Kevin Byles

World Screen Weekly, March 22, 2007

VP and General Manager

CHUM International

CHUM International is known for its hip, pushing-the-envelope type of programming, and its groundbreaking Citytv and MuchMusic franchises. Series such as Behind The Movies, Fashion Television Shorts and SexTV’s Love Stories offer broadcasters a versatile alternative to more costly dramas and comedies that can be scheduled in a variety of time slots. “The genres that are working for us are pop culture, style, fashion and sexuality—sexuality is really starting to grow for us, it’s becoming very strong,” explains Kevin Byles, the VP and general manager of CHUM International. The added value of this type of programming is that it lends itself to all sorts of new media outlets, and in particular, to mobile. “The whole celebrity genre—tidbits, live interviews, some music, some specials—seems to be working for mobile. These clips are short and sweet and they capture our audience,” he says.

CHUM recently signed an exclusive deal with Orbit Communications, a satellite platform in the Middle East. “We have created half-a-dozen ongoing series for them; and the clips could be as short as 5-10 seconds to as long as 2-3 minutes,” says Byles. This mobile deal supports the Hollywood Star! channel that CHUM supplies to Orbit. Hollywood Star! is our new exciting hybrid channel,” explains Byles, referring to the channel’s mix of programming that includes fashion, music, celebrity, infotainment, style and a little bit of sex. What Byles is really excited about is the distribution aspect of the channel, which he calls a “plug and play” model.

“Orbit’s Hollywood Star! channel is completely assembled 24/7 in Toronto, and delivered across the fiber line to Teleworld in the U.K.; from the U.K. to Bahrain; and then Bahrain takes it to Orbit’s Middle Eastern and North African territories,” explains Byles. Hollywood Star! goes out as a clean feed without commercials, so Orbit just plugs it in, so to speak, and sends it out to viewers. “It’s clean, it’s simple and it’s just what we say it is—you plug it in and play it and let it go,” notes Byles.

This is a model he is keen to replicate in other territories, given the popularity of celebrity/music/fashion programming and due to the simplicity of the channel’s delivery.

As Byles continues to look for opportunities to grow the CHUM brands within both conventional media and new media, he is very aware that the digital world still offers a great deal of uncertainty. “We’re in an painful in-between moment that those in new media are more sure than ever that they’re on the right path, but still unsure of their business model,” he says. “And those in the conventional media are more sure than ever that they need to redefine their business models to embrace new media but they’re unsure of their path.”

During this transition period, Byles is keeping CHUM’s options open. “We’re just kind of rolling with [the changes] and we’re taking some risks, both domestically and internationally,” he explains. “We are modeling our domestic parent operation [the Canadian telecommunications giant CTVglobemedia Inc., known as Bell Globemedia prior to 2007, which is in the process of acquiring CHUM], for these mobile and new media initiatives. We’ve got a model to work with, so far it’s worked fairly well.”