The Performing Arts Network/Le reseau des arts de la scene – the National Arts Centre-owned specialty television applicant – withdrew its proposal Feb. 10, just four days before the crtc specialty channel hearings began.

The application for two 24-hour national arts channels – one in English, one in French – was pulled by the applicant after the crtc deemed the amended application too substantially altered for submission. pan had reworked its financial plan and decided it would rather pull the new application than file the old.

pan chairman Paterson Ferns explains: ‘We were moving from purchasing to leasing equipment, which reduced our upfront financing. There was no impact on programming, jobs or anything else. We thought the changes were relevant…and chose not to go back to the structure of the old application.’

Ferns plans to refile for the next round of crtc specialty-channel hearings in the fall. The application will only be heard if a licence is not granted to one of the seven other arts licence contenders in this round. PC