Hey Canadian Nets, Can We Be Upfront?

I FELT SORRY for Barbara Williams.

I really did.  She had a job to do -- a very specific job, which was to present the new fall offerings from Global Television in a positive way to entice advertisers.  It's a presentation that requires charm & clarity of message.  If you read any account of the U.S. network upfronts, which generally happen in the middle of May, you can see how it's done.  A stage managed parade of "it's never been better."  The brain might know that a year from now, 90% of these new shows you're talking up will be lying dead, broken, ignored, unloved, canceled -- but you will it not to show that.  Instead, you smile.  "Things have never been better."

Oh that was tough the last couple of years, to be sure.  Advertising was down, audiences were still eroding, everyone was abuzz about piracy, the internet, cable cannibalization of network numbers, the scourge of Tivo...not to mention the bankruptcy of GM, the world's largest advertiser, and that unbelievably stupid Leno-at-10pm turd.

But this year? Advertising's up.  They're back. They're looking to spend money.  The data on PVR's isn't so bad.  People still apparently appointment view. There's life in the old network girl yet!

But at Global's presentation of its fall schedule, something was definitely off.

Was it the protestors outside from ACTRA?  A few dozen of them, saying what they say at every one of these things -- "we should tell our own stories," etc.

It can't be them.  Can't be! I mean, ACTRA's been protesting like that for years. They did it in front of the upfront at the Elgin. They've done it ... well, they've done it A LOT.   Eric Peterson, God love him, he always shows up. And sometimes Paul Gross is there.  If you spot Wendy Crewson at one of those things, you get to yell, "bingo!"

Yet, lo and behold, and a wag of the finger to all you Eeyores out there who insist there's no point tryin' anything -- this time, that protest worked...

If the press is anything to go by, I mean.

In article after article after article -- Global's launch message was muddied, shoved aside, and forced to share the spotlight with some very unusual creative-driven questions:  "why does the spending on U.S. programming go up every year?" "Why does your big splashy fall schedule only have one homegrown show on it?" "Why should we be excited by a warmed-over rehash of shows we get on the U.S. networks on our cable dials already?"

When you're talking through the smile of "things are going great," that's just not the message you want to have out there. So what happened?

Well, I submit to you that finally, the Broadcasters brought this on themselves. And Global bore the brunt by going first, and not being ready with an integrated counter message. The combination over the relentlessly partisan rah rah "Save Local TV" campaign, combined with the CRTC hearings and scrutiny over their business models has finally filtered through to the journalist class.

Instead of viewing the economic downturn of 2008 as a cyclical bump in their business, the Canadian nets pounced and called it a "permanent downturn" and used it to hysterically call for all sorts of relief -- Fee For Carriage, and of course, a reduction in CanCon.

But, see, you can't square that with the upfront mentality, especially when all signs point to a resurgence in ad spending.  And there is the inconvenient fact that the U.S. spending still went up when they were crying poor.  With those numbers floating out there, and the whole bad taste from the "Save Local TV" imbroglio still brewing, it was bound to create a climate where people took a harder look at what the business model of Canadian TV really is.

And when you do look at it, it's pretty indefensible. It's lazy. It's parasitic and it trades only on the creativity of another nation.  Even the CRTC knows it -- though they do try to bury their own reports when they come out and say it.

The other piece of blowback could be called, "the Corner Gas/Flashpoint effect."

Now that some of those homegrown shows are starting to get good, it's a natural thing to ask, "well, why aren't there more of them?"  Why DO the Canadian nets insist on doing only the bare minimum that they are dragged kicking and screaming into doing?  From a consumer standpoint, what is the value of having networks that only replicate the U.S. schedules?

When Barbara Williams stood on the stage earlier this week, what she didn't realize is that she was standing on the wrong side of the Tipping Point.  She faced a "friendly audience" at the CRTC when she presented there last year about the network TV problem (so friendly that the CRTC redacted all her testimony, creating the odd spectacle of a commission that's supposed to protect consumer's rights in the broadcast sphere holding secret hearings)  but the combination of bad theatre over the local TV thing, the mounting questions, years of ACTRA protests, the wall-falling nature of things like Hulu, the Net, Torrents and iTunes have all coalesced.   These questions over CanCon, and what are you doing, what are you MAKING for viewers? They are never going away again.  They are a permanent part of the conversation now.

The truth is, Global is making homegrown shows.  More than perhaps they've ever done before.  They have a simulcast coming up with Rookie Blue in a couple of weeks. They have greenlit pilots, and ordered series. But they're so used to not talking about any of that that Barb Williams only got to bring it up in response to questions about the lack of CanCon, and the ACTRA protest -- which immediately made them sound defensive.  Because it WAS DEFENSIVE.

CTV read those tea leaves clearly, and did a serious adjust in time for their upfront presentation yesterday.  Among the self-congratulatory email releases was one frontloading just how much they were doing in terms of CanCon.  And you know what? They deserve the lap.  I, and many others, may have differing things to say about a slate that includes Flashpoint, The Bridge, The Listener, Dan For Mayor, Hiccups, Degrassi and all -- but they all got renewed yesterday.  Some of them are even drawing numbers.  CTV supports them with advertising.  They play some of the same games at the CRTC, to be sure, and they're certainly not busting down the doors to bring you CanCon this fall -- but the truth is, they deserve their victory lap. They've done the work. And they were ready with the release to shine a light on what they have.  I'm sure the fact that it also allowed them to tweak their rival Global played a part in it, but you know, whatever.

Meanwhile, there are the others.  You know a few years ago when I had a show on Citytv -- I wasn't even invited to the upfronts.   Don't boohoo for me, Argentina -- I'm not so special...nobody with a Canadian show was.  And in the Rogers-era, so far there's no evidence that that's changed.

Last night, you could read tweets from the CTV party by the co-creator of Flashpoint.

That's the new world, kids.  The conversation is different now.

So congrats to ACTRA for keeping the heat on, and WGC for doggedly getting those U.S. spend numbers out there, over and over -- and anyone who raised a finger to raise the alarm. The message has finally trickled down.  What happens next?

Well, that's up to them.  I dream of the day when these guys realize -- as CTV has started to -- that maybe pushing your CanCon just a little is good business, too.   That celebrating Canadian talent only after you've forced them to move to the USA is a bit perverse.  That if you're the CBC, you can fade a lot of built-in goodwill by floating a fall schedule with nothing new.  That burying stuff on the specialties & Fridays & Saturdays in the winter in favor of shows -- 90% of which won't live the season -- isn't the best foot to put forward.  That if you're the Movie Channels -- Astral & Corus-owned, and you push your CanCon like you push stuff from HBO and Showtime -- that you gain respect.

Most of all, I dream of the day when the Canadian nets -- all of them -- realize that the shows they make themselves are part of the story they have to tell at the upfronts...not merely the tax on their business they have to endure.

You want a party free of protestors, and headlines that are on message? That's what it's going to take.

I hope Barbara Williams gets lots of good headlines when Rookie Blue premieres. After the rough ride she had this week, she deserves them.