Canwest is launching its first new specialty television channel in nearly a decade with the July 1 launch of Global Reality Channel.
As the name suggests, viewers will have access to a schedule completely dedicated to reality programs such as Survivor, The Apprentice and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
Canwest has already negotiated a deal with cable provider Rogers to add the channel to its VIP Customer package, which has more than one million subscribers.
Walter Levitt, chief marketing officer for Canwest Broadcasting, said “very active” negotiations are underway with other cable providers, and expects additional deals to be announced in the coming weeks.
“Unlike other channels that [had] to build subscriber bases from the ground up, this channel launches with a built-in base of well over one million customers. We have a big opportunity with those customers to generate large audiences right from the beginning.”
Levitt said the channel will likely attract viewers across multiple demographics, but anticipates its core demo to be adults 25-54, “and there will be some programing that will skew a little more female in there.”
The reality genre has been good to Canwest’s over-the-air Global network, with its Survivor broadcasts a mainstay on BBM Canada‘s top 10 weekly ratings lists. It recently won the top spot with 2,939,000 viewers during April 12-18 period, beating out two episodes of American Idol on CTV.
Canwest currently operates 18 specialty channels, including HGTV, National Geographic Channel and Showcase, but its Reality venture will be the first to carry the name of its national Global brand.
Levitt said with “virtually 100% awareness and recognition among Canadians,” the Global brand and brand marks were included in the new product’s name “because we knew it stands, in consumers’ minds, for top-hit programming.”
Neither a full program lineup or launch-period advertisers have been made public, but Levitt said that information will become available closer to the channel’s go-live date, likely mid-June when a full-scale marketing campaign begins.
“A huge part of this opportunity is to talk to existing viewers of reality programing on Global… particularly Big Brother, which is our biggest show in the summer.”
