All posts by Greg David

Prior to becoming a television critic and owner of TV, Eh?, Greg David was a critic for TV Guide Canada, the country's most trusted source for TV news. He has interviewed television actors, actresses and behind-the-scenes folks from hundreds of television series from Canada, the U.S. and internationally. He is a podcaster, public speaker, weekly radio guest and educator, and past member of the Television Critics Association.
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He Said/She Said: What Canadian channels will be casualties of à la carte?

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Join Greg and Diane every Monday as we debate what’s on our minds. This week, what Canadian channels will be casualties of à la carte?

He Said:

Earlier this year, the CRTC announced that Canadians will—by the end of 2016—have access to a $25 skinny basic cable package they can augment with a pick-and-pay structure to add more television channels to that package. That model, of course, means channels that were previously protected in packages and could count on sustained revenues will be forced to go it alone and rely on paid subscribers to keep them alive. Simply put, not all of them will make it.

With almost a year and half to go until the pick-and-pay changes take effect, there are already shifts in the industry as networks prepare. Earlier this month, Corus announced it was shuttering Teletoon Retro effective Aug. 31. Fans of Care Bears, Babar, The Smurfs and The Adventures of Tintin will have to go elsewhere for their throwback TV fix; Corus says some of those shows will migrate to Teletoon, though a list hasn’t been provided yet.

And while Corus hasn’t officially announced what is taking Teletoon Retro’s spot, the fact Disney Channel Canada launches the next day indicates the homegrown offshoot of the juggernaut will occupy that space. Corus acquired the rights to Disney Channel a month after pick-and-pay was announced and I’m pretty sure it’s not a coincidence. After all, Disney Channel will bring in way more eyeballs with Bunk’d and The Radio Disney Awards than Teletoon Retro ever did.

Other channels that may find themselves on the chopping block include Showcase, Bravo, Action, DejaView, DTour, NatGeoWild, Bio, OLN, G4, Comedy Gold, MuchLoud, MuchMoreRetro, MuchVibe and FashionTelevisionChannel. My selections are all conjecture and I have no proof any of these will be going away, but it’s a pretty safe bet that in this new television world, only the strongest will survive.

 

She Said:

My guess is that the more obscure of the specialty nets are the most vulnerable, the ones people don’t even know they have so why would they pay for them in an a la carte world?

The trick is who will keep their place on the dial as mandated must-carry channels by the cable companies, and who will fight to the death by having programming a large enough percentage of Canadians want to watch?  Canada is a small country. Can we sustain 35 million channels to go with our 35 million people?

My biggest hope with a la carte is that broadcasters will find that sharp original programming and a brand — as in, people see the name of that station and know what to expect from that station — will become an actual thing here in Canada, where something like Showcase became relegated to “that former near-soft-core network that now carries shows that could be on Global if Global wanted original programming.”

Book Television is my go-to example of a channel that has been coasting on its Category A must-carry designation with no must-watch original programming, and as such I wouldn’t mourn its loss.

The only way I can see all channels in what are currently “multiplex” channels — such as Movie Network/Movie Central along with HBO Canada and its baby M networks, or the Super Channels – surviving is if they continue to be offered as a bundle. Otherwise I’m betting all but the main Movie channels and HBO Canada will disappear.

There are some channels, like APTN or OUTtv that serve underserved populations and I’d fight for their survival — reluctantly in OUTtv’s case, since their reluctance to have original programming means letting Logo signals across the border might be a better solution — though that’s unlikely to be necessary. APTN at least has a spot on basic cable and Logo isn’t likely to be a viable alternative up here.

I’d hate to see Showcase, Bravo or OLN go under but because they are primary specialty channels of the major broadcasters, with some signature originals of their own, I am not betting on that happening anyway.

However it seems to me many of our specialty channels aren’t so special and aren’t filling an important cultural niche, so some downsizing would not be a terrible thing.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Daily Planet launches Season 21 on Discovery

From a media release:

Following a landmark two decades of science programming with its most-watched-ever season and showing no signs of slowing down, Discovery’s flagship science magazine DAILY PLANET launches its 21st season with“Extreme Machines Week”, Monday, Aug. 31 – Friday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. ET. On the hunt for the most  outrageous, quirky, and  “must-see” machines, Co-Hosts Ziya Tong and Dan Riskin track down everything from two-storey-tall mining machines to the world’s most powerful skateboard. And it doesn’t end there! DAILY PLANET looks at a gyrocopterchasing a world record to circumnagivate the globe, and even a pogo stick on steroids!

The 21st season of DAILY PLANET comes fresh off the heels of the series’ highest rated season ever. Final data from Numeris (BBM Canada) confirms last season was the third consecutive year the program established a new audience high, and the fifth in a row of year-over-year growth (P2+, A25-54, and A18-49). In the key A25-54 demographic, audiences were up 13% over the previous season, having increased by 60% since 2009/10.

