Connie Britton stars as Vivien Harmon in American Horror Story on FX.
One of the last big U.S. cable brands to cross the border arrives Monday. Will it be a hit or an American Horror Story?
FX Canada launches at 9 p.m. Monday with a special Halloween night airing of American Horror Story , the creepy new drama from Glee producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. Rogers Digital and East Link subscribers can enjoy a two-month free preview (channel 318 on Rogers Digital and in high definition on Rogers’ channel 565 in Ontario only). Distribution on other Canadian carriers is still being negotiated.
Horror Story stars Connie Britton ( Friday Night Lights ) and Dylan McDermott ( The Practice ) as a couple whose marriage is almost as spooked and ruined as the sinister haunted house they move into in California. It is one of several shows originating from FX, the U.S. cable service that broke through a decade ago with Emmy-winner The Shield and became home to such provocative adult hits as Nip/Tuck (also from Murphy/Falchuk), Rescue Me , Damages and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia .
Besides Horror Story , current FX hits airing on FX Canada will include the offbeat comedy Wilfred . Elijah Wood plays a guy whose best friend is a six-foot Australian in a dog suit. Early seasons of the modern western Justified and the gritty biker drama Sons of Anarchy will also be in the rotation (Pay-TV channel Super Channel still has the newer episodes of these FX series), as will Louis C.K.’s edgy comedy Louie .
Migrating these cable networks across the border hasn’t always been easy. Awareness spills into Canada and so do certain programs. Still, brand acceptance is not always a sure thing.
Back when it was owned by Canwest, Global had its own horror story when it tried to relaunch its then-owned regional channels — such as Hamilton’s CHCH — by importing the E! brand. The result was a mishmash of regular syndicated fare and local news with trashy celebrity rehab programming. Think of it as American garbage being turned away at the border. Within two years of launch, Global gave up on E! as well as its regional stations. (E! currently airs in Canada as a Bell-owned digital channel.)
HBO Canada, on the other hand, has flourished. Astral and Corus, the Canadian media companies that own The Movie Network and Movie Central, licensed the HBO brand and funnelled offerings such as True Blood , Boardwalk Empire and Real Time with Bill Maher into one Canadian HBO option. It also replicated the HBO on-air environment and invested in Canadian fare — such as Jason Priestley’s big Gemini winner Call Me Fitz —creating a package that led to higher subscriptions, viewership and revenues. “It’s obviously given us a competitive advantage in the marketplace,” says Astral senior vice president, marketing and sales, Domenic Vivolo.
The move to bring FX to Canada came about as Rogers broadcasting president Scott Moore and other show buyers sought U.S. content for Citytv. Having locked up rights to main Fox network fare such as Terra Nova and New Girl , the idea of cherry-picking FX comedy Wilfred was floated. That led to suggestions and inquiries into taking the whole network. “I believe you can build an entire network around one or two shows,” says Moore. “Look at what Mad Men has done for AMC.”
One of the most valuable assets in the deal may be the association with FX network president John Landgraf. A savvy programmer who has spun U.S. gold on Canadian-style programming budgets, Landgraf already had his eye on Canada. “We’ve wanted to have a dedicated outlet for our programs in Canada for as long as I can remember,” he says on the phone from his offices in L.A. “We would have loved to launch a channel on our own, but the nature of Canadian law is you can’t do that.”
For years, Canadian content and ownership restrictions, policed by the Canadian Radio- television Telecommunications Commission to protect “genre exclusivity,” prevented Comedy Central, ESPN, Disney, FX, HBO and others from flooding whole cloth across the border. Lately, though, especially as distributors like Rogers, Shaw and Bell control the Canadian television landscape, those restrictions have relaxed considerably. Canadian broadcasters have partnered with American media companies and — with promises to add Canadian content on a graduating basis — have brought these U.S. cable brands to Canadians. American companies, seeing revenues stagnate or slide in a tough economy and a saturated market, have been only to open to exploring some northern exposure.
