Also in this report:

- Shuffle pits Baton against Global: Bidding wars expected to drive up program prices, national advertising rates p.20

- Ontario: local players aiming regional p.20

- Delight and skepticism greet changes in West: Many expect arrival of new Vancouver station will bring only temporary relief from high rates p.24

- Aggressive branding the name of the game: Newer specialty services face greatest challenge in establishing distinct identity p.24

- Bigger not always better: Quality of audience sometimes more important than quantity p.28

In a matter of a few short months, the television landscape in Canada has changed dramatically.

A series of recent developments on the ownership and licensing front promise to alter the broadcast playing field at both the national and regional levels.

The most attention-grabbing, by far, is Baton Broadcasting System's move to acquire majority ownership of CTV Television Network - a deal now awaiting final approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. That spells tougher competition nationally for CanWest Global Communications.

Global is also facing new challenges in the Ontario market, where formerly local stations are remaking themselves as regional players. And it is moving into Quebec, where it will battle the long-dominant cfcf for a share of the English-language market.

Add to all of this the licensing of new stations in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, and suddenly it starts to look like a brand new broadcasting ball game. To help make sense of it all, Strategy has asked media directors to offer their analysis of these changes from an advertiser's point of view.

In addition, we check in with Canada's specialty tv channels, for a discussion about the challenges of establishing their brands in an increasingly crowded environment.

It's a buyer's market - finally.

That's the early word, anyway, on the impact of CanWest Global Communications' move into English Quebec.

The crtc's February decision to grant Global - in partnership with tva - the licence to acquire cbc affiliate ckmi came as no surprise to Quebec agencies and advertisers. The province has long been in need of another private English-language station, media directors contend. And Global was widely considered the prime contender because of its size and growing influence across Canada.

The decision, however, will prove a major thorn in the side for cfcf, the province's dominant English-language station. cfcf's virtual monopoly has helped make English Montreal one of the most expensive markets in Canada.

While it's a little early to make predictions with any certainty, many expect Global's arrival to mean a more competitive market and lower rates. Fragmentation of the market will see both cfcf and cbc affiliate cbmt lose viewership.

"There will be a shift in dollars, because there has been too much concentration," says Maria Spensieri, vice-president, media director with Montreal-based Allard & Associates. She does not, however, expect cfcf to immediately drop rates.

The decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission limits ckmi to pursuing national advertisers, which leaves cfcf with a protected English retail franchise in Montreal.

The presence of a new English-language station may also serve to repatriate some Canadian advertising dollars from u.s. broadcasters.

"The lack of airtime available here in the past has forced us to spend money in the u.s.," says Pierre Delagrave, executive vice-president, media and research with Cossette Communication-Marketing. "I think the amount spent in Quebec will increase now by a good 15%."

Many questions about the new Global station remain to be answered. What will the programming look like? Will incentives be offered to national advertisers that may wish to buy only Montreal? And what are their plans with respect to local programming?

One thing is clear: the English market in Quebec isn't likely to see significant growth in the years ahead, given the province's political climate. Still, many in the media community argue that the English market is not fully exploited, and that the younger generation of Quebecers is more bilingual - all of which points to the need for another strong English-language broadcaster in the province.

"Global is walking into the market to be a presence," says Penny Stevens, vice-president and general manager of Publicite MBS in Montreal. "They are not walking into this market to be No. 2."

The other recent development to capture the attention of Quebec advertisers and agencies is the purchase of Television Quatre Saisons (tqs) by Quebecor, in conjunction with Mississauga, Ont.-based Canadian Satellite Communications, a subsidiary of Western International Communications (wic). The sale awaits approval from the crtc in August.

The crtc had previously rejected a bid by Le Groupe Videotron of Montreal to acquire tqs, based in large part on concerns about concentration of ownership in the French-language broadcast market. Videotron already owns tva, the largest French network in the province.

tqs has lost money almost consistently since its 1986 launch - a state of affairs that observers have blamed variously on a failure to provide high-quality programming, and on excessive investment in high-tech equipment.

The station currently holds an estimated 12% share of the total hours tuned by francophones in the Quebec market.