Montreal: CFCF-12, the CTV Television Network affiliate in Montreal, is taking out full-page ads in Montreal dailies asking viewers to call a 1-888 number to state opposition to CanWest Global’s planned fall ’97 entry into the Quebec tv market.

The campaign, quarterbacked by National Public Relations and also broadcast on radio, claims the future of CFCF-12 ‘as we know it’ is at stake ‘due to a serious threat imposed by an unwanted intruder: CanWest Global Television.’

‘This company intends to sneak its way past normal crtc requirements and capture the Montreal English-speaking market and its advertising revenues by merely retransmiting a signal from a proposed Quebec City station,’ reads the copy.

CanWest/tva president Glenn O’Farrell was in Montreal to raise the flag Oct. 31 as cfcf-tv outlined its position at a press conference.

Some of what cfcf is saying ‘is below the belt,’ says Jim Sward, president of CanWest Global Systems. Sward says 100 new Quebec jobs will be created immediately, including 30 to 35 in Montreal where CanWest would operate a newsroom, if the application is approved.

Per Sward, CanWest’s stated investment commitments include $9 million on capital spending for ckmi-tv, $5 million in the first year on programming, including news, information and human-interest events, increasing annually over seven years, as well as a seven-year, $10 million special program expenditure split eventually between events, music and variety and Quebec-based drama.

CanWest plans to be on air by fall ’97 and is looking at out-of-pocket expenses as it jump-starts operations in the next couple of months.

It’s unlikely the cfcf campaign, which uses the header ‘Tell the crtc,’ has been authorized by its new owner, Groupe Videotron.

Videotron’s broadcasting company, Tele-Metropole, is CanWest’s partner (49%) in ckmi.

Videotron has a hands-off policy in relation to cfcf’s anti-Global campaign, which promises extensive staff layoffs and an end to community support efforts if CanWest succeeds.

All of cfcf’s assets are in the hands of a trustee, although Videotron is actively seeking a buyer prior to the hearings.

As many as half a dozen or more companies may bid for cfcf, with most of the speculation centered on Baton Broadcasting, Astral Communications, Cogeco Radio-Television and an outside chance Videotron may remain the owner.

Sward says regardless of the outcome of the Dec. 2 hearings, cfcf’s monopoly position in Canada’s third largest English-speaking market will end, one way or another.