The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage met on Jan. 29 with its two new expert advisors, David Taras and Marc Raboy, to try to get the committee on track. It discussed three options: one, issuing an interim report in light of the fact that the final report is unlikely to be ready at year-end; two, trying to stick to the schedule; and three, extending the deadline for delivery of the report. The members seemed to favour the third option. As well, a committee member noted that at the present, they are "meeting various witnesses and we are going off in all directions." Therefore, the committee attempted to clarify key issues that it would focus on. Below is an edited transcript of the discussions.

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Jerry McIntosh has been appointed director of the newly integrated documentary unit at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. The unit is responsible for commissioning independent productions for CBC Television and CBC Newsworld. Previously, McIntosh was executive producer of documentaries at CBC Newsworld. Marie Natanson will be the unit’s deputy director.

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Holders of video-on-demand licences given extension
The CRTC has granted an extra year, or until Dec. 14, 2002, for holders of video-on-demand (VOD) licences to roll out their services. Videon Cablesystems Inc. (now Shaw), Corus Entertainment Inc., Cogeco Cable Inc., and an Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc.-Shaw Communications Inc. partnership, which received their VOD licences in 1997, all got the extension — Broadcasting Decision 2002-33, 2002-34, 2002-35, and 2002-36. Five VOD services were licensed in 1997, and another four were licensed in 2000 under the digital licensing framework that saw the licensing of nearly 300 new digital specialty channels (CCR, Jan. 17/01). Rogers will announce the rollout of its VOD service early next week.

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Stornoway Communications president and CEO Martha Fusca says the company is "absolutely" in for the long haul with its three diginets: the public affairs i channel, the dance channel bpm:tv, and the short film channel Movieola. Last week, Stornoway laid off 28 of its 55 employees, and cancelled i channel’s flagship program Unzipped, which was hosted by federal Progressive Conservative party leader Joe Clark’s daughter, Catherine. Most of the employees let go worked on the production of programming.

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The Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) is expected to ask the CRTC to approve a new financing model in its licence renewal application filed with the commission this week. Although CPAC officials would not elaborate on the proposal, it is likely to include a request for a wholesale carriage fee and/or the right to seek sponsorships, similar to those afforded community cable channels.

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CHUM Ltd. warns there will be "far reaching" effects on the whole broadcasting system if the CRTC accepts a rival’s rationale for rebranding and rejigging its youth-oriented digital specialty television channel. In a strongly worded follow-up filing to the commission on February 5, CHUM asks the question: "To what extent can the basic character of a ‘niche’ specialty service be changed and still remain acceptable to the commission?"

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The major broadcast distributors driving the rollout of digital TV are generally giving the thumbs up to take-up rates achieved to date for the new digital specialty TV networks that launched last fall. But gauging the success or failure of the launch is proving challenging due to the many variables and the short timeframe since people have actually had to shell out for the channels.

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