At the beginning of 2015, I did a wrapup of issues that remained unresolved from 2014 in the form of a list of unanswered questions. Looking back at them now, I find that many of them remain unanswered as we enter 2016. Since some issues continue at a glacial pace, I figure it’s useful to once again present to you a list of things someone, somewhere, will need to figure out.
We’ll start this year’s unanswered questions by revisiting those from last year. Here they are:
Television (national)
What decisions will come out of the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV process?
The commission’s long review of television policy resulted in rules that we expected. The big headline was about specialty channels, that will have to be available for individual purchase and in small packages by the end of 2016.
Less headline-grabbing but much more important was the complete removal of not only genre protection for specialty channels but the elimination of natures of service. This means that these channels will be able to broadcast whatever they want (with a limit only on live sports), regardless of what they were originally designed for. The History channel will no longer be limited to shows that have something to do with history. Book Television won’t have to talk about books. Travel + escape can be a channel about people staying in their beds.
On one hand, this means a lot more freedom for channels that have lost their way. On the other, it means a rush to the lowest common denominator, and fewer niche channels in favour of general entertainment stuff that captures a larger audience.
There’s also a lot of stuff that didn’t happen in the Let’s Talk TV decisions. Simultaneous substitution hasn’t changed, except for during the Super Bowl (starting in 2017) and the imposing of still-undetermined penalties if it’s done incorrectly. Decisions on local TV were kicked down the road and will be reviewed later this month along with community TV. And the commission hasn’t made any move to try to impose anything on Netflix.
Will Global’s all-news channel plan work?
We don’t know yet.
We learned about this plan for a hybrid national/local all-news network in the summer of 2014, but the CRTC still hasn’t posted the application. It could be waiting to handle local TV regulations first, or … who knows. The commission doesn’t talk about unpublished applications.
It’s an unusual application, and in the end the CRTC might decide that Global’s request for local advertising in exchange for a bit of local news isn’t worth it, but right now we’re just waiting.
Will OTA TV stations have to undergo another transition?
At this point, it doesn’t look like it yet. You might recall Industry Canada’s proposal to match a U.S. move to reallocate TV frequencies to wireless services. This issue is progressing in the United States, but Canada is mostly just waiting and seeing. It makes little sense for Canada to do anything other than follow the Americans’ lead on this.
What happens to Sun News Network?
Sun News Network shut down on Feb. 13 after attempts to sell it failed. Its talent has scattered, some heading to more traditional broadcast media, others to their other jobs at the Toronto Sun. Ezra Levant started his own website with the help of some of his Sun friends.
Will V send MusiquePlus and Musimax into the gutter?
A lot of people were upset at the cancelling of long-running shows like M. Net in 2014 after V bought the two music channels out of the Bell-Astral merger. In 2015, the transformation continued with the launch of programs like Lip Sync Battle, Pop de jam and Fabriqué au Québec. But the year ended with Claude Rajotte being let go. And they often feel like V2 and V3 with reruns of Éric Salvail’s shows and other programming from V.
What happens to Bio, G4, Book Television and other neglected specialty channels?
So far, nothing. But most of them have been freed from their nature-of-service obligations, which means they’re free to rebrand into almost anything. Rogers is expected to turn one of its channels into a Vice channel. Other rebrands should probably follow later this year. There’s no rush until the new CRTC packaging rules take effect and people start dropping the less popular channels, because right now they have no original programming, no employees and profit margins well above 50%.
Will Avis de recherche survive the year?
Despite a 2013 CRTC decision that the public safety information channel wasn’t worthy of mandatory funding after Sept. 1, 2015, the channel has stayed running through regulatory and legal manoeuvring. Bell and Videotron have both said they want to pull the channel, but ADR complained to the CRTC. The commission expedited the application so it can be dealt with quickly. We could see a decision soon, though ADR could continue fighting this through other legal avenues (that it will also eventually lose).
Will the English version of 19-2 break away from the French?
The second season of the Montreal-set cop show followed the original French version pretty well in the major plot line, though many of the specifics were changed. The third season, which airs this year on Bravo, is likely to diverge even further, to the point where it might continue for a fourth, even though the French version ended for good after three.
How long does analog cable have left?
