TVA will become one of the first television networks in the world to sell advertising time through an online auction when it starts soliciting bids next week for a New Year’s Eve special that will feature live performances by Canadian singing superstars Celine Dion and Bryan Adams.

The Montreal-based French-language network, which has been broadcasting nationally since May 1, has the exclusive rights to a four-hour New Year’s Eve concert featuring Dion and Adams performing together on stage. CBS has picked up one half-hour of the concert to air in the U.S., while a network in France has opted to pick up a one-hour segment.

Instead of selling the advertising through normal channels, commercial time for the New Year’s Eve special, which is expected to draw millions of viewers, will be put up for auction at a dedicated Web site (http://promo.tva.ca/celine/) that will be accessible from Oct. 18 to Nov. 12.

Coincidentally, in France, public TV networks France 2 and France 3 will conduct similar online ad auctions at about the same time as TVA. Those networks plan to put five per cent of their total available time out for bid this year and increase the amount to 10% in 2000.

Only 96 spots are available for the TVA special. The identities of the clients will remain confidential, although their categories will be revealed.

The minimum bid for the first two-hour time block, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., is $30,000 per 30-second spot. Commercials in the second block, when Dion and Adams appear, start at $35,000. Rates include a repeat broadcast of the concert Jan. 1.

Renée-Claude Menard, TVA’s general manager of communications, says that although the network wasn’t entirely sure where to set minimum bids for the auction, past experience broadcasting specials starring the world-renowned diva give the network confidence demand will be strong.

Jacques Dorion, CEO of Carat Canada and president of Montreal-based media management firm Carat Stratégem, says an online ad auction is a great way to build interest and excitement around a special event, but he cautions that it can not be used as a regular sales tool because it eliminates room for negotiation – one of the foundations of the media buying business.

‘We [media buyers] have to think that clients want to pay the lowest cost or the best cost,’ he says.

Dorion says he hasn’t had any requests yet from clients hoping to buy time on TVA’s New Year’s special, but he expects a number of advertisers will soon come forward.

David Harrison, president and CEO of Toronto-based Harrison, Young, Pesonen & Newell, says that online auctions not only have the potential to make negotiations difficult, they could also cause inventory control problems for broadcasters.

However, Harrison is encouraged by the fact that TVA has chosen to hold its auction online, as he believes that the future of the media business lies in handling at least part of the buying and selling process electronically.

‘The whole [media buying] industry has been trying to get an EDI (electronic data information) system in place for about three years,’ he says, adding it would greatly reduce the amount of ‘administrivia’ with which the industry is currently burdened.