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Former Canadian Heritage staff member Marc Séguin has joined the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) as senior policy director. He will work on policy issues related to feature film and new technology. Over the past 12 years, he has worked in the area of film and TV policy development at the departments of Communications and Canadian Heritage. He has also worked at Telefilm Canada, implementing the government’s feature film policy and contributing to the Macerola report on Canadian content. As well, Chris Bartleman, of Studio B Productions, has joined the CFTPA national board of directors. He replaces B.C. representative Lisa Richardson who stepped down in June.

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Correction
The story on page 7 of the Aug. 17, 2004 issue of Canadian Communications Reports on Canadian digital TV subscriber growth contained incorrect information. Canadian digital TV subscriber growth in the first quarter of 2004 was actually higher than the same period a year earlier. Q1 2004 subscriber growth was inadvertently compared to that in the previous quarter, which saw higher growth, instead of Q1 2003.

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CHUM rival CanWest Global Television Network is charging that the Toronto-based broadcaster is underplaying the impact of its acquisition of Craig Media, saying the added reach will give it the clout to aggressively pursue foreign programming and increase its spending patterns, which in turn will generate higher ratings and revenues. In becoming the third national English-language network, CHUM "will have the opportunity to dramatically alter its foreign acquisition strategy if it so chooses," Global warns the CRTC. Global predicts that over the next two to three years, CHUM could generate the same audiences and therefore the same revenues as the other two national private TV networks, Global and CTV Inc.

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Canadian producers, writers and directors are raising a number of concerns about CHUM Ltd’s proposed $20 million benefits package offered up in conjunction with its acquisition of Craig Media. Among the most vocally opposed to the benefits package are the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) and the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC), which tell the CRTC that the private broadcaster should offer up a minimum further $11.8 million in new tangible benefits, and that more of a focus should be placed on 10-point original Canadian drama or long-form documentaries. The WGC and DGC note that the proposed transaction will vault CHUM to the status of the third largest national broadcaster (with stations in most major markets but Montreal), and thus to be commensurate with the size and nature of the transaction, the benefits should be higher than the minimum level of 10%. The two groups propose that the tangible benefits package be at least 12% of the value of the transaction.

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CHUM Ltd. has overcome a major hurdle in receiving CRTC approval for the acquisition of Craig Media with its announcement last week that it had reached an agreement to sell recently launched conventional station Toronto 1 to Quebecor Media. In agreeing to purchase financially strapped Craig Media for $265 million in cash, CHUM has always maintained that it would hold Toronto 1 in trust until another buyer could be found. Maintaining Toronto 1 would be next-to-impossible for CHUM, which already owns over-the-air TV stations in Toronto and nearby Barrie ON, due to broadcast regulations that prevent multi-station ownership in a market. In interrogatories in conjunction with CHUM’s application for approval to acquire the Craig Media properties, the CRTC asks the Toronto-based broadcaster if it would be prepared to continue with the application in the event that the commission were to deny the transfer of Toronto 1 and/or Craig Media’s digital specialty TV channels to CHUM.

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Wireless cablecos vow that the added flexibility the CRTC has given them to use more spectrum for Internet services will not result in watered down TV services. A ruling made in conjunction with the licence renewals of multipoint distribution system (MDS) operators Craig Wireless International Inc., Look Communications Inc. and Image Wireless Communications Inc. is bound, however, to result in fewer TV channels being offered in their TV packages (CCR Update, Aug. 19/04).

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Three of five licensed Category 1 French-language specialty TV channels are set to launch late next month, almost four years after they were licensed. TVA is moving ahead with the September 30 launch of its mystery channel Mystère (originally licensed as 13ième rue) and its business news channel LCN Affaires, while CTV Inc.’s RDS will be launching a headlines sports channel, Le Réseau Info Sport. Astral Media’s MusiquePlus and CHUM Ltd. have confirmed with the CRTC that they are ditching the fashion channel Perfecto La Chaîne, and TVA is abandoning the comedy channel Télé Ha!Ha! Astral Media is also reportedly in talks with distributors attempting to secure carriage for one of its Category 2 movie channels. No one at Astral could provide details at press time.

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