Although the issue of the cbc competing with the private sector has been taken to task time and again, the way the network’s cards are being played this time is unprecedented.

Bob Kerr, cbc manager of technical resources development, sent out a letter Oct. 11 promoting in-house radio audio post facilities under the name TechnoWorks, which set off alarm bells throughout Toronto’s studios and audio post houses. ‘cbc has a wide range of modern audio production studios conveniently located in the Broadcasting Centre’ begins the letter. Attached is a page describing the impressive lineup of facilities available.

There are obvious parallels to a confrontation between the cbc and the post-production industry that peaked last fall when the International Teleproduction Society protested the cbc’s plans to build studio facilities in Toronto.

Although the its won, Magnetic Enterprises president Doug McKenzie, who spearheaded the efforts, says the similarities to the current issue are few. ‘I think the cbc made a prudent business decision. They were able to put a lab processing deal together with private sources and the price was right. Now, it’s different. They have excess capacity which they swore they would never have.’

The situation is perceived to be serious enough to warrant the establishment of a new association – as yet unnamed and barely formed – that Claude Deschamps of Deschamps Recording Studios says will involve up to 70 recording studios nationwide and the support of the International Teleproduction and Video Association.

The plan is to fight the cbc plans by informing the media, writing to mps and to the crtc, says Deschamps, ‘because this is so insidious and so dangerous in this economic climate to have our own tax dollars work against us.’

Kerr says not to worry, the cbc is pricing its topnotch facilities about 20% higher in order to avoid competing with independent business. He cannot, however, confirm cbc rates because, at press time, there was no published price list.

‘It’s hard publishing set rates. Obviously, we will – as the privates have – cut deals all the time, for a long-term booking or repeat customers.’ Kerr says he hasn’t decided whether TechnoWorks will publish a price list.

Kevin Evans, vp of Manta Eastern Sound, has been reassured by Kerr that TechnoWorks will not pursue advertising clients and was told the recording/mixdown studios that accommodate up to 35 musicians will rent for $400 an hour, about $90 an hour more than Evans would charge for a similar facility.

cbc spokesperson Tom Curzon confirmed the quote Evans had received and said TechnoWorks’ remote truck rents for $2,500 a day, about $500 above standard market rates.

Deschamps, who has an ongoing, solid relationship with the cbc that has included five years of producing its on-air promos, says TechnoWorks has written letters to all his clients. ‘Their response when we phoned them is that, `We offer our services at a higher rate.’ My response to that is, `Why would a client want a union engineer at a higher price rather than going somewhere else?’ ‘

For the private sector, there are two issues at the center of the cbc move. One is the pricing issue and the other is the fact that the cbc has used its public subsidies to build a top-of-the-line facility complete with multitrack studios, cd mastering equipment and a mobile studio.

Kerr says the rare availability of the Neve Capricorn digital studio equipment and the truck remote – complete with a 48-track vrm – supports the public broadcaster’s position that it is not competing with the private sector. ‘I can understand there is some mistrust out there, but the simple fact of the matter is we’re not renting things out that are available on a big scale outside.’

Scott Murley, partner at mastering house The Lacquer Channel, says, ‘I personally have a really big problem with taking government funds – that were essentially my tax dollars – and building the world’s most fancy Taj Mahal to audio, and then proceeding to put me out of business with it.’

Murley’s sentiment is widely echoed in the industry. McKenzie calls the issue, in part, a moral one. ‘I get the feeling they are being encouraged not only within the cbc but given encouragement from the powers that be,’ he says, acknowledging the catch-22 nature of the situation. If the cbc does not move forward to generate new sources of revenue, how can it be weaned from its dependence on government subsidies?

McKenzie says it’s quite likely public opinion would support the move, saying it’s better to take money from the private sector than to keep putting a billion dollars a year into the broadcaster.

‘Mag Enterprises is owned by Rogers Communications – a $3 billion company – and it makes it a little tough to argue the point,’ he adds.

Canadian Heritage Minister Michel Dupuy was not available for comment, although his department’s views were reflected in the House of Commons late last month, when Reform Party member Monte Solberg challenged the ministry for the new post startup: ‘Why is the Minister allowing the cbc to kill jobs in downtown Toronto?’

In response, Heritage parliamentary secretary Albina Guarnieri said: ‘we have been looking for ways the cbc can look for new efficiencies. That is exactly what it is doing.’

Whether the cbc will soon market its picture post facilities and tv audio post is being discussed in the post-production community.

McKenzie says he has heard rumors a similar letter to the one Kerr wrote is circulating on behalf of the tv division at cbc, but he hasn’t seen it. ‘It’s hard to confirm it, but I would suspect it would be their intention.’

Ray Belay, production manager of cbc’s tv production center, says most of the clients his division has dealt with have been video post houses, ‘when they have gotten in a pickle,’ in addition to an ongoing relationship with Dome Productions.

‘I keep hearing word out there we’re hustling, hustling, hustling, and that’s not the case. It’s them coming to us,’ he says.

If the timing and opportunity were right, Belay says it would make sense to market the cbc facilities to the private sector. ‘It’s something ultimately we would like to do.Quite honestly, if circumstances permitted, we would like to do the work, but we’re still waiting for a firm directive from senior government.’

Is the directive he’s waiting for going to come with the Nov. 30 mandate review? ‘I would hope so,’ he says. ‘A lot of people have been poking their noses around here and making recommendations.’

Bottom line, says McKenzie, is that the Broadcast Centre – with all its bells and whistles at a price tag of some $350 million – exists, and somebody has to rationalize its cost. ‘Ultimately, we’re all going to pay for it.’

Curzon says it’s important to note the auditor general’s recommendation made this summer which encourages the cbc to make use of its facilities for outside purposes.’