– CBC clock ticking

Those awaiting the programming axe to fall at the cbc could have some answers by September.

The Crown corp’s board of directors met June 25 and 26 to look at all potential strategies for splicing the remaining $200 million-plus in cuts, a process which will continue at the next board meeting. No date has been set for it yet, although late August/early September is the target, with details of the outcome likely discussible soon afterwards, says cbc vp Jim Byrd. ‘We’re examining all the business cases for and against several strategies.’

To date, $227 million of the original $350 million in cuts has been sliced and approved by the board. Of that $227 million, English television’s share is $89 million, with English tv still on the hook for a portion of the $123 million left to cut from the original slash plus a piece of the promised $30 million a year hack that’s undeniably part of the future.

Programming is clearly going to absorb the bulk of the cuts, but exactly how much is at stake hasn’t been nailed down yet. ‘At this point, it really depends on what option the board goes for,’ says Byrd.

However the answers are arrived at, the board will do so without the input of Canadian Cable Television Association president Richard Stursberg. Stursberg was rumored throughout the summer to be stepping into a vp’s chair, in part to act as liaison between president Perrin Beatty and the heads of the services.

There was reportedly no meeting of the minds (to say the least) on key issues. Stursberg has since sent a letter to the cbc taking himself out of the running and a letter to the ccta board informing them that he is staying put.

– Frith new CMPDA topper

Doug Frith, a prominent member of the Liberal Party of Canada and chairman of Hill & Knowlton Canada, is the new president of the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association.

Frith’s appointment is thought to indicate the American majors are seriously upgrading their Canadian operations, with the emphasis on government relations and industry policy as opposed to film industry experience.

Frith held a ministerial post in the John Turner Liberal government, served as an mp for five years for the riding of Sudbury, and was a chairman of the Liberal leadership convention. He replaces Millard Roth and starts July 29.

At the top of the cmpda’s current agenda is the June 26 decision by the Federal Court of Appeal turning down a cmpda request to annul two crtc licence conditions affecting feature film rights holders in the Canadian dth market.

The cmpda has until the end of October to file an appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada, an appeal which can be granted only on the basis of ‘national importance,’ says Ron Atkey, cmpda counsel with Osler, Hoskins & Harcourt, Toronto.

Atkey says no decision on an appeal has been taken, but ‘it is actively being considered by the studios.’

The cmpda is expected to upgrade its staff and increase its operating budget.

– Gariepy new T-M prez

Jean Gariepy, a successful international marketing executive, has been named president of Tele-Metropole.

Gariepy’s experience includes corporate acquisitions, product launches and strategic alliances with Culinar, Procter and Gamble and Sara Lee. He was also head of the European, Middle Eastern and Asian division of Fruit of the Loom.

He assumes his new post Aug. 5.

– CPF French-track results

The Cable Production Fund’s executive director reports the cpf invested $12.7 million in 48 Quebec tv productions with cumulative budgets of $116 million in the first quarter of ’96.

As of the second week of July, $1.3 million remained in the fund’s French-language envelope.

According to Bill Mustos, the cpf has contributed to 670 hours of Quebec tv production this year including 20 dramas or series, 13 documentaries, nine children’s shows, five variety programs and one musical.

– Classic up on lawsuit

A Montreal writer is suing Cinar Films, France Animation, BBC Worldwide Television, their principals and others for $2.53 million for copyright infringement.

In a suit filed in Quebec Superior Court July 18, Claude Robinson claims he created a children’s story character called Robinson Curiosite in 1982 and subsequently pitched a series proposal to Cinar in 1986.

Almost a decade later, in 1995, Robinson says he saw a Canal Famille program called Robinson Sucroe, a program with a similar concept to his proposal coproduced by Cinar and France Animation.

Robinson’s claim covers all the profits from the series, moral and exemplary damages and copyright infringement.

A spokesperson for Cinar says the matter is in the hands of the company’s lawyers.

‘It’s Cinar’s belief that there are no grounds for this claim whatsoever,’ says communications director Carolyn Archambault. ‘Robinson Sucroe is based on a literary property called Robinson Crusoe written by Daniel Defoe. We also have other tv series based on these well-known, wide-scale properties like Wizard of Oz and White Fang.’

– MCA North

The irony of mca being dubbed a ‘Canadian’ company is escaping no one, but the thumb’s up from Ottawa is stoking no fear that the u.s. conglomerate is coveting scare production incentive dollars.

With revenue of $9.4 billion last year, the Hollywood studio is expected to do business as usual, says Dan Johnson, president of the Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters. ‘They’ll decide what they want to make, finance it, and then distribute it worldwide.

‘It’s not immediately clear to me that it would be remotely worth their while to try and take one of their subsidiaries and go through the political process of establishing its eligibility and then live with the ‘attendant complexity’ of being a Canadian distributor with the attendant responsibilities to Telefilm Canada.’

Although some are wary of the unknowns, general thought has it that any new investment on this side of the border can only be considered a good thing.

For the record, mca produces, distributes, licenses and markets film and television programming, owns about 50% of both Cineplex Odeon and USA Network, is into concert promotion, theme parks, and book publishing.

– Motion Works back in motion

Embattled Vancouver multimedia company Motion Works Group – recently taken over by Greenlight Communications – resumed trading on the Vancouver Stock Exchange mid July.

The company was suspended March 27 when it was reported that then-ceo John Hickman had not disclosed past bankruptcies.

Toronto-based Greenlight acquired 43% of the shares and control of the company at Motion Works’ agm June 20.

In other Greenlight news, the Toronto-based company has signed a research and development agreement with the Canadian Research Centre’s Innovation Centre to establish and test a virtual broadband studio gateway.

The network, housed at the crc, will test different forms of compression in a production environment. The initial phase will run between the crc’s test beds in Ottawa and Culver City, California. Second phase will transfer data to Greenlight’s l.a. home base at Raleigh Studios.

Eventually, the network developed will allow for the transfer of both realtime voice and video product and non-realtime product like information files.