HAROLD GREENBERG. Born in Montréal, Québec, Canada, 1930. Quit school at 13 to work in uncle's camera store; purchased half of Pathé Humphries Laboratory, 1966; took over Astral Films with help from the Bronfmans and merged them into Astral Bellevue Humphries, a communications empire of production, distribution and Pay TV, 1973; producer and executive producer for Pay TV and films; chairman of the board, First Choice Canadian Communications Corp. and Premier Choix TVEC. Presidential Proclamation Award, SMPTE, 1985; International Achievement Award, World Film Festival, 1989; Air Canada Award, Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, 1990, Golden Reel Award for Porky's.

TELEVISION SERIES (selection)

1982 Mary and Joseph, (co-executive producer)
1983 Pygmalion (co-executive producer)
1983 Draw! (co-executive producer)

TELEVISION MINISERIES

1978 A Man Called Intrepid (co-executive producer)

FILMS

City on Fire, 1978 (co-executive producer); Terror Train, 1979 (producer); Death Ship, 1979 (co-producer); Tulips, 1980 (co-executive producer); Hard Feelings, 1980 co-executive producer/producer); Hot Touch, 1980 co-executive producer/producer); Porky's, 1981 (executive producer); Tell Me That You Love Me, 1982 (co-executive producer); Porky's II, 1982 (co-executive producer); Porky's Revenge, 1984 (executive producer).

FURTHER READING

David Ellis. Split Screen: Home Entertainment and the New Technologies. Toronto, Canada: Lorimer, 1992.

Ted Magder. Canada's Hollywood: The Canadian State and Feature Films. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1993.

 

 

 

   

Harold Greenberg is one of Canada's leading television and film entrepreneurs. As CEO and majority owner of Montreal-based Astral Communications, a leading provider of specialty television services, he has been responsible for some of Canada's most significant successes in television and film production, processing and delivery.

Starting in the photofinishing business, Greenberg moved into film processing and sound production through an acquisition of Canada's largest motion picture laboratory in 1968. The processing laboratories, Astral Bellevue-Pathe, established strong ties to major U.S. studios. This purchase represents the beginnings of the current diversified structure of Greenberg's operations as well as its links to Hollywood. First forays into film production range from the faux-American The Neptune Factor (Daniel Petrie, 1973) to the critically-acclaimed The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Ted Kotcheff, 1974). Greenberg also produced Porky's (Bob Clark, 1981), still Canada's highest-grossing film of all time. After producing over 30 motion pictures, Greenberg became interested in developing a Canadian pay-tv movie channel. In this way, Greenberg came to television via photo and film processing and production, all of which still play a central role in Astral's diversified interests.

Astral Communications is a vertically integrated corporation, involved in production, processing, duplication, and distribution of film, television and video. It plays a leading role in Canadian specialty channels. Its first were two premium film channels, The Movie Network (formerly First Choice) and the French-language Super Ecran in 1983. Since then, Astral's English-language broadcasting ventures in Canada include Viewer's Choice Canada Pay Per View, The Family Channel, and MoviePix, which is a pay-tv venue featuring films of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. French-language broadcasting includes Le Canal Famille and Canal D, which offers arts and entertainment programming. Astral continues to provide an array of post-production and technical services including dubbing, processing, and printing of film, video and compact disks. In 1994, Astral opened a compact disk and video replication plant in Florida. They have duplication and distribution agreements with Buena Vista, HBO and Barney Home Video for Canada and French-language markets. Distribution deals with U.S. majors have made Astral the Canadian distributor for some popular American programs. For instance, a joint venture between 20th Century-Fox and Astral controls distribution for NYPD Blue and The Simpsons as well as some Canadian programming. Astral has historically used its Montreal location as a way to bridge both English and French-language markets, eventually giving the company a credible foothold in European ventures (e.g., co-production agreements with TF-1, France 3 and Canal Plus in France, RAI-2 in Italy, Europool in Germany, in addition to a minority holding in France's Canal Enfants).

Despite his internationalist outlook, and Astral's frequent role as a provider of U.S. programming to Canadian audiences, Greenberg has been chair of the Canadian Communications and Cultural Industries Committee, a lobby group of industry leaders who see their operations as fundamental to Canadian cultural sovereignty. In this capacity, Greenberg has repeatedly supported the cultural exemption clause for Canada in the North American Free Trade Agreement. This has brought him into conflict with some U.S. industry figures, including Jack Valenti, President of the Motion Picture Association of America. Astral's current interest in ExpressVu, a Canadian direct-to-home satellite service, echoes Greenberg's corporate nationalism. Greenberg claims that support for the Canadian service over offerings from Power DirectTV, a subsidiary of the U.S. DirectTV service, is fundamental to the protection of Canadian cultural interests. After a brief period of monopoly for ExpressVu, granted by the federal regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), parliament overturned the decision in April 1995, and opened the way for competition in the direct-to-home market, in particular from U.S.-controlled services.

Greenberg has received numerous awards and honours including the Order of Canada and la Legion d'honneur of France. His Astral Communications is a distinct example of contemporary convergence in the film and television sectors, as well as the synergy developing between broadcasting, theatrical and home distribution and production in Canada.

-Charles R. Acland