Not long, but it’s still been a slow decline, at least around here. Videotron is down to about 10% of its subscribers who don’t have digital TV service yet.
Is radio-on-the-TV a fad, or a concept that’s here to stay?
CBC started airing its morning shows on local television in September. City is still doing the same in Winnipeg. Tim and Sid is still going strong on Sportsnet. And ARTV put a Radio-Canada radio show on TV.
Whether or not it’s great TV seems to have become largely irrelevant because it’s still cheap.
Television (local)
Will ICI’s business model work?
The little ethnic TV station that could is still going, with lots of original local programming. I don’t know how successful they are financially, but it’s still on the air.
Will MYtv see the light of day?
Yes, kinda. Videotron started airing English community programming in the fall, though the original plan to have a separate English-language channel was dropped. MAtv faces another complaint from an independent group alleging that it is failing to meet its regulatory obligations.
Who will win the battle of the morning shows?
Global’s Morning News and City’s Breakfast Television are still going. Both had host changes — Global dropped Richard Dagenais and City parted ways with Alex Despatie, replacing him with Derick Fage. But both are still going, in large part because of CRTC obligations. Ratings have suggested they’re doing about as well as each other, and far behind CTV’s Canada AM.
Will CBC Montreal’s newscast cut be another Canada Now-style disaster?
The drop from 90 to 30 minutes hasn’t made too many waves that I can see. And the hourly local news updates were a good move. We’ll see what the CBC does about improving local news and local programming with the extra millions it’ll get from the Liberal government.
Will the 12 job cuts at CTV Montreal affect the quality of its product?
This question is pretty funny considering how many Bell Media cuts were to come in the following year. The station ended up losing its general manager (though he was re-hired as a sales manager). Sean Coleman was hired to anchor weekends, replacing Andre Corbeil. The station is making due with fewer staff, though it escaped more serious cuts that affected other stations this year.
The cuts haven’t been that noticeable, except for sports coverage. With only Brian Wilde reporting (and that’s only when Randy Tieman isn’t on vacation), there’s no time for amateur sports, and when there’s news from more than one of the Canadiens, Alouettes and Impact, decisions have to be made.
Radio (national)
Will HD Radio take off in Canada?
Corus implemented HD Radio on a Hamilton FM station, and used its second channel to simulcast its Toronto AM talk station. Otherwise, there hasn’t been much open interest in the technology.
Will Jian Ghomeshi be convicted of assault? Will executives be forced to walk the plank? And will anything change?
Ghomeshi’s criminal charges are still pending, and it could be a while before they’re resolved. Executives did walk the plank in the wake of the scandal, and the corporation is undoubtedly more sensitive to workplace behaviour. But whether anything will change in the long term is still unclear.
Will NRJ go all-talk?
The network rebranded as Énergie, severing its ties with the radio brand from France. And it’s new programming in the mornings is more talk, less music. But it stopped short of a wholesale change to a talk format.
Radio (local)
Will TTP Media’s radio stations ever see the light of day?
Sigh. We’re still waiting. This group has a knack for making it seem to regulators that they’re doing something while not apparently doing anything. The next deadline is in May, when their first extension for 850AM ends. They’ll probably get another one, which means the next real deadline is November 2016. I’d like to say that if they’re not on the air by then it’s over, but that’s what I thought a year ago.
Will Evanov Radio become a major player in the Montreal market?
It’s a player, but still not a major one. CHSV-FM 106.7 The Jewel in Hudson/St-Lazare is running with familar on-air personalities Ted Bird and Tasso. Radio Fierté (CHRF 980 AM) had less success. The format has apparently been abandoned and after a couple of months of non-stop Christmas music it’s now airing something similar to The Jewel but in French, with no on-air staff. The sale of CFMB 1280 to Evanov went through, but Evanov hasn’t made any major changes to the station.
Will CJLO get permission to interfere with Vermont Public Radio?
No. It’s not that the CRTC wanted to protect VPR, but it felt CJLO could find better solutions than taking the last available FM frequency here. CJLO’s engineer disagrees, so we’re left at an impasse.
Will The Beat and Virgin remain in a deadlock?
Yes. The Beat has a larger anglo audience overall, but Virgin is better in the demographics.
Will new ethnic stations be a success?
