No date set for launch of new diginets, says MacMillan
No date has been set for the launch of two more of its licensed digital specialty TV channels, DIY and Fine Living, according to Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. chair and CEO Michael MacMillan. That is in stark contrast to claims by Shaw Communications Inc., which has told the CRTC that Alliance Atlantis plans to move ahead with these two channels in January. MacMillan tells Canadian Communications Reports that there are no immediate plans to move ahead with more channels, although the company would like to eventually get more of its licensed Category 2 channels on air. "At some point in the future; we don’t have a date fixed. We’d like to some time in the next few years perhaps launch DIY and Fine Living," MacMillan says. He confirms that they will not be launching in January. Shaw has added Scream to its lineup, putting it offside on the commission’s five-to-one rule. It told the CRTC that it has a deal with Alliance Atlantis to launch DIY and Fine Living in January, which would put it in compliance with the rule that five non-affiliated channels be distributed for every affiliated channel (CCR, Nov. 22/02).

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