Montreal: Specialty channels are gaining market share in Quebec and present opportunities for producers with the right kinds of programming.

Tracking data on market share for the 16 French-language pay and specialty television channels differs depending on the source and the jurisdiction being measured, but all the latest numbers point to continued growth.

bbm measures the extended Montreal market (2+). Its most recent data on the French specialties, fall 2000, points to a 29% increase over '99 for a 14.8 share. A year earlier, the specialties had an 11.5 share, with most of this year's growth coming at the expense of the conventional tv networks.

Comparative (fall '99/fall '00) reports from Nielsen Media Research for the Province of Quebec (francophone, Monday to Sunday, all day, 2+) indicate a higher market share for specialty tv but more moderate year-over-year growth - a 21.2 total market share and a 12% increase.

Some of the biggest gains this season have been made by lifestyle channel Canal Vie, especially among women 25-54. Vie is in its fourth season, and according to bbm, went to 0.9 in fall 2000 from a 0.6 share in '99, while international drama channel Series + went to a 1.1 share in the fall sweeps from a 0.7 share in spring 2000.

Coproduction advantages

Judith Brosseau, senior vp, programming, responsible for Les Chaines Tele-Astral's Canal d, Historia and Series +, says the pursuit of coproduction with English-Canadian broadcast partners in the past two years has resulted in better-quality programs, higher licences and larger audiences. "And you have more qualifying points with the [programming] funds. It's good for everybody."

Sharing windows also helps increase the size of a show's audience, a key criteria with the funding agencies. "You're picking up English Canada and French Canada, and it does wonders," she says.

Deep in planning for next season, Brosseau says audience and counter-programming issues are important, but no more so than flexibility in program financing. She says specialties have to be creative, "with different types of properties financed in different ways."

The mix includes bigger-budget Canadian coproductions likely to meet with success at the Canadian Television Fund or Telefilm Canada, episodics financed largely through international coproductions and presales like Insectia, and lower-cost programming financed through local licences and the tax credits.

"But I have to have all three [types]," says Brosseau. "If I only have shows dependent on public financing and they [the funds] say no to half of it, I'm in serious trouble. This [planning] isn't something we do on our own. The business relations we have with producers, whether they be in Quebec or [English] Canada, is vital. We have to work hand in hand so the series will get made."

Some of the current Canal d programs shared with Discovery Canada include the investigative series Pieces a Conviction (Discovery's Exhibit a from producer Robert Lang of Kensington Communications), the international hdtv coproduction Insectia ii (Pixcom International), Objectif Science (Forbidden Places, produced by Television Renaissance), Oceans of Mystery (Eco Nova) and Carnet de Vol (Flight Path, distributed by Canamedia for Screenlife).

Canal d has also committed to a second round of Frontiers of Construction (Barna-Alper).

Brand new shows

Coming coproductions for the 2001/02 season include the urban engineering and technology series Technopolis (Pixcom), licensed by both Canal d and Discovery and sold in France; Disasters of the Century (produced for Canal d and History Television); and the five-hour Women Adventurers (Cine Nova), also sold to Explore International.

New, original mid-season shows on Canal d include Insectia and Biographies Quebecoises (Poly-Productions/Communications Claude Heroux/Amerimage Spectra/Telefiction/Serdy Video).

A delighted Brosseau says to commemorate its 40th anniversary, Reseau tva has acquired seven Canal d biographies, profiling stars who have made major contributions to tva over the years.

Canal d commissions 20 original one-hour Quebec biographies each season, produced at a cost of between $110,000 and $200,000, as well as 10 Canadian biographies acquired from Great North, now a part of AAC Fact (Alliance Atlantis). The total Quebec collection numbers 100 to date.

Also new, Brosseau says Canal d will license eight pov documentaries over the next two years, typically with shared licences.

Top performers

Top performing shows on Historia this season include L'Histoire a la une (Pixcom), the service's flagship series, hosted by the personable Claude Charron and seen four nights a week at 6:30 p.m.; the mid-season entry Histoires Maritimes (Pixcom, which also does the History series Histoires de Trains); and the popular Antiques Roadshow adaptation Trouvailles et Tresors (Pram Productions in association with the Musee de la Civilization de Quebec).

Historia's annual programming investment is in the order of $6 million.

Among the top-performing acquisitions on Series + are the hit HBO Original Programming series The Sopranos, Sexe a New York (Sex and the City), Nash Bridges, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and La Firme de Boston (The Practice).

Non-u.s. programs with good results include the Aussie cop show Sydney Police and the French tv movie collection Combat de Femmes.

At high-tech and sci-fi channel z, noteworthy shows include the flagship mag La Revanche des nerds (Pixcom) and the brand new "how's it done" half-hour magazine Comment C'est Fait (Productions maj), hosted by freestyle ski champ Jean-Luc Brassard.