The 1994 CAB convention

Winnipeg: From the Internet to interactive television, fiber optics and bandwidth to specialized programming, delegates at this year's Canadian Association of Broadcasters convention came away with many ideas but no clear answers to the shape, structure and roles they'll play in the revolutionary communications environment on the horizon.

However, one thing was clear: the consumer will decide what succeeds and fails in this environment. Content servers need to stop focusing all their attention on technology and begin finding ways to make their programs accessible, affordable, and necessary to the end user.

Held in surprisingly balmy Winnipeg Nov. 6-9, this year's event, titled "The Power of Broadcasting," was a joint convention organized by the cab and the Western Association of Broadcast Engineers.

"Listening to your audience" was a theme repeated in one way or another throughout the convention. crtc chairman Keith Spicer suggested rejigging the convention's theme to "The Power of Viewers," as he spoke to a luncheon crowd of 400 on the importance of listening to the viewers as they build a communications network that only barely resembles broadcasting as it is today.

"The era of feeding captive audiences is over. In the pick-and-pay world of tomorrow, viewers will watch what they want, when they want. They will be calling the shots, literally, from the command boxes in their living room," Spicer said.

Producers need to make a commitment to high-quality Canadian products that will stand out in the clutter, added Spicer.

But if Canadian programming will be the heart of the new system, why aren't broadcasters spending as much time on the problems facing the producers as they are on technology and structural changes, asked Trina McQueen, president and general manager of The Discovery Channel.

As moderator on the "New TV Services: Growing the Business" panel, McQueen took the community to task for being so obsessed with technology instead of the real magic of video: the content.

"How much attention have we really paid to the people that perform and write the programs?" she asked.

Broadcasters are not looking at effective models to increase the product, McQueen said, adding: They need to invest as much time and thought into sustaining and encouraging the creator as they have in facilitating the technology that will take it into people's homes.

Predictions emerging from the panel, made up of McQueen; Arthur Weinthal, vice-president, entertainment programming for the CTV Television Network; Linda Rankin, president of Lifestyle Television; and Joanne McKenna, president, CanWest Global developments, include the evolution of fewer but larger production companies with strong ties to broadcasters, and program sharing.

Sharing programming won't dilute the brand of the products, said Weinthal. "You're sending the message that your name on the programming means positive things, regardless of how many services air it."