Cinema Canada (Feb 1982)

eave LAMB in the works since 1979 for quality Mr. Chairman, in December, 1978, nearly three years ago, Bob Anderson, Lou Applebaum, Doug Fullerton and I came together to explore an idea. The idea was based on the belief that the best of our per forming arts in Canada was the equal — in quality if not in quantity — of the best of the performing arts anywhere in the world. Yet Canadian performing arts companies were not gaining either the exposure at home or the recognition abroad they deserved. Communities outside our main urban centres were being deprived of the oppor tunity to experience the finest performances Canada has to offer. While radio, and specifically CBC Radio, had of course played its part, it could obviously not provide the visual impact of an opera, a play, a ballet. With conventional television there was the problem of a limited number of channels, allocated to broadcasters whose sympathies for the performing arts were tempered by the realization that it was mass appeal programming on which their ratings and hence their commercial success depended. Again, CBC Television did broadcast a number of extremely fine ballet, opera and dramatic performances, but these were few and far between and could not be counted on as a very steady market for the companies concerned. In our view, it was in the newer communications technologies that the answer lay: cable television with its immense channel capacity and its seemingly insatiable appetite for new and different kinds of programming ; satellites with their trans-continental range and coverage; and videotapes and discs with their ability to record and retain performances that would otherwise be ephemeral. The new technologies, we believed, made it possible to think of an Electronic Arts Centre. This could provide a new vehicle for artistic performances, new markets for these performances at home and abroad, and a new opportunity to help attain the elusive but essential stability so necessary for the effective functioning of performing arts companies. Excited by this idea, we decided to back it with dollars, and to create a body corporate in which the seed of our idea could take root and grow. Lively Arts Market Builders, Inc. came into being on July 23, 1979. From the inception of LAMB, we were guided by the following objectives : Canadian performing artists through every possible technological means ; — to encourage innovation, expansion and diversification in this sector; — toprovide ongoing financial support to Canada’s cultural industries and independent program production sector ; — to adopt an active leadership role in the cultural and lively arts fields ; and — to achieve a reasonable degree of continuing viability in order to sustain the other objectives. The next step was to broaden the base of our group by seeking out men and women who had extensive experience in the performing arts sector, who shared our objectives, and who were willing to support our idea with their energy and their resources. The response was positive and enthusiastic, and new participants willingly signed on. It also became clear that we required a full-time President with experience in the performing arts, in business andin the media. We were fortunate in being able to attract Ed Cowan, who at the time was Publisher of Saturday Night Magazine and a founding partner of CITY-TV in Toronto. He joined us in November, 1979. It was just about this time that the Therrien Committee was established to inquire into the extension of service to remote and underserved communities, and pay-television. Since the extension of lively arts performances to centres outside the major cities was central to our own vision, and since pay-television offered us the potential of an extremely important distribution medium for realizing our goals, we decided to test our idea in a brief to the Therrien Committee in April of 1980. Indeed we take some pride in being the only independent group that both appeared before the Therrien Committee with a specific pay-television proposal and that has managed somehow to survive the rigours of the past year and a half to be here today. Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, our application is before you. What it requests is that you grant us the privilege of holding a broadcasting licence to establish and operate CChannel, a lively arts pay-television service. And what that, I suppose, ultimately means — behind all the jargon that is the stuff of formal applications — is that we are asking you to entrust a group of people — us — with the responsibility of fulfilling this public trust. One reason is that each of us now in LAMB has fulfilled the trust placed in us over many years in regard to numerous undertakings — public and private, commercial and philanthropic, domestic. and inter. national. A second is that we have repeatedly demonstrated our ability to convert ideals into reality and to deliver on what we promise. A third is that throughout our various careers we have shared a basic commitment to the achievement of a vital and flourishing performing arts community in Canada... We are here as a group because we believe that lively arts pay-television, as embodied in the C-Channel proposal, can be an important element in achieving our objectives, as well as in adding a vital new element to the Canadian broadcasting system. The people who are likely to be our viewers, while perhaps not massive in numbers, are a group with rather distinctive tastes. They attend live theatre, films, opera, orchestra and dance performances, often on a subscription basis. Their concept of culture ranges from Pavarotti to Fellini, from Balconville to Manhattan, from Karen Kain to the Canadian Brass. Our research indicates