APTN License: The Dog Catches the Bus, and Then Asks – Now What?

(Being the second of four posts marking the tenth anniversary of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Part Two here.)

With the launch of TVNC, for the first time northern viewers could watch a full day of northern programming, most of it in their own languages. There were a few complaints about the new channel, especially from non-Inuit viewers who were seeing for the first time what a caribou looks like when you take it apart. In fact, in Yellowknife we were told that people were referring to TVNC as “The Killing Channel”. But by and large people reacted very, very well to the new service.

In fact the new network began to attract curious viewers from some surprising places. The network’s primary audience was always intended to be northern. But its programming was up on satellite, so it could be pulled down by anyone who had a dish and knew where to look. TVNC began getting fan mail from southern Canada, from across the States, Australia, South and central America. Some of it was pretty weird – a young woman from Brussels who wanted the network to play her original composition “Poor Baby Seals, Oh Please, Don’t Die” – but most of it was appreciative and enthusiastic.

Because of the very positive reception of this service, the members of TVNC began to wonder whether there wasn’t potential to extend the service into the south. There was certainly a large and growing body of work and number of Aboriginal producers working in southern Canada. There seemed to be a lot of interest in the north, in Nunavut and in aboriginal affairs, much of it spurred by international events like the Rio Summit on Biodiversity. And there was a huge, unserved audience of Aboriginal viewers living in cities and in southern Canada, without access to TVNC.

It also seemed like an idea that could actually support itself. Cable companies charge their subscribers for the services they provide; if TVNC could provide a service that enough southern viewers were interested in watching, the revenues from the cable companies could provide a much needed infusion of cash into the broadcast organizations.

So in June 1997 the TVNC Board of Directors voted to move forward towards the establishment of a national Aboriginal television network. It required a huge leap of faith. TVNC was controlled by northerners, and accountable to northern viewers. This expansion would mean a whole new audience, new standards, a new level of diversity, and competition for viewers within a rapidly expanding universe of broadcast choices. There was also a fundamental difference in the way northern and southern broadcasters viewed the potential network. To the North, it was simple: they wanted the world to see what they were already doing – community programming in native languages. To southern Aboriginal producers, a nation network meant a high-end, competitive showcase for the best programming available. But there was lots of interest, and lost of goodwill, and the reward seemed worth the risk.

In November 1997, TVNC appeared before the CRTC’s hearings into Third National Networks and proposed that Aboriginal broadcasting should be considered alongside English and French as vital broadcasting services. And the Commission agreed. In Public Notice CRTC 1998-8 the CRTC recognizes TVNC as “a unique and significant undertaking” and that a national Aboriginal channel should be “widely available throughout Canada in order to serve the diverse needs of the various Aboriginal communities, as well as other Canadians.” The Commission also states it would consider any application by TVNC designed to achieve these objectives.

Green light. But TVNC, quite correctly, anticipated that Canada’s cable operators wouldn’t be tickled about being forced to give up a channel they could charge big bucks for. It was important to confirm that viewers really were interested. To get their ducks in a row before actually applying for a license, APTN commissioned an Angus Reid survey. To everyone’s surprise, they discovered that 66 % of Canadians support the idea of a national aboriginal TV network, even if it would mean displacing a currently offered service. Even more surprising, 68% of Canadians said they would be willing to pay a fifteen cent increase in their monthly cable bill to receive an Aboriginal network.

You couldn’t have asked for a better endorsement than that. So in June, 1998 TVNC submitted an application to the CRTC for a broadcast license for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), with a complete business plan and full details of the proposed network’s programming schedule, financial projections, technical specifications, marketing studies and structure.

The decision was announced in February 99. It was a dream come true. In its license APTN got virtually everything it wanted – mandatory service and carriage as part of the basic cable package, carriage on Express view and star choice, the two leading Direct-to-home broadcast services. AND…a subscriber rate of 15 cents per month, something less than a can of coke and a package of chips per year.

The night the decision was announced we all went out to the Pub Italia on Preston St. You’d think that we’d have gotten pretty rowdy. But as the evening went on we actually got quieter and quieter. Abe Tagalik, the CEO of APTN, summed up the reason at about 11 o’clock, just before we packed it in.

“You know what this means, right?” he said. “We have until September to put together a national TV network. Nobody sleeps for the next four months.”