A graduate of Harvard Business School’s advanced management program, Ian Greenberg is the president and CEO of Astral Media and final gatekeeper of its jewel in the crown, The Movie Network.

Four Greenberg brothers – Harold, Harvey, Sidney and Ian – went into business in 1961, founding photo-finishing company Angreen Photo. Several acquisitions and a merger would eventually lead to the formation of Astral Media. Ian took the helm in December 1995 from older brother Harold, who passed away the following year.

Since Ian Greenberg has been in charge of Astral, the company has registered profits every year while operating Canada’s leading specialty, pay and pay-per-view television services, more than 80 radio stations, an outdoor advertising company with more than 7,500 ‘faces’ in Quebec and Ontario, and over 70 websites. Astral Media today employs more than 2,800 people throughout Canada.

From his office in Montreal, Greenberg spoke candidly with Playback on the occasion of TMN’s silver anniversary.

Why is TMN so supportive of Canadian film, and, in the past few years, locally made TV dramas?

It goes to the core of Astral. TMN, which was our entrée into the television business, became the foundation to make Astral what it is today.

When we started TMN, we exited every business that we were in before that. Whether it be the retail business, motion picture laboratories, film distribution, film production, CD plants – we sold all of it. We became fully committed, obviously, to this business.

In order to have a good service, you need good programming. The only way you get that kind of programming is to have associations with members of the industry who are highly competent. We needed to create a win-win situation where we could give them the freedom and financial support, and they could go about doing what they do best, which is producing great programming.

Our strategy is to continue to work with outside producers who can hopefully continue to deliver the kind of high-grade series and Canadian films that we have broadcast over the years. That is our raison d’être. Without that, it would be pretty tough to have the kind of services that we now deliver to Canadians.

The broadcast playing field is increasingly competitive, especially with the arrival of Super Channel. How do you plan to respond to the changing environment?

Frankly, we’ve got one of the best pay-TV operations in the world. You know, as Canadians, when we look to the south, we always look with envy. But there are a few areas, such as health care, social programs and pay-TV, where it’s actually better in Canada.

Here, subscribers pay one low fee for a service that brings them HBO, Showtime, and movies from the great majority of the Hollywood studios, whereas in the United States, in order to have all these three components, you have to buy three different services: HBO, Showtime and Starz. We will continue to have the kind of exclusive programming – from Showtime to studio films to HBO – that has brought us success.

To get back to your earlier question, TMN has no conditions of license that require us to commission Canadian drama series. However, five years ago, when we saw what HBO and Showtime were doing, we developed a drama strategy where we deliver ‘point of difference’ programming to our subscribers.

And we do approximately three series a year, with many going on to win Geminis and generating exceptional international sales. The kind of series I’m talking about are ReGenesis, Slings & Arrows, Durham County and Terminal City. And we’ve got three new ones coming up: ZOS: Zone of Separation, The Weight and Sanctuary [see story, p. 28].

It’s interesting to note that our commitment to drama started in 2003, at the same time other Canadian broadcasters were looking to exit production. TMN entered the arena with the belief that an original drama could be successful, and in fact, the gamble has paid off. Canadian producers now recognize TMN as a network that is willing to push the envelope and give them the creative freedom they seek. And as such, producers are now coming to The Movie Network first to pitch such projects.

When TMN started, uncut films shown shortly after their theatrical run was your forte. Now, with shows like Dexter, Entourage and ReGenesis big hits, does TMN remain a draw because of its TV series offerings?

Without question. Because, you know, the fact of life is movies – by the time they get on pay-TV ¬- have been seen in the theater, on pay-per-view and quite often on DVD. While they’re an important part of the overall program, the real draws are first-rate series for pay-TV, particularly since we’ve added SVOD [subscription video on demand]. Now you can actually access any episode of a series that has played at any time you want, any day you want. If you’ve either missed an episode or want to see an episode again, at the flick of a switch on your remote control, you can access the series. And what we see on SVOD is that most people are using it to play the series.

Does on-demand for films also have high viewer numbers?

Not anywhere near the same kind of numbers as the TV series.

How do you build on the success of on-demand service? Do you try to build up a back-library of films, or do you just simply try to commission more series?

