With September a mere four months away, negotiations between the new specialty services and the cable companies are going smooth like gravel.

Better news is the terrific reaction to the first on-air look at teletoon, The History and Entertainment Network, The Comedy Network, and Headline News. Commercials for the four showcased at the annual Canadian Cable Television Association conference generated a strong, positive buzz among the record-breaking 2,850 cablecasters, broadcasters, and programming executives attending the Toronto confab May 11-14.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the ccta festivities offered up a cacophony of stimuli including Time Warner’s Ted Turner, Martha Stewart, a healthy dose of telco-bashing, and pieces of information which begin to detail the depth of the problems at hand as the new analog specialties plan a September launch and the 14 digital licensees look for a tangible distribution plan.

Amongst the news, Rogers Communications has abandoned its order for black boxes from General Instruments in the u.s. Speaking on the cable executive panel, Rogers ceo Ted Rogers espoused the benefits of Scientific Atlanta’s Pegasus box, which he says has 44% more capacity that the average digital box. Sources at Rogers confirmed later that the gi order has been laid aside.

As for the English-language analog specialties, negotiations are stalled on several issues. Both sides are frontlining the will to work together, but there was some talk on the convention floor that a mediator may be called in after a particularly grueling negotiating session May 12.

Although execs are keeping details tight, some of the sticking points are as follows:

– Fees

Asked for a gauge of how far apart vision.com and the specialties are, Phyllis Yaffe, president and ceo of then and Showcase, says, ‘I would say we’re not far away from getting a deal with cable. Distance is in the eye of the beholder. I would like to think it’s within our grasp and I would also like to suggest that nothing can stop us from launching.’

Although no one is giving up specifics, a bit of a window is offered through the suggested retail price of the new tier coming from both camps. Shaw Communications’ Jim Shaw Jr. put forth ‘a buck or two.’ Yaffe suggests test groups found $2.50 ‘very acceptable.’ Asked by an audience member whether the broadcasters could live with a $1 or $1.25, Yaffe joked ‘I guess the answer is yes, but then you don’t get any money,’ which met with stony silence from the mostly cablecaster audience.

– Length of the free trial period

The two seem to have come to some agreement on the length of the specialty preview. Although six months to a year were on the table at one point, a three-month offer was mentioned repeatedly by the broadcasters.

There was no tangible rebuffing from the cablecos, with ccta president Richard Stursberg echoing ctv’s long-touted perspective that ‘You want to have it long enough that people get the chance to view it but not so long that you devalue the perceived value of the product in the market.’

He won’t go so far as to say the two sides have agreed on the issue, only that ‘We’re going to agree on everything eventually.’

– The launch date for the English-language services

Both sides agree on September, although there is little agreement on early or late in the month, timing which in part will hinge on a negotiated settlement.

In ‘The Next Challenge ­ Launching the New Services’ panel, Yaffe put forth the idea of Sept. 4, which is a year to the date of the licence and technically (but not practically) when the licence expires if the service isn’t on air. Later in the same panel, helmed by Yaffe, Stursberg, Gary Maavara, group vp programming for ctv, and Michel Arpin, vp planning for Radiomutuel, Sept. 8 made its way into conversation.

But Stursberg says there is no magic date.

‘The benchmark for the launch date is a number of things we have to work out. If we’re going to do a free preview period, when d’es the sell-in begin? You want it to begin at a point in time when people are most receptive to buying. I don’t know when that is. You want to get that right, that’s all I’m saying.’

Skirting 1997/98 fall season launch hoopla may push the date back. The official start date this year is Sept. 22, a full two weeks after the norm.

Inseparable from the services’ premiere is the timing for a comprehensive marketing effort. The broadcaster’s promos are already on air, but fear at this point is that the ongoing negotiation process is shortening the window to launch a cable marketing blitz. If negotiations don’t wrap in the next two months, it will have an impact on the timing of the campaign, says Stursberg, although he questions the pressure to move quickly.

‘Why d’es everybody feel we’re running out of time? We’re not running out of time. We’re not going to say, let’s go and pour a whole bunch of money down a hole when everybody’s at the cottage. We’re going to try to make sure the money we spend is spent as efficiently as possible.’

Although the knowns are few at this point, when that launch hits, customers will almost certainly be offered a third tier. Word is that both Rogers and Shaw are expected to launch two other English-language services selected from the digital group. Each of the cablecos may not select the same two services, and although it’s not ideal, the digital licensees say they can launch a service with just one of the two major cablecos onside.

Without knowing whether their services will make the September cut, several of the digital services had a presence at the conference. Most prominently, Life Network brought up Martha Stewart who managed to mesmerize a sold-out lunch and attract attention to Life’s Home and Garden Television Canada offering. ytv’s Treehouse tv commanded serious space on the trade show floor. chum’s MuchMoreMusic offered a promo cd and piggybacked beautiful pr on the crazy MuchMusic Video Dance Party with Corey Hart. Even CanWest Global’s Mystery Channel, denied a licence last September but refiled in the latest batch of specialty applications, sponsored a breakfast along with its senior’s service Prime tv.

In her conference speech, crtc chair Francoise Bertrand said she expects a hearing on the new specialty applications within the next 12 months. Any new licensees will likely have the same ‘digital’ licence criteria, which will leave Rogers and Shaw with yet more services to launch a black box, a process which looks even more unlikely post-conference.

By the conversation on the ‘Industry Report’ panel featuring Cogeco’s Louis Audet, Le Groupe Videotron’s Claude Chagnon, Rogers and Shaw Jr., the two largest cablecos in the country have different visions of how to move towards the digital universe.

Shaw seems to be of the belief that getting a foot into the digital world is the way to go, saying, ‘If we have to throw them out in five years, then we do.’ Rogers, on the other hand, says the hefty investment in dvc distribution d’esn’t make sense unless it’s a sophisticated, multipurpose box like the Pegasus offering the cyber works. ‘To just digitize the premium service is uneconomic.’

The conference ended on a high despite the challenges at hand and keynote speaker Turner’s point that cable has a ‘huge advantage because you can always sell to the telephone companies before the going gets tough’ and advice to ‘please diversify your holdings so you don’t have all your eggs in cable.’

ccta Galaxi Award winners for programming include TMN-The Movie Network for best entertainment program or series for The Whole of the Moon, produced by Jamie Wynne; Bravo! for Mondo Bravo! South Africa, produced by Graham Yates, for best information program or series; and wtn for best lifestyles information program or series for Just a Minute ­ Sisters, produced by Christle Leonard.