Edmonton: The Canadian Association of Broadcasters Conference’s keynote speaker Frank Feather broke from his prepared text on the future of the communications business only once at last weekend’s annual cab festivities, stopping mid futurist’s tirade to tell the industry to stop hiding behind the regulatory ‘skirts’ of the crtc, a toothless beast in Convergenceville which, at least to Feather’s mind, ‘should be abolished.’

Sitting in the audience amongst a selection of the more than 1,000 broadcasters, producers and engineers that attended the Edmonton convention, was the new chair of the crtc, Francoise Bertrand, who made her first official speech to the industry the next morning and opened with a tidbit in response to Feather’s perspective.

There are those who see the future ‘as the Wild West of the past,’ said Bertrand, ‘where every company is a cowboy and there is no law and order, only conglomerates of vigilantes who string up the poachers.’

‘Well, it doesn’t quite work that way,’ she wound up.

‘The Marshall is now in town.’

It’s some three months since Bertrand, 48, assumed the chairman’s position. Baptism by fire is the applicable cliche, at the receiving end of new acronyms, agendas and colleagues for whom Public Notice reference numbers are everyday vocabulary. The learning curve is and will continue to be steep, Bertrand admits, ‘but if I was in a job where I wouldn’t be learning anything, I would want another job.

‘For me to come to the crtc where there is so much to learn and things will be changing all the time, it’s the best thing that could have happened in my life and I’m pleased and excited about it.’

Count the masses also pleased. More than three months since Robert Rabinovich made another choice and the powers that be pulled out all the stops to have David Colville elected interim chair, there is no one without a good thing to say about the pm’s appointment.

Smart, friendly but professional, a quick study, and ‘she doesn’t think profit is a bad word,’ are amongst the feedback in the honeymoon period, although her bridge-building specialty and change-managing capabilities are thought amongst the primary motivators behind her appointment.

Both will come into play immediately and over the next five years as the crtc maneuvers through the telecommunications competition explosion and the conflicts, practical and inherent, in the Heritage and Industry portfolios.

In this issue of Perspective, Bertrand discusses the national networks’ theory, distribution realities and the new specialty channels, and her own agenda, which essentially boils down into two words: ‘convergence’ and ‘partnerships.’

A student of Marshall McLuhan and most recently a consultant at kpmg, Bertrand’s perspective has been molded by the bidirectional teachings of the communications guru and by her work at the firm where her last project was a wireless application. kpmg gave her several perspectives she says will come in handy, including the bird’s eye from a telecommunications company which wanted to get into broadcasting and bring telephony and high-speed data transmission.

‘I had the opportunity of working at different angles and it leaves me able to see the entire picture from the other side. It’s a plus.’

Although convergence and competition have long been cornerstone buzzwords, feeling is at this point that Bertrand is going to push, not slow down the process, and that 1998 is a realistic goal to see the telcos et al up and running. ‘She’s going to bring convergence home,’ says one.

No one perhaps is more convinced than Bertrand, who, in response to what the 14 new ‘digital’ specialty channels will do come 1999 if their distribution opportunities are inadequate and the cable companies still have the monopoly, has this to say:

Pressure

‘It’s over. mmds (microwave multipoint distribution system) is here. lmcs (local multipoint communications system) is coming. dth will come. That will create pressure on the cable industry to change their behavior and will be much more effective than any regulation or any decision the crtc can make. That’s when companies get often creative. It may not be within the six months like we’d like it to happen. It may take 12, but it will be there and it will really push in the right direction. I’m certain of that.’

According to Bertrand, the status quo between the new licensees and the cablecos is a classic example of what she sees as the primary weakness of the broadcasting industry as it exists today: individual pods working their own agendas in isolation.

‘I’ve been talking a lot about partnership. I believe in that. Of course they are competitors, but they have common interests and objectives and problems and they have to work together in order to move forward. But the fact that it’s recent in their behavior is the primary weakness. They had to be confronted with not only challenges but economic difficulties to see that they could work closely together to address those challenges.’

The partnership perspective also plays into the structural agenda that’s dominated the regulatory calendar of public hearings this year. If the theory plays out, CanWest Global, Baton Broadcasting and WIC Western International Communications will have equal distribution opportunities in Canada’s three biggest English-language markets by the end of the year. The Alberta decision, expected any day and likely not good news for CanWest, could throw a wrench in the works, but Bertrand says there is more than one way to establish a network.

‘I don’t think there is a need for an official network in order to be partners, strategic allies, to work together. Is there a need for national initiatives? Definitely. You need buying power. In order to get that, either nationally or when you consider the international market, you need joint efforts. But do we need an ex officio national network in order to get these national distribution opportunities? That’s a question I’m asking. Can we make arrangements across the country so that when there are opportunities for the distribution of Canadian programming, for example, can we do it another way?’

Bertrand says there will be a mandate review of the crtc, a joint venture between Heritage, Industry, and the crtc. There is no formal time line established as yet, although sources say Heritage has given the green light to begin but Industry is not yet ready to engage and that the PolyGram loggerhead may be slowing up the communications process. Other theories run any kind of public review will be best held post election.

In the meantime, the crtc will be doing an internal review to look at how it will interface with convergence realities.

While Bertrand is on the record saying she will look for common ground to smooth the waters between Heritage and Industry, the aftertaste of last year’s three overturned crtc decisions remains and the u.s. trade and culture challenges aren’t going away.

It’s a difficult situation, says Bertrand.

‘But we can talk about it and it’s not dramatic. It’s not tragic. It’s difficult, it’s complex, but there’s a way. We’re not a socialist or communist type of country. We have been a sensitive country existing in a capitalist economy and able to balance. Why today shouldn’t we do it? To say that it’s difficult is an admission of the reality, but we cannot be buried or crushed by this diagnosis. We’ll find a way.’

In the short term, Bertrand says she’ll be satisfied if, by the end of 1997, a ‘coherent and holistic’ approach to convergence is nailed down, and that some of the partnerships she is beginning to talk about today between industry players and between the government bodies have materialized.

Over the five years until her term is up in 2001, ‘Canadian content will certainly be my obsession, too, in terms of the convergence,’ she concludes.

‘I want to make sure we’re contributing to the process, that we take all the measures possible at our means to have economically, culturally, and socially, the elements of a communications system and industry as long as possible for the next century. Otherwise, I’m concerned, if we don’t do so, that our identity as Canadians will be weakened. So that’s my faith and my own passion.’