next on the list will be ‘reinventing’ Global’s daytime schedule, which at this point is ‘a non-performer,’ says Shea.

‘The profile of the daytime viewer has changed dramatically over the past 10 years and the question is are there some opportunities there? It’s that combination of scheduling and flow that we’re missing. It’s a real hodgepodge at the moment. We’re not carrying the viewer through and that has to change.’ It’s too early to say exactly what programs will be added, if any, Shea says.

Also on the agenda is revamping the mitv stations in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. To date, most of the tasks for both stations have been centralized in Nova Scotia, and for the first season, all programming will be done out of Toronto. ‘We’re bringing them the hottest schedule they’ve seen in a long time, trying to make the ratings stronger,’ says Shea. ‘Now we have to ensure that we’re marketing effectively.’

Looking ahead, Shea says his work at Atlantis has given him insight into production, distribution and rights issues and how they work, which will ultimately be central to the private broadcasters as the new environment takes shape.

‘Clearly over time the revenue in this industry will be streamed more like it is for specialty channels, a combination of consumer pay with advertising revenue.’

But at this point, says Shea, CanWest is keeping certain guidelines top-of-mind. Consolidate what you have. Secure and offer as many consumer benefits as you can, and use your Canadian strength to develop businesses in other countries to ensure you have clout at the buying table. Most importantly, ‘stay focused on developing your status as national broadcaster as we know it today because it’s a proven commodity if it’s got the best programming.’