Friends in high places: CTV replies to interventions

"There is no question that Canada needs strong companies with the critical mass, financial stability and intellectual capital to compete in a rapidly changing digital environment....I don't believe that consolidation in traditional media creates less choice in content or in editorial perspective." - Don Tapscott, chief executive at think tank and business consulting company New Paradigm.So begins the reply by CTVglobemedia Inc. in its response to comments filed with the CRTC regarding CTV's application to acquire CHUM Ltd. The quote is part of Tapscott's intervention on the matter of CTV's proposed acquisition of CHUM, and it's no surprise CTV used it as the introduction for its 45-page reply to the commission, filed on April 17; if nothing else, it's unequivocally supportive of the CTV acquisition.However, selecting the right comment may have been difficult for the private broadcaster. Of the more than 2,100 parties that intervened in the proceeding, CTV labelled 2,072 of them as being supportive. Included in the notable Canadians who support the acquisition are filmmaker Atom Egoyan, musicians Jim Cuddy and Colin James, music entrepreneurs Terry McBride and Bernie Finkelstein, and CHUM co-founder Moses Znaimer.While CTV said the depth and breadth of support was humbling and gratifying, it was also surprised by who didn't object to the acquisition. "Not one single private broadcaster asked for this deal to be denied, nor has a BDU asked for denial," wrote CTV, noting that CanWest MediaWorks Inc., its main competitor, filed comments from a competitive perspective."Only the CBC filed an intervention asking for a denial," the CTV application continues. "It is sadly poignant that while the public broadcaster was cancelling its regularly scheduled arts programming and committing a reported $600 million on hockey, it asks the commission to deny new private sector money for arts programming and Canadian feature films, among other things."To respond further, CTV stated that CBC is "once again ‘crying wolf.'" While CBC claims the acquisition of CHUM will give CTV unprecedented market power, CTV points to the public broadcaster's ability to retain NHL rights and secure programming such as the FIFA World Cup and the ABC Inc.-produced reality show The One as evidence of its strength.Aside from debunking CBC's arguments, CTV consecutively addressed the following series of related issues, which were the most obvious raised by their acquisition proposal: common ownership of two stations in a market; the distinctiveness of CTV and CityTV; local programming; and cross-media ownership and editorial diversity."The City of Winnipeg is fortunate to have two great local broadcasters in CTV and CityTV and this is an excellent opportunity to strengthen the Canadian broadcast system by joining two champions of Canadian content and talent," submitted Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz.Of course, not everyone feels the same way. Last week Ian Morrison, spokesman for the advocacy group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, told CCR that "if approves the CTVglobemedia as filed it would destroy, or render invalid, common ownership policy."Morrison's objection in particular was in allowing CTV to control its existing stations as well as the CityTV stations in Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. His solution was to allow CTV to resume control of CHUM's A-Channel stations and sell the CityTV stations to another broadcaster. In defence of its application, CTV stated that much has changed since the common ownership policy was last applied in 2001, namely that programming over the Internet and on-demand television have categorically altered the business model for conventional television. CTV also clarified that it would offer zero overlap in primetime programming between CTV and CityTV, with the exception of 20 hours per year limited to replaying national Canadian events such as the Juno and Giller Prize awards. CTV also furthered its argument by noting that several interveners recognized that diversified programming strategies for the CTV and CityTV stations "not only makes good cultural sense, but good business sense as well." However, ensuring that this distinctiveness transfers to news programming is another issue altogether. To pre-empt discussion about diminished editorial diversity across the country if the CityTV stations fall under CTV ownership, CTV addressed the issue in its application. The broadcaster proposed that the Statement of Principles and Practices currently in place between CTV and The Globe and Mail, which is owned by CTV, be extended to include the CHUM broadcast assets as well. The statement of principles calls for these groups to maintain separate, independent news management and presentation structures. "We believe these commitments demonstrate the importance we place on editorial diversity and are a tangible expression to our viewers and listeners that they can trust us to uphold this principle," wrote CTV. The broadcaster added: "Clearly, there will continue to be a sufficiently broad range of news and information services across all media platforms, including via the Internet, and the proposed combination of CTVgm and CHUM will in no way this growing plurality of voices."

Friends in high places: CTV replies to interventions

Broadcast | April 24, 2007

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