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BPM TV to change format! :( (pg. 4)
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| Rocco |
| quote: | Originally posted by StereoPrincess
So what can we do? |
sit back, look at the watch and let out one big pissed off smile.
:D |
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| BeatJunkie |
| quote: | Originally posted by StereoPrincess
So what can we do? |
Here's what I did... I sent an e-mail of concern to Martha Fusca, president & CEO of Stornoway Communications, respectfully giving her my opinion of what I saw on bpm:tv this week, and asking her some questions about the events that took place recently. You can e-mail her too. Her e-mail address is [email protected]. Please be respectful -- Martha seems genuinely interrested in hearing about what their viewers want, and we want her to keep taking us seriously.
She replied today, and answered my questions...mostly.
Regarding the format changes, Martha said that they have been very narrow in the kinds of dance music and material that they have played on bpm:tv. The plan was always to provide more and the conditions of their license require that they provide more.
Martha also defended "Dance Moves", saying that the reason why they only place one fresh episode each week is because people really want to learn the stuff, and you can't learn it if you only see it once. It's a valid point, and perhaps I'm being selfish for being so quick to complain about the show. I suppose not everyone has a PVR with a "skip back 10 seconds" button. :)
She also said that we will be seeing more of Vishanti, with new daily episodes of Back At Ya coming soon. They are also looking for additional live talent.
She was vague about the circumstances surrounding Cinar's departure, and appropriately so. Bosses aren't supposed to tell people about those kind of things. Fair enough. Specifically she said that "Cinar leaving has nothing to do with the repeats". We all know that.
So now it's just wait and see. Apparently there is more to come in the coming weeks. I'm hopefull that it doesn't get watered down too much and that the station stay true to its name.
Did my e-mail make a difference? Maybe. At least my voice was heard.
Peace. |
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| tvmann |
I sent an email to Martha Fusca and got a reply too. I think they are open to suggestions to some extent.
I did a search on the WWW and found some of the original plans they submitted to the CRTC when they started the channel, and they are totally different compared to what they've been doing. Maybe there is some pressure for them to do the highbrow things they said they would originally do.
I wonder how the channel is financed. Stornoway was originally a partnership, half owned by Cogeco, the big cable company, and half by Stornoway Communications which is managed by Martha Fusca's husband Kitsen Vincent (a documentary film maker) and someone named Mark Curry. Since the total operating expenses for BPM and iChannel are millions, I wonder just who are the investors in Stornoway Communications. Another question is why so many people from the Fusca family (4) are working at bpm.
Something I just noticed is that as of January 7 2004 Cogeco has sold it's share of the Stornoway Partnership to the other partners. So that would explain some things. |
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| BeatJunkie |
I did some looking on the CRTC website and found that the transfer of shares was actually being planned in early August 2003, and was officially submitted to the CRTC on August 29th, 2003. Another document shows that it was approved by the CRTC on January 17th, 2004 -- two days before we heard of Cinar's dismissal.
We still don't know whether this was a financial decision or a matter of creative differences. They may never tell.
Bpm:tv has a new web forum administrator named Debora. She introduced herself over there and intends to answer many of our questions. Here's hoping for straight answers about the future of bpm:tv.
Cheers! |
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| chrismack |
I guess it all comes down to financial realities. You can visist the CRTC site yourself and download the financials of every station (radio or TV) in the country.
If you do that for BPM, you'll see that they lose money - A lot of money!
In fact, in 2002, they only sold $8k in advertising. Yes, that is 8k for the whole year.
Being a Digital channel is tough enough. Being a Digital channel with a tough to define target market seems to be even tougher.
Not sure what to say, other than they will need to retool the stationif they want to survive. If they keep doing what they're doing, they will be soooo dead. |
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| rabbitjoker |
It's the usual corporate credo:
Money talks and walks. |
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| magik_ss |
So that can play same old commercial crap?
Buls*it!!!!
:whip: :whip: :whip: :whip: :whip: |
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| Dj Smitty20 |
Huh...I just ordered this damn channel.
So what's going on? Can anyone give me the dumbed down answer? Are they getting rid of good dance music and focusing on crappy rap/hip hop and Euro or what? |
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| StereoPrincess |
| I emailed the girl and she said not to worry about the programming. They are actually improving the station and getting more shows and they are not changing the name. |
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| Dj Smitty20 |
| quote: | Originally posted by StereoPrincess
I emailed the girl and she said not to worry about the programming. They are actually improving the station and getting more shows and they are not changing the name. |
I was just flipping through the TV earlier and I noticed that from 3-4 and 4-5 it was this Urban Dance and Hip Hop Nation...all rap/hip hop crap. I thought this channel was exclusively dance music. Even Euro is better than the same "yo bitch, money, shooting, cars, bitch shake dat ass BLA BLA BLA" crap.
There's enough of the other e on MTV and Much Music, which incidentally, I never watch.
North America really sucks for our scene. |
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| tvmann |
It's an attempt to get more viewers and advertisers.
I think they made a mistake by cheaping out and doing so many reruns. Even people who like the programs just get tired of the reruns. What we want is more new videos and programs. You just can't run a channel with one or two hours of new material per week, and the rest is reruns.
Another problem is that trance addicts on the bpm forums are outspoken and disrespectful of other forms of electronic music, and want nothing but trance, trance, and more trance (and only certain types of trance too), and that does not help. Tends to drive off anyone interested in non-trance electronic music. That's a minor problem though, because almost nobody posts on the BPM forums, a sign that nobody is watching!
BPM management might have concluded that electronic music does not have a big enough audience and are bringing in hip hop and who knows what else. But they just don't have enough money to do a good job on a wide range of dance music types and programs, so it's starting to look like a pale imitation of Much.
Much could easily take way all remaining BPM viewers by just adding a few dance music programs. |
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| Dj Smitty20 |
Well, I'll see how it is over the next month. If it sucks, then I'll get rid of it.
They still plan on giving trance and other forms of EDM a lot of time though right? |
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