Neither Radio Humsafar 1610 AM nor ITR 102.9 FM, approved in May 2014, are on the air yet. Radio Humsafar has requested a technical change, moving its transmitter site, and says it would be ready to broadcast soon after that’s approved.
Will AM music stations survive?
CJMS 1040 AM, which got a new owner, and CJLV 1570 AM, which is owned by Humsafar, are still on the air.
What will Gregory Charles do to Radio Classique?
Will Radio 9 succeed where Radio X didn’t?
Nope. The Radio 9 talk format was dumped in favour of an all-sports format that hasn’t made the ratings dial move much yet. Rumours persist of RNC Media being for sale.
Will the Competition Bureau approve the sale of Sun Media to Postmedia?
Yes.
Whose tablet strategy will come out on top?
La Presse+ is still going strong, to the point where La Presse decided to drop the weekday print edition. Postmedia (my employer), which had an evening tablet edition strategy, dropped it this fall after a year.
Will TVA Publications rationalize its magazine portfolio?
The acquisition of magazines from Transcontinental did indeed lead to dropping some titles, including Le Lundi.
Is the Hudson Gazette gone for good?
No one’s heard from it since. It’s dead.
Online
Will Ricochet become a major media outlet or just another outlet for left-wing opinion?
Look at the website of the bilingual crowdfunded media outlet, and you see lots of opinions and columnists, but very little original news.
Other
Where will orphaned media personalities end up?
I listed four people a year ago: Mary-Jo Barr, Alyson Lozoff, Catherine Sherriffs and Andre Corbeil. Barr took a job at Pfizer, Corbeil is working for a livestock feed company, and Lozoff and Sherriffs have been off the radar the past year.
You can add to that list other names that got cut from or voluntarily left their jobs this year: Alex Despatie, Elliott Price, Suzanne Desautels, Rob Kemp, Ronny Mack, Angelica Montgomery, Peggy Curran, Sue Montgomery, and former employees of the West Island Chronicle and Westmount Examiner.
Others have been luckier. Abe Hefter is teaching at Concordia, and Richard Dagenais is hosting a show on MAtv and reading the news on weekends on CJAD.
New questions
Television
What’s the future of local and community television?
The CRTC has handled specialty channels, but other than deciding that transmitters must stay on the air, there’s been little decided for conventional TV. This month, the commission holds hearings on local and community television policy, and we’ll see things like how much local programming stations should be obliged to broadcast, how much of that should be local news, whether community stations should be run by TV providers or local organizations, and how to regulate how money is spent on community TV.
Will there be a rush to the middle among specialty channels?
The deregulation of most specialty channels means more freedom to stray from niches. But in a pick-and-pay universe, and with the availability of Netflix and other streaming services with large libraries, a channel devoted to Seinfeld reruns might not be successful either. So what will work? Channels like AMC and FX that have one or two must-have series but fill the rest of the schedule with reruns and crap? Channels like Family, Crime+Investigation and Food Network that still target a niche or demographic? Or will everything just become general entertainment programming, a mix of scripted dramas and comedies, reality TV shows and lifestyle shows?
Will we see more channels adopt American branding?
A lot of Canadian specialty channels share names and logos with American counterparts. The reasons are mainly economic. You don’t need to design your own logo, or create your own marketing campaign, or worry about confusion when people in the U.S. talk about a show being on some network when it has a different name north of the border. Canadian channels that keep a distinct brand tend to do so either because of their age (YTV, Much) or because they were stuck in their niche (G4, Bio, Book, Fashion). The latter issue becomes irrelevant now.
Does Vice succeed as a TV channel?
Rogers is bringing the brand to Canadian televisions, probably by rebranding a poorly performing channel like G4 or Bio. Vice gets attention online, but whether that translates to a 24/7 cable channel is still to be determined.
What will CBC do with its extra millions?
I put the question to you recently.
Radio
What happens to Radio Shalom?
The Jewish AM station’s owner says he’s no longer willing to financially support the station and is asking others to step up. If no one does, we could end up with dead air at 1650 AM.
Do community stations get enough money to survive?
Radio Centre-Ville came far short of its goal crowdfunding a new cultural space, but launched it anyway. CIBL is about a third of the way toward its crowdfunding goal to save the station. CKUT looks like it will be short of its annual funding drive goal. Radio Ville-Marie is always seeking donations, and I just told you about Radio Shalom. Will this reliance on direct donations to pay the bills result in a station going under?