that they would welcome a pay-TV service embracing a diverse selection of outstanding performances in the lively arts as well as fine films both international and Canadian. They are a group that is perhaps a little better educated and with a somewhat higher disposable income than the average viewer. They are also a group that tends to be more bored with conventional television and more dissatisfied with the programs to which their children are exposed. Our proposed program schedule and a description of our main programs are detailed more fully in our application. What we would like to emphasize is the underlying philosophy of that schedule. Not an accessory cultural service where performing arts programs are ghettoized or raised up on a pedestal to be revered. Not “pure culture” nor “high culture’, but a full-blooded and balanced prime time lively arts broadcasting service. One that embraces the full range of programming we outlined before the Therrien Committee more than a year and a half ago, including dance, opera, music, theatre and film. One that our audience would expect froma contemporary cultural pay-television service... showcase for the performing arts... It will also serve as a testing ground — which means experimentation both with traditional art forms as well as new emerging forms such as video art and computer animation. Experimentation of course carries with it the risk of making mistakes. But we are convinced C-Channel’s success in the long run will depend on our willingness to take creative risks in the short run. Further, it is our intention to reflect the regional diversity of Canada by building on the existing network of regional theatres, concert halls and performing arts centres. The story of the success of the performing arts in Canada is the story of a burgeoning regional theatrical experience extending from the Bastion Theatre in Victoria to Codco in Newfoundland. Every community of any size in this country has been mobilizing its per forming arts talent. In the Province of Quebec alone, over 120 theatres were active this past summer. The communities are ready to show the rest of the country their best work. CChannel intends to provide them with a national electronic stage. . As we have already indicated, one of LAMB’s objectives is to provide ongoing financial support to Canada’s performing arts community and to its independent production sector. Of some 37 million dollars which we intend to spend on original Canadian production during the first licence period, virtually every penny will be spent directly or indirectly in the Canadian performing arts sector. This will include rights payments, production advances, fees and royalties which will provide considerable assistance to our performing arts companies in achieving economic stability. They will also be encouraged to take equity posi tions in their own productions, which will mean that they can share proportionally in their. fortune. These 37 million dollars of capital spread throughout the regions of the country, should generate at least that amount again in terms of production financing. — Our strategy for the independent production sector is a tripartite one, involving C-Channel, the independent producer and the performing arts company. Under this model, the performing arts company provides the content for the independent Canadian producer, who in turn provides the program for C-Channel to distri For our part, we will be guided by the following eight operational principles in dealing with the independent producer: (1) LAMB undertakes to engage independent producers, directors and writers, to fulfill the production requirements for C-Channel. (2) Atthesametime, in those program areas where there may be limited Canadian independent production capacity, particularly in the early years, LAMB might find it necessary to encourage independent producers, directors and writers to come together into teams capable of producing programs to meet our special requirements. (3) LAMB will establish a Lively Arts Program production fund for the development of scripts, concepts and pilots in the field of lively arts television. (4) LAMB will provide interim financing for programs for use on C-Channel, in the form of production advances and guarantees of up to 100% of CChannel's financial commitment to such programs. (5) LAMB will negotiate guaranteed minimum licence fees for Canadian pay-television programs. (6) Where lower— budget productions required for CChannel are unable to attract adequate co-production financing, LAMB will be prepared to increase its initial licence fees to take that into account. (7) Where the financing of higher-budget productions required for C-Channel would not otherwise be completed, LAMB will be prepared to take an equity position, and will encourage the independent producer to offer equity participation as well to the originating performing arts company. (8) LAMB will make its ‘good offices’ and foreign program purchasing leverage available to independent producers in seeking both domestic and international co-production arrangements, institutional support and international sales. In the Commission's Call For Applications for Pay Television Service, you drew attention to a number of factors that should be taken into account by appilicants, including the tapping of new and underutilized programming sources, the avoidance of siphoning programs from the conventional broadcasting system, and the need for new services to complement those of existing broadcasters, LAMB believes that C-Channel satisfies these requirements in every respect and that it will be a significant and welcome (cont. on p. 14) — tomaximize the exposure of Why us? C-Channel will not only be a__ bute. Cinema Canada February 1982/11