C Channel

C Channel was a Canadian premium television service specialising in arts programming. It was one of Canada's first licensed "pay TV" channels when it began in 1983 but it ended in failure within months.

History

Toronto-based company Lively Arts Market Builders Inc. was one of several companies that received a licence from the CRTC to provide a subscription television service for Canadian cable companies. The company's offering, C Channel, would feature artistic content such as theatrical, opera and ballet performances. This format was distinct from the other new pay-movie services, First Choice (now The Movie Network) and Superchannel (now Movie Central).

C Channel, First Choice and Superchannel began their broadcasts on 1 February 1983. C Channel's President Edgar Cowan predicted 200,000 subscribers and financial equilibrium within a year. [cite news | last=Canadian Press | pages=E5 | title=200,000 subscribers expected | date=1983-01-07 | publisher="Globe and Mail"]

Programming

C Channel was required as a condition of licence from the CRTC to spend no less than 20% of its revenues and 50% of its expenditures on Canadian produced programming.

C Channel held a two-night preview of its programming on January 20 and January 21, cablecast on most cable systems, such as Greater Winnipeg Cablevision, which was actually not able to carry the real service due to the dispute with MTS.

On the first night there were only two programs, beginning at 8 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time): Swan Lake, performed by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House in London, England. The other was a movie originally released in 1980, The Last Metro.

One of the programs featured was a Bach-themed concert performed by flautist James Galway and violinist Kyung-Wha Chung, while jazz enthusiasts could watch performances from the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

One of its marquee presentations was the Royal Shakespeare Company's 8 1/2 hour production of "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" acquired from Britain's Channel 4. ["Pay-TV licensee unveils schedule", "Globe and Mail", December 16, 1982] The program ran on Sunday, March 13, 1983 from 1 pm to midnight with breaks for lunch, tea and dinner. ["Nicholas Nickleby comes north intact", "Globe and Mail", January 19, 1983] [Gagen, Helen, "Nickelby show can be occasion for Victorian feast", "Globe and Mail", March 9, 1983]

Hours

C Channel broadcast 56 hours per week, of which 40% were devoted to the performing arts, 40% to critically acclaimed films, and 30% to high quality children's programming.Fact|date=February 2007

The broadcast day began at 7 p.m. with the children's programming block and ended around 11 p.m. or midnight.

Demise

The three Canadian premium channels, at a steep $16 per channel per subscriber at a time when a basic cable subscription was $10-12, would ultimately appeal to only to a small percentage of the many existing Canadian cable TV subscribers.

C Channel's cultural offerings, similar to the type of programming occasionally seen on PBS and CBC Television, failed to attract the expected number of subscribers. On 17 June 1983, the broadcaster was in receivership with $9 million in debt and only gaining 27,000 subscribers where 60,000-100,000 were expected and well short of its break even point of 175,000 subuscribers. [Godley, Stephen, "Struggling pay-TV network makes pitch for more viewers", "Globe and Mail", April 16, 1983] C Channel's broadcasts ended on 30 June 1983, due to a lack of subscribers. [cite news | first=Stephen | last=Godfrey | pages=A1-A2 | title=Receiver named for arts network | date=1983-06-18 | publisher="Globe and Mail"] [cite news | first=Tracy | last=LeMay | pages=B16 | title=C Channel faces end with $9 million debt | date=1983-06-18 | publisher="Globe and Mail"]

Postlude

Following the receivership, the production facility and other studio assets were sold to Crossroads Christian Communications which was planning to establish a national faith-based television service. [cite news | last=Canadian Press | pages=E7 | title=100 Huntley Street buys up C-Channel | date=1983-07-29 | publisher="Globe and Mail"]

C Channel's demise was one part of a troubled start to Canada's subscription television industry. The remaining premium movie channels were forced to restructure into regional monopolies for survival; these monopolies still exist despite the current profitability of this sector.

About 10 years later, a second attempt at launching an arts-oriented cable network in Canada as made when the CRTC heard an application by CHUM Limited of Toronto for a Canadian version of the Bravo television network that had been in operation in the United States since December, 1980. Bravo! signed on January 1, 1995 and was considerably more successful and continues to broadcast. Unlike C Channel, Bravo! does not charge an individual fee for service, but rather is included in various "bundles" or "tiers" offered by the country's cable and satellite service providers.

References