Craig gets to keep Toronto licence, has plans to expand into more markets

Now that it’s been confirmed that Drew Craig will keep his licence for a conventional television station in the crowded Toronto market, he can move ahead with plans for expansion. Calling the Toronto licence "critical" for Craig Broadcast Systems Inc., the president and CEO of the Calgary-based broadcaster says the company plans to apply for more TV licences to serve additional markets. "We don’t want to stop in Toronto. There are other markets in Canada that we want to serve. We’ll apply for more licences in other cities," Craig says. "They are not necessarily large markets. They are markets that we have identified that we think need a higher level of service."Craig, speaking to CCR last week while in Ottawa to lobby to keep Craig’s Toronto licence, says he has absolutely no reservations about entering the Toronto market, and notes that people questioned the company when it expanded from Brandon to Calgary. Craig’s toronto/one station is expected to launch next spring. Amid intensive lobbying on all sides, the government announced June 5 that it had upheld the CRTC’s controversial decision to grant the Toronto licence to Craig over a number of other suitors, such as Torstar Corp., Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc., and CanWest Global Communications Corp. (CCR, Apr. 12/02). Three commissioners – Stuart Langford, Martha Wilson, and Barbara Cram – voted to grant the licence to Craig, while two others – Joan Pennefather and Andrée Wylie – on the five-person panel dissented in favour of Torstar. Torstar set off the flurry of licence applications when it applied for conventional TV licences in the Toronto, Hamilton, and Kitchener markets. That move prompted the CRTC to open the process up to any interested party. Toronto-based CHUM Ltd. has argued all along that the market is too crowded and no new competitors should be licensed (CCR, May 23/02). But the government ruled that the CRTC’s decision did not derogate from the policy objectives of the Broadcasting Act. The April 8, 2002 CRTC decision resulted in a slew of appeals, including from Global, Alliance Atlantis, CHUM, Torstar, Hamilton West MP Stan Keyes, and independent producer Alan Aylward. The file was so politically hot that Canadian Heritage minister Sheila Copps withdrew herself from the decision on the appeals. With all the lobbying and media rounds, the issue had become politically messy, particularly since many of the appealing parties are considered "friends" of the Liberal government. Insiders say that’s one of the reasons the government moved to get the file off its books quickly. The decision to reject the appeal came a full month before the deadline for the Cabinet ruling. Both Torstar and Craig had hired lobbyists to work on their behalf in the backroom corridors (see chart). With the appeals now out of the way, Drew Craig can move ahead with his TV expansion plans, which he continues to insist will not hinder existing players in the Toronto market because Craig is pursuing a different demographic. He says that there’s still a possibility for Torstar to get into the Toronto market, adding that its "low-cost, high-volume" model is ideally suited to the CRTC’s new low-powered television licensing policy (CCR, January 18/02). Jennifer Strain, Craig’s VP of corporate and regulatory affairs, adds: "(Our opponents) described us as these people from the West who don’t know Toronto. But we were the only ones who recognized the ethnic nature of the city." By pledging to air ethnic programming, Craig is tapping into the government’s agenda. There has been added emphasis on cultural diversity from Canadian Heritage reworking its policies to the CRTC asking licensed broadcasters to formally look at how Canada’s multicultural nature is reflected on the TV screen (CCR, May 23/02). Craig has committed $7.4 million for independent production of new English-language multicultural programming. "(The ethnic portion) is absolutely an integral and important part of our application," Strain says. On its tours of Toronto and Ottawa to educate politicians and others during the appeal process, among the people that Craig brought along was Bahadur Madhani. Craig has named Madhani, the former chair of the United Way of Toronto, as chair of toronto/one’s multicultural advisory board. "My group’s role is going to be to advise Craig on virtually all aspects of its operations in Toronto on multi-culturalism," Madhani tells CCR. The advisory board has yet to be formed.

Craig gets to keep Toronto licence, has plans to expand into more markets

News | 06/07/2002 4:00 am EDT

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