Local news is good news, says TV3 boss

When the Canadian television giant, CanWest, linked up with the TV3 consortium to develop Ireland's first independent television channel, the general manager of its Winnipeg station, Mr Rick Hetherington, decided to "go for it".

The television executive (51) got his wish and this week he arrived in Ireland to become the managing director and chief executive of TV3.

He learned about the Irish project 14 months ago. He wanted to be involved with the international side of CanWest and he believed "Ireland would be a great place to live".

Ireland offers a wonderful lifestyle, he says, and the opportunity for him and his wife to travel in Europe. Even our weather does not detract. It was 20 degrees below zero in Winnipeg when he left.

Ireland has not had television executives like Mr Hetherington before. Behind the charm lurks a highly commercial and competitive business brain. When he talks of culture, it is not the way RTE executives and public service broadcasters do. Culture and cultural differences help identify markets and Global TV, as CanWest's channels in Canada are called, delivers audiences to advertisers.

CanWest Global Communications Corp is a remarkable organisation. It is a string of television stations that run practically coast to coast in Canada. Each one offers the same programming, with some regional differences, such as news and some local programmes. For the viewer who might travel across the country Global TV stations look the same, like a network.

But for advertisers, it is very different. Each station sells ads in its local area. This allows advertisers to get their message across to specific markets, without waste. It is a strategy that has made CanWest highly profitable.

"We recognise that we are in the advertising business," he says. There are no production staff in CanWest. "We are acquired-programme-playback centres, plus news. Our strength is tapping into the large production universe." CanWest has also been a major funder of co-productions, a practice it wants to adopt in Ireland, using CanWest's international outlets in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

CanWest was one of the first television companies that separated broadcasting and production. It does not make programmes, but is a publisher broadcaster, acquiring programmes from Hollywood or from Canada's independent programme making sector.

Mr Hetherington moved into CanWest 5 1/2 years ago. Eighteen months later he moved to Winnipeg as station manager. The Winnipeg station holds a special place in the culture of CanWest; it was the first station that CanWest acquired. The city is also the seat of the corporation's headquarters.

Before joining CanWest, he spent more than 15 years working on the commercial side of television in Toronto. He sees huge similarities between Ireland now and Canada before the expansion of CanWest and private television.

Those similarities are much closer than the comparison that is so often made between Ireland and New Zealand, where CanWest operates two channels, TV3 and the newer TV4.

Ireland, he says, is "inundated" with foreign signals. It was the same in Canada, with US television universally available. CBC has its state subsidy, RTE has its licence fee. The advertising market is under served, especially in television.

"Advertising spend in Ireland is low in comparison with other European countries. We can make that grow. That was similar to Canada," he says.

He denies that the amount of Irish-originating programmes from TV3 15 per cent rising to 25 per cent is low. That is only in comparison with RTE, he contends.

"We cannot be successful unless we are a distinctly Irish national station." News is a way of identifying the station as Irish, as local, he says.

In his first week here, he has been involved in the legal process of acquiring studios and offices. This week it completed the deal on 38,000 sq ft of space in the Westgate Business Park in Tallaght. Research has identified niche markets TV3 will exploit. He will not go further in talking about programmes at this stage. TV3 will go on air in September, though the work schedule is about four months behind.

Mr Hetherington leaves Global TV, Winnipeg, where it is the number one prime time station. One of the first functions he attended in Dublin was a debate at UCD's business school this week on the changing face of Irish broadcasting. As he sat in the audience he heard the chairman of TV3, Mr James Morris, and others from the world of TV discuss the future, competition, the market and especially the huge growth expected in television. Back in Winnipeg, cable TV households have access to about 70 channels. People tuned into about eight stations, he said. Four or five were local, accounting for about 75 per cent of viewing. Of the rest, two or three were speciality stations, such as sports channels, and one news channel. That illustrates the power of the local, he says.