How does the new ethnic radio station environment look?
Montreal has a lot of ethnic/third-language radio stations, and most are required to have programming in several languages, though they tend to focus on one or two. CFMB 1280 is mainly Italian, CKDG 105.1 is mainly Greek, CHOU 1450 covers the Middle East, the new Radio Humsafar 1610 will serve mainly South Asia, CJWI 1410 serves the Haitian community.
CKIN-FM, which was sold by Canadian Hellenic Cable Radio (owner of CKDG) to businessman Neeti P. Ray, has a new schedule that’s Arabic during the day and Spanish in the evenings.
Is that the way it will stay? Or will CKIN’s change and the emergence of Humsafar prompt other adjustments at other stations?
Does La Presse succeed as tablet-only during the week?
It was a bold move to kill the weekday edition of La Presse. It cuts down a lot on cost, but is there something more intangible about being a daily newspaper that La Presse loses now, even if it’s publishing daily tablet editions? We’ll see. But there were already more people reading it on tablet than print before the change.
Does Postmedia shut down more papers?
Rumours persist about Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton, where Postmedia owns the two subscription dailies. Postmedia denies any plans to shut down the Suns in those markets. And while it shut down publications in Muskoka, that’s an “isolated” situation. My employer isn’t in the best financial situation, but it’s still expected to survive in the short term overall.
Online
Do new online news outlets grow or contract in 2016?
Vice. Buzzfeed. Canadaland. iPolitics. The Tyee. Huffington Post. Online-only media in Canada have grown more serious in recent years, hiring professional journalists and tackling serious issues, while funding themselves using different models (crowdfunding, native advertising, paywalls, partnerships with big-money media). Will these new outlets with diverse funding sources and more targeted audiences fill the hole made by traditional media’s cuts, or will they find that their recent spending on professionals isn’t sustainable without a lot more revenue?
Will CraveTV and Shomi emerge as real competitors to Netflix?
Shomi, owned by Rogers and Shaw, just recently opened itself up to subscriptions from all Canadians. CraveTV, owned by Bell, has promised to do the same this year, but hasn’t set a date yet. That’s significant because providing all this content without requiring cable subscriptions could entice more people to cut the cord, and these companies make a lot of money from people who pay for TV.
We might also hit a wall with streaming services. Netflix is less than $10 a month, but if you add Crave, and Shomi, and other services like sports streaming and iTunes, or if Amazon or Hulu or others come to Canada, consumers might find their over-the-top bills about as high as what they were paying for the cord they cut in the first place — and a lot less live TV to show for it.
What questions will Fagstein forget to add to this list?
Next question.
Good summary. Seems Evanov is doing nothing with 980. One must wonder if they are preparing to sell it – say to TTP?
What would be the purpose of such a sale? TTP already has two licences for French AM stations, and just bought the transmitters to broadcast them with.
In theory, they bought them. It seems that nothing is ever exactly what it seems with TTP. A few years down the road they still haven’t managed to put anything on the air, so I sort of take the story of a purchase of transmitters as sort of a murky one. I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s a conditional sale that basically reverts if they are unable to get on the air for whatever reason, or decide not to – giving them a cheap out yet again.
Maybe they are working on something big. Don’t think they will sell the station.
FYI – Bio. is going to be used for the rebranding for Viceland cable channel.
As for some of the other questions:
Print Media: *doomed*, It’s no longer a question of if, it’s a question of when. Just like playing Mario Brothers, print media is standing now on one of those things that sinks if you stand on it too long. The smart ones (here’s looking at LaPresse) will get off the sinking platform and get on to something else. Others will flail about and trying all sorts of things (hi Postmedia) and may find themselves in the lava rather than making a successful jump. Only time will tell.
Local TC: *doomed*. The current Canadian marketplace and setup does not allow local TV channels to have any power or any real budgets. They are vestigial setups to honor the rules of Simsub, and nothing more. With the intense and complete vertical (and horizontal) integration of the major medai players, there is little chance that this will change any time soon. The only way this works out if is the CRTC comes along and gets new rules in place that change the landscape entirely.
