Montreal: Malofilm Communications and Vision Group, a marketing affiliate subsidiary of u.s. cable giant Tele-Communications Inc., have reached an agreement to introduce The Parents Channel to the u.s. specialty cable television market. The proposed 24-hour service is being pitched to cable operators at this week’s National Cable Television Association convention in New Orleans.

Malofilm chairman Rene Malo says the initiative is the first by a Canadian-owned company seeking to penetrate the programming pipeline in the u.s. telecommunications industry.

The proposed specialty service is aiming for a June 1995 startup, but the launch will hinge on the rate of digital video compression roll-out in the u.s. and the time it takes to reach the minimum feasible subscriber base, approximately 200,000, says Malo.

Vision Group, tci’s affiliate marketing and promotions division headed by president Bill Airy, is selling The Parents Channel to u.s. cable companies and advertisers.

tci is the largest cable operator in the States with almost 19% of the market, representing 10 million homes. tci expects to have a million digitally equipped subscribers by 1995, with the numbers rising sharply in following years.

Malo says talks with Vision regarding distribution on tci cable systems makes him confident the new service will be added to all systems – tiered or a la carte – once dvc is available.

Currently, there are no 24-hour American cable or broadcast networks devoted to the specific area of parenting.

‘What’s fantastic about this new service,’ says Malo, ‘is that it’s a Canadian network going into the States. For the first time, it’s this way (from north to south), instead of the other way.’

Malofilm intends to apply to the crtc for French- and English-language licences for a Canadian Parents Channel, which it hopes to launch by the end of 1995. The company is also seeking a licence for another Canadian service, Recovery tv.

‘Here (in Canada) I have to wait to have a licence; in the States, I don’t have to have a licence,’ says Malo. ‘Anybody can start a specialty channel on cable in the u.s., it’s totally market-driven. The fcc intercedes on the pricing of services.’

The Parents Channel is 100% owned by Malofilm, a publicly traded holding company listed on the Montreal and Toronto Stock Exchanges.

Feasibility studies undertaken by Malofilm point to a huge potential for the specialty service and vice-chair Francois Macerola says the company is talking to potential investors in Canada, the u.s. and elsewhere.

In the u.s. market, 35 million families have children under the age of 18, representing 70% of all consumer spending.

And with 4.5 million to five million births recorded annually in the States, audience renewal is not likely to be a problem. Macerola says there are more than 137 national and regional parenting publications in the u.s., with the top 22 titles attracting 25 million readers each month.

The new cable service will have offices in Montreal and a u.s. city, probably New York, with a combined staff of about 50, says Macerola, who is vice-chair of Parents Channel and president and chairman of Recovery tv. Management staffing is expected to begin next month.

The Parents Channel is being developed in the u.s. in collaboration with several prominent American consultants, including Larry Namer, president of u.s.-based Comspan, a media development company. Namer is the founder of the E! Entertainment Television cable network in the u.s.

Malo says the idea for a parenting channel came about when he realized how much adult conversation is devoted to children.

He says the demographics for parenting have changed over the years. For instance, he says, in the 1960s, only 7% of women had children after the age of 30. Thirty years later, the figure is 37%.

Another sign of the growing interest in parenting is the recent launch of Family Life, a new title from Jann Wenner, publisher of Rolling Stone, says Malo.

About 50% of Parents Channel programming will originate in Canada.

‘When we go to air we want to have at least 300 hours of programming on the shelf,’ says Malo.

Most of the programming will be Parent Channel general programming, but Malo says existing libraries may find a place on the new service as segment fillers, providing they are sufficiently entertaining.

He says the service will not have enough subscribers in the first year to show a profit and that profitability will follow once a big enough library is in place, likely by year three.

Malo believes his ties to Vision Group and the novelty of the new service will enable Parents Channel to reach its goal of 26 million subscribers by the end of 1999.

As for Recovery tv, Malofilm reapplied to the crtc for a licence immediately following the regulator’s decision to return the initial application because of a ‘technical error.’

Macerola now hopes the Recovery application will be heard this fall or early winter, adding an application for a French-language service will also be filed, likely within 12 months.

In a related development, Malofilm recently took steps to acquire a small portion, around 5%, of its outstanding stock.

It recently announced a deal to finance six feature films with Los Angeles-based Entertainment Finance Group.