Vancouver: When Sports Page, ‘the fastest 10 minutes in sports,’ sprints from CKVU-TV in Vancouver to CHEK-TV to Victoria Sept. 2, there are bound to be a few armchair quarterbacks fumbling their remotes.
The long-running weekday sports news show, a mainstay of CKVU’s local programming, is just one of many changes to the Vancouver viewing schedule that will lead to viewer confusion. And it’s one of the many programming reasons local broadcasters are banding together to launch an August PR campaign to help viewers sort it all out.
They all agree it’s going to be a mess.

Independent Canadian production posted a $104-million increase in 2000, according to the 13th Playback Independent Production Survey.
The annual survey reported $1,831,382,668 in production figures for 2000, compared to 1999’s $1,727,355,660. Even with slightly fewer responses to the survey than last year (114 to 2000’s 134), the cumulative total of the companies’ reported production has outstripped last year’s figures.
Growth is particularly apparent in certain genres: MOW/pilot/miniseries and drama features gained significant ground over the past 12 months. The category that includes MOWs, pilots and miniseries far outstripped the other areas of growth, increasing by more than $64 million on last year’s numbers, while the rise in spending on drama features stands at a little over $10 million. The figures for development monies also showed a $10-million spike over last year.

The following is a chart indicating where independent production companies spent their money in 2000.

Montreal: After reviewing the current facts related to a Cogeco-Bell Globemedia offer to buy 85% of the shares of Television Quatre Saisons, the Competition Bureau has decided not to pursue the issue further.
The federal regulator issued a decision May 2 based on a claim by seller Quebecor that the Cogeco-BG bid is anti-competitive. The decision also rejected a Quebecor claim that the new joint bid is considerably lower than an earlier stand-alone bid by BCE, thought to be in the $80-million to $100-million range.

For the first time in more than 15 years, the federal government has granted the CBC an extra chunk of money to the tune of $60 million.
‘It’s a beginning,’ says CBC president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch. ‘But it doesn’t solve the CBC’s problems.’
The money, which is a one-off for the year, is part of the government’s recent commitment to investing in Canadian culture, and will go to English and French television and radio programming.
‘I think there’s a growing recognition that we’ve been hurt significantly, and a growing recognition of the need for a public broadcaster in the growing channel universe,’ says Rabinovitch.

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AN article in Playback’s April 16 issue, ‘Panasonic debuts HD cinema camera,’ mistakenly referred to ‘Panasonic’s new HDCAM.’ Sony says HDCAM is a trademarked descriptor….

After much anticipation, Jacques Bensimon has been appointed the next government film commissioner and chairman of the National Film Board, as appointed by the Heritage Minister Sheila Copps.
Bensimon will retain his position as executive vice-president of the Banff Television Foundation until June 15, the final day of the festival, and will take on his new order the following week.

Calling Dominic DaVinci! We may soon need an inquest into the fate of the Canadian drama series and what its probable decline says about the need for more, not fewer, domestic producers….

Content, whether it is televised, streamed or audio, has always been a disposable commodity for the consumer. For the producer and television broadcaster, content is an expensive asset to be controlled. Consumers now want not only the free content, but also…

After 13 years on the job, Michael McCabe is stepping down from his post as president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.
‘I came for five years and ended up staying for 13,’ says McCabe. ‘Things are in good shape at the association and I need to reinvigorate, get into something new, but I don’t really mean finding another job. I want to work at my own pace and do what I really like – public policy.’
Meantime, the CAB’s acting chair of the board of directors,Jim Macdonald, is heading up a search committee to replace McCabe, who will be leaving the building Nov. 9.

Vancouver: Service production crew members who anticipate forced holidays by U.S. writers and actors strikes may want to reconsider their vacation plans this summer.
Fears about summer work stoppages and even slowdowns have nearly evaporated now that the Writers Guild of America has recommended its 11,000 members ratify a new collective agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and major U.S. networks. Most expect the Screen Actors Guild to follow suit.
‘We can’t jump the gun on [a deal for] SAG, but there is a wave of optimism sweeping the industry,’ says Pete Mitchell, GM at Vancouver Film Studios, where production deals for summer shoots have been firming up since the WGA deal was announced May 4.