It really hinges on how much the CRTC (and the government) decide we should change. There is likely little except more of the same (actually less, as I suspect many pay channels that were created just to take in extra subscriber fee money will disappear). I am thinking that the local channel market in TV will go to “rebroadcaster only” mode, with a strong push to shrink the local programming requirement down to maybe a half hour news per day or even less, everything else “network”.
Of course, if the CRTC grows a pair (figuratively) and moves to break up the monopolies, maybe we will see sea change on all sorts of subjects. Separation of the networks, the local affiliates, and the distribution companies is key to their being a vibrant future in broadcast media. Without that sort of chance, there will be little competition and little change in the lack of funding for local TV.
One thing I see coming if that happens: the return of border blasters. We may see stations pop up just on the other side of the US-Canadian border, running news stories focused at Canada, but outside of the CRTC’s jurisdiction and rules. If they are independents, they can dodge simsubbing by careful choice of scheduling and long hours of news.
Since there are so few companies interested in media in Canada, any help would need to come from US or other foreign companies.
I think you just described the Burlington/Plattsburgh market. Except they don’t have news focused on Canada because Canadians will generally watch Canadian TV stations to get their local news.
Border blasters generally won’t work for TV because of the nature of the US relationship between networks and affiliates, and the nature of ad income in the US.
You have to remember that the networks (and other production companies) get fairly hefty fees from Bell, Global, and such for their prime time program, much of that price predicated on simbsubbing and being able to control the marketplace and limit public choice. The amounts paid by Bell for national use is way more income for the producers and particularly the US networks than would be generated for them from border blasters. Until simsub changes (and it doesn’t appear likely any time soon), there is no valid economic model to make things work out.
It’s also a question of potential viewership. Canadians as a whole are cable and dish supporters in a pretty big way, with somewhere less than 15% of homes depending on antennas or rabbit ears for reception. A border blaster would be working to meet the demand of a very small portion of the market. net income would likely be low, and with most Canadians addicted to cable, it’s unlikely people would switch just for non-local local news.
“The History channel will no longer be limited to shows that have something to do with history.”
Hasn’t this been true for some time now?
I haven’t looked much at radio as I am primarily focused on OTA in Canada. OTA or over-the-air television is in much better shape in the United States than it is here. I researched many American cities and they have dozens of free OTA TV channels compared to here. There have been reports mainly from the NAB-National Association of Broadcasters that there are 60 Million and counting Americans on OTA. Many are cutting the cord to go OTA as well as online services at the same time. It looks like Pay TV there is looking over it’s shoulders. The CRTC and Industry Canada are in a wait and see mode and are following the American lead. There has been a resurgence in OTA in the United States I believe since having gone digital. More channels are available now due to the new technology and the use of sub-channels, something that Canada is generally dragging it’s feet on and that is undoubtedly due to the influence of Pay TV here. They have a stranglehold considering that all apartment buildings and condominiums are Pay TV “Only”. Whatever the reasons for these buildings not having an OTA system distributed to every apartment or condo unit definitely benefits the Pay TV Industry. I have made myself pretty clear on this point that Pay TV and Free or OTA TV should be distributed equally everywhere in Canada so that Canadians should decide for themselves which system serves them best.
Nice list. A few points though.
1 – HD Radio : Yes Corus started offering HD Radio with their Hamilton station CING-FM. They also added Vancouver, and Calgary. What’s interesting is that they place the FM station on HD1, and on HD2 they place a local AM station that they also run. So basically, they are using it to offer a better AM signal through HD Radio. This is very interesting. If this was done in Montreal. CJAD 800, and CKGM 690 could be placed as HD2 and HD3 onto CHOM if Bell Media wanted to activate HD Radio on CHOM. But, Corus wasn’t the only one that is activating HD Radio in Canada. Southern Ontario seems to have a the most stations using HD Radio. CIHR, CFMS, CING, CJSA, CHKX. So there is actual movement in the area of HD Radio in Canada.
2 – CFHD-DT (47.1): This channel seems to be very confused in it’s programming. It’s all over the map when it comes to its schedule, and finding programs. No PSIP program guide. French descriptions on other guides, of English titled shows. Very messy they need to put this station in order.
3 – Post Media: If it’s not happening now, it probably will happen later, and everybody should expect them to merge newspapers in market that they are running two daily papers. The good news for this though is that this would open up possible Sunday editions if one is not available in that market. Also one daily print run instead of two.
