The Canadian production community lost what would have been millions of dollars worth of coproductions when the British Independent Television Commission rejected CanWest Global’s bid for uktv, says David Asper, director, special projects for CanWest.

‘We had coproduction agreements in place with Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand. It’s difficult to speculate how much production would have come into this country each year, but we’re talking millions over the seven-year licence. A great opportunity has passed.’

CanWest is taking its own losses, writing off a $3 million to $4 million investment in the bid, which ended when its $79.5 million application for the fifth British television network was rejected in favor of the $48 million bid by a the Pearson PCL of Britain-led consortium.

The itc felt uktv’s proposed programming lineup didn’t measure up to its quality standards, says Asper, who acted as CanWest’s point man on the bid.

Specifically, ‘they felt what we were proposing didn’t offer enough diversity,’ says Asper, back in the Winnipeg office after spending the better part of a year in England.

The itc outlines a series of programming categories, some of which are optional. CanWest made the decision not to include live sports in the lineup and was penalized for having done so.

‘Our argument was that the diversity would have come from the totality of choice from all the stations, rather than what was only on our channel. Virgin did the same and in the end it cost us both.’

Also working against CanWest was what the itc felt was too shallow a pool of program suppliers. Pearson reportedly had more than 30 program suppliers on record while CanWest had 10. But Asper points out that those 10 had committed to investing more than $70 million to producing original British programming.

‘Our strategy was to establish close working relationships with a smaller number of companies which would get a lot of work and become more proficient in developing programming for the international market. They believed we erred in that, but I still believe it was the best way to go.’

The Multimedia Group of Canada and Productions Prisma were on uktv’s proposed production slate to coproduce 13 more episodes of The Big Garage along with u.k.-based Winchester Entertainment. A 13-part primetime action series, which originally partnered Pat Ferns Productions and Mentorn Films in the u.k., was also on the table.

Dean Oros, director of international sales and development for Multimedia, says the failed bid is a loss to the community but that The Big Garage will go on. The first 26 episodes are already in the can, and although uktv was proposing 13 new episodes, ‘at this point it was only on paper.’

Given the demands of the British regulator for indigenous production, Oros is skeptical of the volume of production that would have come this way. ‘You can’t lose something that you never had. Maybe an opportunity was there and the loss is unfortunate, but there were no details yet or any guarantees.’

In London, the uktv office will close, laying off three full-time staff. John Fairley, former managing director of Yorkshire Television and chief executive officer for uktv, will be staying on with CanWest in a role that has yet to be defined.

For Asper, the next six to eight weeks will be a ‘decompression period,’ followed by a new strategy for CanWest in the u.k. market. We won’t appeal the regulator’s decision, says Asper. ‘Life goes on. There are other opportunities there.’

According to Louise Barton, media analyst at Henderson Crosthwaite in London, Eng., the Canadian broadcaster may get a better reception next time. The uktv exercise has effectively turned around what in the beginning was a somewhat hostile u.k. media, she says.

‘Most people here are surprised at the outcome. I was quite skeptical of the bid at first but the industry had come around to feeling they were going to get it.’