Canadian broadcasters have spent some $51 million on new program production and related industry initiatives over the past year, tangible benefits they must pay for as condition of their acquisition of other TV industry assets.
But in the second instalment of its research and analysis paper, Canadian Television Benefits Monitor: Tracking Spending on English language Television Benefits Packages, Boon Dog Professional Services, an Ottawa based research and consulting firm, also points out that hundreds of millions of dollars are still to be paid.
More than $560 million dollars in tangible benefits has yet to materialize, although commitments for at least 80 per cent of that amount have been made by purchasing agents.
Broadcasters are generally expected to spend some 10% of the total acquisition cost in benefit packages for Canadian production, as a condition of approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (and in lieu of more competitive processes).
In the first such report, Boon Dog noted that 15 deals (for English language TV assets) worth more than $884 were in place; its latest report tracks 18 such deals, worth more than $985 million.
Most of the outstanding benefits to be paid, or some $569 million, are due by August 2019. That figure includes $465 million for screen-based production, including multi platform digital media programming, the reports indicate
Boon Dog was founded by industry professional Mario Mota in 2006; prior to launching his own firm, Mota was Vice-President of Broadcast/Media Research at Decima Research Inc. (now Harris/Decima) where he managed the company’s growing broadcast and media research practice.
From 1999 to 2000, Mota served as Director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at the Specialty and Premium Television Association (SPTV), which represented licensed Canadian specialty, pay, and third-language TV services. Mota assumed the position of Director of Specialty and Pay Television Policy at the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) following SPTV’s merger with the CAB in December 2000. From April 2006 to November 2010, he oversaw broadcasting policy and regulatory matters for the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) (formerly the Canadian Film and Television Production Association – CFTPA), first as Senior Director of Broadcast Relations & Research and then as Vice-President, Broadcasting Policy & Regulatory Affairs.
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