Well, it’s both. If a series does well, you obviously have further episodes commissioned. In the cases of HBO and Showtime, our output deal calls for us to acquire every series they make. So, automatically, as they produce more series and we in Canada have success with our shows, there’s more and more of that kind of programming that we’re able to deliver to the consumers.

[In terms of movies] we’re very proud – I’m talking here of Canadian films – that Away from Her and Eastern Promises [were] up for Academy Awards. Both of these movies received financial support from TMN, not unlike past Oscar contenders like Water and Being Julia. TMN has had a long history of supporting feature films, and has played a part in having Canada recognized on the world stage for film. We’re proud of our accomplishments and our involvements and our support of both drama and Canadian film.

Has your experience with HBO, for example, been helpful in terms of being able to develop your strategy to commission works here?

Oh, absolutely, because obviously we see quickly the kind of formats and programs that are attractive to consumers. HBO started this way before we did.

Since we can be more open to new ideas and more cutting-edge material on pay-TV than you can be on broadcast TV, it gives us the opportunity to show programs that would never make it to conventional television. And we’ve seen this work do extremely well, both from HBO and more recently, Showtime. Look at last year: two of the best series – Californication and Dexter – were from Showtime. Years ago, Showtime didn’t make that many popular series. HBO, of course, has had a string of hits starting back with The Sopranos.

What’s your reaction when Dexter, which has obviously been a hit for you, shows up – albeit edited – on network television in the States?

Well, first of all, they’re going to show a series that’s two years old. A similar situation happened when CTV broadcast The Sopranos two years after we showed it. Even in the United States, The Sopranos, at the end, was showing on A&E. In a way, it’s not all negative, because people who hear about a good series don’t want to wait two years to see it. More importantly, it gives a lot of exposure to that series. So they’re going to see Dexter this year, Series 1. By the time the fall comes about and we’re out with Dexter 3, the awareness of that series will be very much heightened. So it works well for everyone.

You broadcast in English and French Canada (also including Super Écran). What’s the biggest challenge in working in Quebec?

The reality is different in this sense: in Quebec, the great majority of programs viewed are locally made, Canadian made, in the French language. There’s no question that American programming does not have nearly the same [cachet], whether it be HBO or Showtime, as a Canadian-made series. So that’s a reality that requires us to do more, obviously, in local programming in the French language in order to have the same kind of connection with the consumer.

One of the things that I enjoy on TMN is the ad campaign in which you are the star. You’ve crafted a persona for yourself.

Well…[laughs]. All I can tell you is what you see there is the kind of person that I am. Whether I’m with my employees, my colleagues, or doing business with anyone – we grew up as a family business. We’ve always had the values of a family. We treat our people – even though it’s now 2,800 strong – as a part of a national family. And so to us it’s second nature, because it’s always been that way.

Where do you see yourself taking the company in the next five years?

First of all, I’m glad that you talked about the next five years, because that’s [the duration of] my commitment to the board at this time. We review it every five years and there’s every plan for me to continue to be here. My plan is to grow our present businesses, which are television – pay and specialty – radio, outdoor, and, of course, the whole Internet component.

The Internet and new media: it’s the great unknown, isn’t it? You must have people working on this feverishly trying to give you reports on what to do. What’s your sense?

The issue is: how do you crystallize this and make money at it? It’s not easy. You’ve got to experiment; you’ve got to invest some money. We have 80 to 100 people working on just that. I get comfort knowing that it’s not like everyone else has been so successful and Astral has fallen behind.

Do I have the answer today as to how to make this the equivalent of one of our other three core businesses – television, radio and outdoor advertising? No. But we know that new media impacts on our businesses. As an example, most people who work on the Internet also listen to a radio station. So it’s important for us to be present and to be relevant for the ‘net with radio. And in the case of television, we have actually done some interesting things with TMN, taking advantage of the trend with creative scheduling strategies.

We’ve used our on-demand channels to premiere new shows such as In Treatment and The Wire. We had free previews of one episode of Flight of the Conchords on our website.
So we are experimenting with a lot of different ways in order to take advantage of the web. We’ll continue to experiment, but we’re still not there to say it is a fourth component of the size of our other three.