4 – Tablet Only Newspapers (or Electronic Only Newspapers) : I have mixed emotions about this. The cost of entry to access is very high. Because it requires a Tablet, or Computer. ISP access or cellphone data package plus the subscription. I single print edition may cost up front more, but is easier to access because you simply pay for a single issue no hardware or monthly subscription required. For those with the means to go all digital this is excellent. But what about those who cannot. Sure the Gazette is available in both ways. But, Lapresse is not any more. Now the problem I see is, how does the segment of the population with no means of access read stories with a Lapresse slant versus stories and slants provided by the Journal de Montreal, and Le Devoir. Does this effect Elections! Government policies. You see, when I was young, we didn’t subscribe to a newspaper at home. But, through school access to the daily papers, and even a single issue that could be bought at a store, I was exposed to the Montreal Gazette, and the Montreal Star. Now, take a youngster of school age, similar situation, I would have to get a subscription to a tablet edition of Lapresse! I think not. I’m not sure if my point is clear, but, I feel there is a barrier for all at a low entry point. And what is available at the low entry point, will influence the future of the current young. Now I’m not sure what the answer is, nor the solution. Nor that a solution needs to be provided. And how does a Digital Access Only Newspaper get new future adult subscribers when they never even had access to it when they were young. I have seen the Montreal Gazette of late giving out free daily editions at the Lionel-Groulx metro station. Great idea to exposing it’s product to those will none digital access. But, Lapresse is done. Only a Saturday print edition exists now.
I agree, there seems to be no organized schedule to their programming. No PSIP program guide as mentioned. Hard to find the program you want and a shame as well considering the excellent signal I receive from them at my place.
FYI: Tim and Sid isn’t a tv show on radio; it is solely a television show now and competes against Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet radio.
Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey and New York University in NYC both share the 89.1FM frequency. If CKUT is short from funding maybe they could make a deal with CJLO. Have Concordia use the 90.1FM frequency part of the day then Mcgill use it for the rest of the day. Host may not like it but would allow for CKUT to keep going with low funding and CJLO to better served their students.
Both CJLO and CKUT have dismissed time sharing as unacceptable. They’re two separate stations with separate ownership and obligations to members.
True but when I visited NYC last year, i noticed the two universities did share same frequency and broadcast area but had different branding and call letters.
Not the best option but if it ever came to that could be a solution. Not saying it would work. Programming would be lost.
Will CBC radio and Radio Canada (radio) stop having on-air ads?
One of the things that makes the CBC/RC great radio is that is a non commercial environment.
Ads on CBC/Radio Canada are like having an ad blaring through the speakers of the library every 30 or 60 minutes. It just doesn’t suit the space.
It is not as if the big brands have not no place to place their advertizing. Brands have penetrated every other possible public space with advertizing. Enough is enough.
Ads may not be the best for CBC radio. Maybe they could be replaced with PSA announcements limited to 4 minutes an hour. At least promote charities.
Unless Canadians are willing to put more money on the table to pay for the CBC, it’s unlikely they will be able to get away from advertising. It’s actually surprising that CBC doesn’t have more advertising, especially on the TV side during key programs like the national news.
Canadians gave a majority government to a party whose pledge was an additional $150M/year for CBC.
Yes, but since the CBC has been cut, cut again, and cut again under the dictator from the west, 150 million doesn’t even start to get them back to even keel. It would take something like 400-500 million to even catch it back up.
The Chrétien/Martin Liberals were by no means any friends of CBC, either.
Anyways I’m just pointing out details. I’m not a consumer of CBC and they can sell it off for all I care; we can use the money to lower our taxes.
Will Canada’s public broadcasters (CBC and Radio Canada) finally have opposite-language subtitles on their Television shows so that each of our “two solitudes” can finally know what the other is saying?
It seems to me that digital broadcasting opens up the possibility of a choice of multi-language subtitles for the viewers benefit.
I’m a bit late to the party (this article), but I can tell you – Radio Classique has been playing more Bette Midler and James Taylor since Gregory Charles took over. (I’m not kidding – I heard both those artists on Radio Classique recently. And yes, I did check to make sure that Radio-Classique was indeed the station I had on.)