Bravo! Canada

World Screen Weekly, June 29, 2006

CHANNEL NAME: Bravo! Canada

LAUNCH DATE: January 1, 1995

NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS: 6.4 million homes in Canada

OWNERSHIP: Bravo! Canada is one of 21 specialty channels owned by CHUM Limited, one of Canada’s leading media companies.

DESCRIPTION: Described as Canada’s only NewStyleArtsChannel, Bravo! covers all aspects of the arts, including; music, ballet, literature, drama, visual arts, modern dance, opera, architecture, the art of talk, and much more.

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING AND ACQUISTIONS: Isme Bennie

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: The channel targets the 35-54 demographic and offers them a mix of conventional arts programming, quality TV series and feature films. “It’s not high arts all the time; it’s not wall-to-wall opera and orchestral concerts,” explains Isme Bennie, Bravo!’s director of programming and acquisitions. “It’s a very broad spectrum arts channel. We do have opera and the big concerts, but we also put on what we call, “Television As Good As It Gets.” This strand includes shows like Law & Order, where it’s really, really great television and why wouldn’t that be an art?”

Some 90 percent of the channel’s schedule consists of acquired programming, but Bennie is careful to differentiate between different types of acquired product. “First, we have a high Canadian content requirement, so we either pre-buy, develop or commission from independent producers about 60 percent of our schedule—at least that much comes out of Canada,” she says. “Then we have a limit to the amount of American drama we can put on the channel. The balance of the acquisitions are the big arts performance specials and most of those come out of Europe.”

Besides Law & Order, other U.S. programs on the channel include, NYPD Blue and Inside the Actors Studio.

One of the shows that recently made a big impact on Bravo! is Bathroom Divas. “It was a series of six one hours where we went across Canada looking for the next opera star and it was a critical success,” says Bennie. Among the music concerts that performed well for the channel were those of Andrea Bocelli and Johnny Cash. “We try to do a broad range,” she continues. “We don’t do rap and contemporary music, but we do pop icons, and those do well, too. Our demographic is a bit older and they lived through Elvis and The Beatles and Abba and we do well with that kind of music.

Bravo!’s original productions include Arts & Minds, a weekly arts magazine that explores the creative process—in rehearsal, in the studio, on-stage, backstage and on the road. The show features profiles of Canadian and international artists and major events concerning architecture, design, dance, film, literature, music, opera, theatre and the visual arts.

The channel is also involved in supporting and promoting Canadian artists. Bravo!FACT (Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent) was established in 1995. The foundation provides grants for the production of Canadian shorts, covering a wide range of arts-related disciplines.

WHAT’S NEW: CHUM recently bought HBO’s series Entourage and it will be split between the Canadian broadcaster’s free-TV stations and Bravo! “ It will be promoted as, ‘If you missed it on Citytv, see it on Bravo!” says Bennie. Entourage will premiere on Bravo! in September, along with Without a Trace, concerts featuring Andrea Bocelli and the Celtic Tenors and a Joan Rivers special. There will also be a four-week season of Broadway musicals.

WEBSITE: www.bravo.ca