The key to these U.S. cable migrations, as it always is in television, seems to be having the right content at the right time. For years, Canadians wanted their MTV. First CHUM, and now Bell-owned CTV has tried to give it to them, with mixed results. Jersey Shore still has some buzz on the Canadian digital channel MTV Canada, but never seemed to be the phenomenon it was in the States.
The other key seems to be, in Moore’s words, “having the programming match the brand.” FX’s schedule appeals more to young male viewers than most other networks, a strategy that fits with Rogers’ stable of Sportsnet and City channels. Having a property that fits across all platforms makes cross-promotion easier, figures Moore. You can lure more Sportsnet viewers over to The League on FX than you could Oprah on OWN.
Perhaps culture also has something to do with these cable migrations. Landgraf guesses that, in Canada, “there’s a level of sophistication or nuance more synonymous with brands like HBO and FX.” He notes that FX comedies like Archer , Louie and Wilfred generally import well in the U.K., where they’re seen as “a little bit less slapstick-y, little less broad.” He thinks the kind of comedy FX does is very compatible “with Canadian writers, actors and comedians who have thrived in the American marketplace.”
Whether those Canadian writers, actors and comedians — as well as others in the industry — will get a chance to strut their wares on FX Canada is something that will be watched closely. The channel is required to devote at least 15% of its schedule at start up to Canadian fare, a percentage that is supposed to grow each year. Given the normal time it takes to get shows to market, it may be two or three years before a Canadian Horror Story will get a chance to scare up as many viewers as the U.S. deal.
Niche cable networks are not always an E!sy sell in Canada. Brands that seem to have strong name recognition in the U.S. — E!, MTV, OWN — survive there thanks to a much larger subscription base. When they are imported into Canada, the slice of the smaller pie yields smaller returns and little margin for error. Other U.S. cable brands seem to thrive when they migrate north of the border. Cases in point:
HBO Canada: Astral’s Domenic Vivolo says the 2008 launch of HBO Canada has led to annual subscription growth and reduced churn. “Research showed we had the programming,” says Vivolo of HBO content previously seen on TMN, “but really what Canadians wanted was the brand.”
Disney Jr., Disney XD: Vivolo says these channels aimed at kids 2-5 and 5-9 have also been big winners.
OWN CANADA: It didn’t help that news of OWN’s U.S. ratings struggles emerged even before OWN Canada launched last March. Will it be Rosie to the rescue? The success of Rosie O’Donnell’s new nightly talk show is seen as key to OWN’s survival.
E!: Global tried — and failed — to launch E! on its regional networks. After two years it abandoned both the brand and the stations. Now CTV is trying E! out as a digital brand.
MTV Canada: The Jersey Shore is a long way from Canada both in distance and TV ratings success — although Bell Media boasts the series is its top online draw with more than 14 million video viewers. The big TV obstacle: young viewers among most fickle, don’t hang onto brands.
Niche cable networks are not always an E!sy sell in Canada. Brands that seem to have strong name recognition in the U.S. — E!, MTV, OWN — survive there thanks to a much larger subscription base. When they are imported into Canada, the slice of the smaller pie yields smaller returns and little margin for error. Other U.S. cable brands seem to thrive when they migrate north of the border. Cases in point:
HBO Canada: Astral’s Domenic Vivolo says the 2008 launch of HBO Canada has led to annual subscription growth and reduced churn. “Research showed we had the programming,” says Vivolo of HBO content previously seen on TMN, “but really what Canadians wanted was the brand.”
Disney Jr., Disney XD: Vivolo says these channels aimed at kids 2-5 and 5-9 have also been big winners.
OWN CANADA: It didn’t help that news of OWN’s U.S. ratings struggles emerged even before OWN Canada launched last March. Will it be Rosie to the rescue? The success of Rosie O’Donnell’s new nightly talk show is seen as key to OWN’s survival.
E!: Global tried — and failed — to launch E! on its regional networks. After two years it abandoned both the brand and the stations. Now CTV is trying E! out as a digital brand.
MTV Canada: The Jersey Shore is a long way from Canada both in distance and TV ratings success — although Bell Media boasts the series is its top online draw with more than 14 million video viewers. The big TV obstacle: young viewers among most fickle, don’t hang onto brands.
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