Also in this report:

– Shuffle pits Baton against Global: Bidding wars expected to drive up program prices, national advertising rates p.20

– Ontario: local players aiming regional p.20

– English Quebec picture favors buyers: Global’s arrival expected to increase competition, lower prices in one of Canada’s most expensive TV markets p.22

– Delight and skepticism greet changes in West: Many expect arrival of new Vancouver station will bring only temporary relief from high rates p.24

– Bigger not always better: Quality of audience sometimes more important than quantity p.28

In a matter of a few short months, the television landscape in Canada has changed dramatically.

A series of recent developments on the ownership and licensing front promise to alter the broadcast playing field at both the national and regional levels.

The most attention-grabbing, by far, is Baton Broadcasting System’s move to acquire majority ownership of CTV Television Network – a deal now awaiting final approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. That spells tougher competition nationally for CanWest Global Communications.

Global is also facing new challenges in the Ontario market, where formerly local stations are remaking themselves as regional players. And it is moving into Quebec, where it will battle the long-dominant cfcf for a share of the English-language market.

Add to all of this the licensing of new stations in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, and suddenly it starts to look like a brand new broadcasting ball game. To help make sense of it all, Strategy has asked media directors to offer their analysis of these changes from an advertiser’s point of view.

In addition, we check in with Canada’s specialty tv channels, for a discussion about the challenges of establishing their brands in an increasingly crowded environment.

In the competitive world of television, the marketers of specialty services know that aggressive branding is essential to survival.

That means creating the kind of impression that will encourage viewers to venture from the well-charted terrain of the conventional broadcasters toward the less familiar territory at the far end of the dial.

‘Being a specialty channel without strong branding is like being a person without a name,’ says Todd Goldsbie, director of marketing and business development with Toronto-based Life Network.

‘The added challenge for specialties is not only to make their names commonplace, but to create clarity about what the programming is all about.’

Some Canadian specialties, such as CBC Newsworld, MuchMusic, ytv and tsn, now enjoy the same kind of brand recognition as conventional broadcasters. They had the advantage, however, of entering the market when specialty tv was relatively young, and have had time to establish their brands.

Many of the newer players are still grappling with that challenge.

Within the last few months, several of the crop of specialty channels that hit the airwaves in 1995 have launched aggressive branding campaigns, relying heavily on out-of-home advertising in the Toronto and Vancouver markets.

Life, for example, kicked off a campaign in November. The ads, created by Durnan Communications of Toronto, use the tag line ‘Television You Can Use.’

wtn’s campaign, which features creative from Toronto’s Enterprise Advertising, was unveiled in October. The ads were designed to convey the channel’s personality and attitude, as well as highlight some of its most popular programming, such as Moonlighting and Jane Hawtin Live.

In all, there are now 21 specialties on the air in Canada. Four more are set to launch in September: Teletoon, The Comedy Network, CTV News 1 and The History and Entertainment Network. (A fifth, Home & Garden Television, is also aiming for a fall launch, though at this point it is still negotiating for cable carriage.)

With new arrivals on the scene, the competition for viewers’ time will be even greater – and so will the need for effective branding on the part of the specialties.

‘The biggest challenge is creating awareness,’ says Kathie Shearer, group vice-president, marketing and sales at CTV Television Network, which is now gearing up for the unveiling of the headline service News 1. ‘You have to give viewers a reason to watch, and that’s not easy when you have to start from the ground up.’

Shearer says ctv will promote News 1 as ‘Canada’s News Source,’ and will leverage the well-established reputation of CTV National News in its branding efforts. ctv’s agency, Toronto-based SMW Advertising, will also be working on News 1’s advertising.

‘It’s a big benefit to have ctv’s news heritage behind us,’ says Shearer. ‘It’s also a way for us to make the branding of ctv news pay, by extending it to the new network.’

If leveraging the reputation of an existing network is not an option, then it helps to have a brand name that clearly defines your programming, says Peter O’Neill, vice-president, sales and promotion for Showcase Television and the new History and Entertainment Network.

With Showcase, he recalls, ‘it took a little while to create the image we wanted because the name didn’t tell viewers up front what they could expect.’

Only after about six months of aggressive promotion highlighting the channel’s Canadian and international drama programming did viewers begin to understand the positioning, O’Neill says.

Toronto agencies Bensimon Byrne and Harrod & Mirlin have both worked on creative for Showcase.

An agency has yet to be decided upon for h&e, but O’Neill isn’t expecting to face the same branding challenge this time around.

‘The title already indicates where the programming is focused, which makes it a lot easier,’ he says.

For Teletoon, the task at hand isn’t just developing an image, says president John Riley – it’s communicating clearly the kind of programming the channel will offer.

‘People think we’re a cartoon network for kids,’ he says. ‘But we will be offering programming that deals with all aspects of animation. We have to emphasize that.’

Teletoon targets young and old alike, and is using the tag line ‘The Animation Station’ in promoting both the English and French versions of its service. While the channel doesn’t have an agency yet, it has recently moved to hire a new vice-president of network marketing and promotions, Hillary Firestone, to direct the branding efforts.

Nearly half of Teletoon’s programming will be Canadian, Riley says.

‘We’re fortunate that Canada has a strong animation industry, and that is one way we will brand ourselves.’

The Comedy Network, meanwhile, plans to leverage its relationship with the Rozon/Just For Laughs group, the organization behind the annual Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. Les Films Rozon, a division of that company, holds a 5% stake in the new channel.

‘If the growth of the comedy festival is any indication, we will have solid interest in this service,’ says Ed Robinson, vice-president of programming for The Comedy Network. ‘But there is also a lot of comedy programming on existing channels, so we have to brand ourselves in a way that will make people want to tune in to us.’

Robinson says the brand image the channel wants to create is at once playful and irreverent.

‘We want to be risk takers, and let viewers know that they will see a lot of comedy that they will not always find on other channels,’ he says. ‘We will stay away from family sitcoms, and offer humor that is a little sharp and irreverent.’

An agency for The Comedy Network has yet to be hired.

Despite the challenges they face in trying to stand out in the marketplace, specialty services also have certain advantages over conventional broadcasters when it comes to branding.

‘We aren’t trying to be everything to everybody,’ says O’Neill. ‘Advertisers know who our viewers are, and that is a benefit to us.’

Robinson agrees. The more targeted nature of the specialties enables them to develop campaigns and establish partnerships that might be out of the question for conventional broadcasters, he says.

‘It’s easier for us to become involved in events that interest our demographic,’ Robinson says. ‘We can also develop riskier campaigns that traditional networks would probably not try.’