Highlights from DAILY PLANET’s “Extreme Machines Week” include:

“Gyrocopter World Record”
Featured in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice, the gyrocopter was said to be the only aircraft never to circumnavigate the globe. But that’s about to change as Norman Surplus takes to the sky to make aviation history. The autogyro pilot will cross 26 countries, flying more than 43,000 kilometres over deserts, jungles, mountains, and oceans. DAILY PLANET meets Surplus prior to the last and most treacherous part of the journey – crossing the Atlantic Ocean. If he makes it, the world record is his.

“Suction Brake”
Tired of bad drivers on the road? Fear no longer! Swedish automotive safety developerAutoliv could change the way drivers come to a complete stop. Using a massive suction cup below the car which helps the vehicle brake faster in emergencies, the Torricelli Brake  decreases stopping distances by almost half. DAILY PLANET is in the driver’s seat to find out how this technology could revolutionize traffic safety.

“Bicycle Fishing”
Amsterdam might house some of the world’s most beautiful canals, but people should probably think twice before taking a dip in one. Every year, up to 15,000 rusty bicycles are fished out of the canals by special dredge boats equipped with fishing cranes. DAILY PLANET Co-Host Dan Riskin dives alongside “bicycle fishing” experts who remove bikes from the canals for a living.

“Vurtego Pogo Stick”
Lucas Cochran, DAILY PLANET’s Tech Correspondent, is bouncing off the walls…literally! Testing out the latest in pogo stick technology, the V4 from Vurtego, Cochran bops around with inventor Ian Britt, who demonstrates how this pogo stick is a real game changer. To prove it, Britt attempts a high-flying trick he’s never done before exclusively for DAILY PLANET.

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Degrassi

Link: A behind-the-scenes look at Degrassi’s set, and what’s new for Next Class

From Rick McGinnis of Toronto Life:

A behind-the-scenes look at Degrassi’s set, and what’s new for Next Class
After news broke that Degrassi: The Next Generation had been cancelled after 14 seasons on the air, it was only a matter of days before the immortal teen soap opera rose again, this time as Degrassi: Next Class. In 2016, when the new series begins its first season on the Family Channel and Netflix, at least one thing will remain essentially the same: the sets, most of which are in a studio complex in a North York industrial park, where they’re being refreshed—but not replaced—for the new show. Here’s a look at them. Continue reading.

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Dark Matter, Featured

Review: Did Dark Matter kill off a lead character?

Well, if we didn’t think Two had balls before (personally, I never doubted it) she certainly proved she did by having the Raza play chicken with a nuclear missile. With three episodes until the first season finale, there was no way the Raza would be vaporized, but that was still a pretty stressful several seconds, no?

But Episode 10 was not without casualties as the aforementioned Two became a victim of Wexler’s ego: the leader of the rival mercenary team jettisoned our hero out Raza’s airlock into space. We know Two has that special skill of healing herself, so I’m pretty sure she’ll bounce back from this. That, of course, means the rest of the team will learn the secret she’s not susceptible to injury, adding another layer of distrust amongst thieves.

Ennis Esmer makes the perfect bad guy, especially uttering dialogue written by Paul Mullie. Esmer’s Wexler is arrogant, opinionated and devious, the perfect formula for scene-stealing and out-loud laughs. His rival group of mercenaries—teamed with Raza to steal a device from a rival corporation for Mikke Combine’s Commander Truffault—borrowed from past heist movies for an entertaining hour. Yes, there were seemingly insurmountable odds against the mission succeeding (an extra security measure in a male android and oversized space station security force), but they pulled it off and stored the device behind that big metal door. (Did anyone else recall the vault opening scene in Die Hard when the door opened?)

Anyone who’s seen one of those caper storylines also knows the rival team always turns on the good(ish) guys and that’s exactly what happened. And despite Three offering up the code word to opening the Raza vault, Wexler dumped Two into space. Because he’s a jerkface.

Notes and quotes

  • How perfect was that back and forth between the guys as they decided who would tell Two about their vote? And how fantastic to have Two lifting weights as One arrived to tell her?
  • “Basically, I can get into anything.” Ennis Esmer is really, really good at playing a jerk.
  • “Broken wrist, two fractured ribs and a badly bruised left testicle.” I don’t know what was funnier, the medical description or the way The Android delivered it.
  • “Catch me!” Well, Three sort of did.

Dark Matter airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Space.

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Orphan Black

Link: Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany on Rejecting Hollywood Beauty Standards: ‘I Refused to Wax My Mustache’

From Aurelie Corinthios and Monique Jessen of People:

Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany on Rejecting Hollywood Beauty Standards: ‘I Refused to Wax My Mustache’
“I don’t think that any woman in this industry hasn’t [experienced sexism] – I think we all have in various ways, and sometimes you can’t even tell that it’s happening because it’s so ingrained in the way things are structured.” Continue reading.

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