December 3, 2009

The conclusion of Oprah's popular TV show marks the end of
an era of powerful networks. Her departure from CBS network
is the tipping point.

At first glance, it seems like broadcast TV is doomed;
replaced with the more lucrative cable model. Oprah plans to
set up her own cable channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network
(OWN).

For decades, owning a TV station was a license to print
money. The business model was simple: produce programs that
appealed to mass markets and the advertising revenue would
follow.

Cable, satellite, and internet TV has changed all that.
Audiences are fractured into to niche markets and the old
business model is broken.

The success of cable companies is in the distribution, not
production, of programming. Subscribers sustain cable cash
flow, not advertisers.

Big TV networks tried to keep the old system going with
cost-reducing measures such as reality shows and unpaid
actors.

Now, in a last gasp, big broadcasters are fighting for a
slice of the cable pie. Ironically you won't see this
struggle for survival on regular TV.

No, struggle for TV supremacy is being broadcast on the
internet. CPAC is streaming the real-life drama of the
Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission
hearings from Gatineau, Quebec. I recently watched some of
the media moguls duke it out. It was a bit like the reality
show Survivor in which the participants want to throw the
others of the island.

The head of the CRTC, Konrad von Finckenstein urged
executives from broadcasting and cable to play nice. "I
think you are destroying each other," said the visibly
frustrated and angry chief.

The big names drone on for hours but the bit players
occasionally sparkle. To help sort things out, here's a cast
of characters.

The big broadcasters, CTV, CBC, and Global, want cable
companies to pay for the signals they now get for free.
Cable pays for U.S. network channels, why not Canadian?

The cable companies, Bell, Rogers, and Shaw, threaten to
pass on those costs, which they like to call a tax, to cable
subscribers. They complain that they already support
broadcasters by paying into funds like the Local Programming
Improvement Fund which keep small markets like CFJC in
Kamloops going.

They both have it wrong, says the Canadian Media guild. They
point out that 11 million Canadians currently get free TV by
over-the-air broadcasting. That number could increase if
broadcasters would implement new digital technology.
Broadcasters could lure cable audiences with free TV.
Polling done in Kamloops by the guild indicates that
thousands of viewers would drop cable for a six-pack of free
digital TV channels.

The little lobby group Save Our CBC Kamloops received a warm
response with their presentation. One reporter for an
industry newsletter gushed "I want to talk about Pam
Astbury's presentation. She is the head of the grassroots
group Save Our CBC Kamloops and gave an eloquent, researched
presentation yesterday on why local TV in her town is so
important to the folks there and what can be done to help."

Small broadcasters, represented by the general manager of
CFJC Rick Arnish, told the CRTC that they can remain in
business as long as they receive funding through the Local
Programming Improvement Fund. As well, success depends on
the continued presence of their channels on satellite.

Arnish also had praise for Astbury's "eloquent
presentation." "I'll be more than pleased to meet with to
her," he added, to discuss SOCK's proposal for a multiplexed
transmitter in Kamloops that carries six free channels.

Digital multiplexing will help but broadcasting must also
return to its roots. Before TV was corporatized, the station
was the heart of a community. Loyal viewers watched local TV
because they saw themselves and their communities reflected
in the programming - - something they would never see on big
networks.

That's what Channel Zero in Hamilton intends to do. They
bought a debt-riddled station from CanWest for only $6.
Instead of loading the channel with mass-produced U.S.
shows, they are creating their own. In a bold step, they
plan to keep production costs down by producing local news
by day and running old movies by night.

The future of TV will not be seen on Oprah or in fluff
celebrity gossip. It will be seen in small centres across
Canada like Kamloops where TV will be for and about the
people who live in those communities.
 

David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca

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