This weekend marks the 34th annual Juno Awards, celebrating the best in Canadian music. CTV hopes to break ratings records this year. The show will be hosted in Winnipeg by comedian Brent Butt of CTV’s hit “Corner Gas.”
On Feb. 12, tickets for the show sold out in 16 minutes, breaking the previous record of 21 minutes set in Ottawa in 2003. It looks like Canadians are finally excited about celebrating their own culture. But wait! The Junos and “Desperate Housewives” fall on the same night!
Last week, CTV announced a plan to avoid moving the popular American “Desperate Housewives,” a primetime soap about a rich neighbourhood, to another night: they will not broadcast the Junos live. What they plan to do is broadcast an extended, 90-minute episode of “Desperate Housewives” at 7 p.m., two hours earlier than its normal timeslot. The Junos will then start at 8:30 p.m., half an hour after the ceremonies actually kick-off.
If this were the Genie Awards, which honour Canadian film, maybe this would be understandable. It would still be sad, but at least it would make sense. Ratings for the Genies have been so bad in past years that the only stations willing to carry it are the CHUM specialty stations like Bravo, and Star! and Citytv. They try to bribe Canadians to tune in with commercials and contests like “Watch to Win a Home Theatre System.”
The marketing for the Junos is much less obviously desperate, but still tries to bribe Canadians to participate. “The Ultimate Fan Award” contest winner is randomly chosen out of all Canadians who voted for The “Juno Fan Choice Award.” The prize is a trip to Winnipeg to see the Junos and to present the fan choice winner with their award. Last year, Jarrot Johnstone from Paris, Ont. presented the award to Nickelback. There are other contests, special ticket packages, and a “Juno Awards 2005” compilation CD as well. CTV has worked hard to develop a Juno brand, and it has paid off in ratings so far.
Last year, 1.5 million viewers tuned in, making it the most watched show on television that night, although that was not as many viewers as the year before. In 2003, 2.2 million were watching, up from 1.4 million in 2002.
Perhaps CTV executives are nervous. Hardly anyone in English-speaking Canada watched the Genies a few weeks ago, and in February, the Grammys lost big opposite “Desperate Housewives.” In Canada, 2.3 million were watching the Wisteria Lane girls while only 1.6 million tuned into the Grammys.
“Desperate Housewives” averages over two million viewers each episode in Canada, so CTV must be hoping that the show’s fans will at least stick around to watch the Juno pre-show. But if they’re watching “Desperate Housewives” on CTV, there’s no choice. The red carpet special will be crammed into breaks in the super-long episode. And yes, those breaks will have commercials as well.
In CTV’s mind, ratings are already soaring. But what happens when people decide to watch “Desperate Housewives” on another channel to avoid long interruptions by the ever-annoying and talentless Ben Mulroney? The usual-length episode can be seen on ABC in the normal time slot at 9 p.m.
The Junos were moved from CBC to CTV in 2001, making this their fourth year on CTV. A two-year broadcast deal extension was announced earlier this year, which means the Junos belong to CTV through 2007. Do they deserve it?
The Juno Awards were named after Pierre Juneau, head of the CRTC in the 1970s. One can’t help but wonder what the champion of Canadian content would think about how his awards are being treated. Canada’s largest private broadcaster has decided that American TV trumps the biggest celebration of our own musical talent. Poor Juneau must be turning over in his grave.