That’s one giant step for the cable companies

It’s been relegated to the archives, that Canadian Cable Television Association letter dated December 1995 in which president Richard Stursberg outlined the analog capacity problem and ‘encouraged’ specialty licence applicants to gear their pitches for digital distribution.

Almost two years later, a month after the crtc’s unpredictable expansion of the Eligible Services Lists, and lo. Although there’s no official announcement from vision.com yet, bets are they’ve found some analog space.

Cable companies need to bring back those telco-loving revolutionaries who reacted violently against the launch of tier two. Consumers hold a grudge a long time and the American offerings breed their own mythology among the masses north of the border. But it’s difficult to fathom why the regulator would allow them these particular tools at this particular time.

Just for the moment, we can buy into the digital box mythology. Perhaps Rogers and Shaw can partner up, agree on a box, and purchase enough to make it all make sense. Perhaps the price will come down and each can operate separately. Even the direct-to-home satellite bogeyman may yet materialize.

But none of the above actually exists yet. The present consists of a cable monopoly, more than a half-dozen licensed Canadian services with no distribution opportunities, a couple of dozen new applications on file, and tfo seeking national distribution.

Yet the Yanks are coming. Clearly a Canadianized Black Entertainment Television is no longer an option if bet is in the tier three posse, and while analog capacity is still an issue, it’s disturbing to see coveted parking slots filled by foreign services.

Other kvetching wraps around the North American rights market issue. Realistically, how much power is tsn going to wield bidding up against the likes of the Golf Channel for programming? NetStar may be cash-rich by Canadian standards, but there’s no question who wins in a bidding war. The Canadian broadcasters on the whole are maximizing the first/second/third window partnership options but second window on the Masters tournament just won’t work.

The whole situation is that much more painful when you look at the beautiful pieces of television coming down the pike this season via the likes of History Television and teletoon.

The proof, naturally, will be on-screen, but with mid-sized production companies from coast to coast in gear for History and some damn fine story concepts coming to fruition, it’s difficult not to praise Canadian content regulations. The Cancon agenda isn’t the cornerstone of any savvy business plan and if the new mindset is all about competition, it won’t be a surprise when the specialties en masse file requests for reduced programming commitments.

The American nets may drive more cash into the cable coffers by pushing penetration for tier three, but it’s a stretch to see how the Eligible Services Lists additions benefit the system as a whole.