Implement: to complete, fulfill, put into effect. Deploy: to spread out, bring into effective action.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary in tow, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters is petitioning the crtc to extract a detailed digital rollout plan from the cable companies as a half-dozen specialty licensees idle at the whim of the dvc argument and a hair-curling 75 new applications for niche services begin the regulatory process.

With Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications miraculously finding analog space for 12 to 17 channels, six of them American, the cab is looking to establish a minimum threshold of digital boxes which will qualify for ‘deployment’ in September 1999, the year the Access Rules kick in and theoretically leverage the remaining lapsed Canadian licensees onto the cable distribution system.

The cab is asking for a public review of the cable plan to be held in tandem with the next specialty hearing. At Playback press time, the crtc was still doing the math on the Sept. 30 filing of new apps, but confirmed bidders include Astral Communications (7), Rogers (4), Alliance Communications (4), Atlantis Communications (3), Salter Street Films (3), Vision tv, WIC Western International Communications (5), CanWest Global Communications (8), Baton Broadcasting (3), cbc (6), NetStar Communications, chum, and reportedly every broadcaster within Quebec borders.

The cab’s filing is spawned in part by the status quo and in part by the commission’s proposed rules for broadcast distribution entities, a work in progress which attempts to fold the Access Policy into the BDU Policy. To date, it contains digital-related words raising hackles on the broadcast policy side.

The access regs say that as of September 1999, cablecos which haven’t launched digital are required to bump u.s. services, any non-programming services (e.g. Home Shopping Network), and a chunk of the pay-per-view services to clear space for any lapsed Canadian licensees. (Exactly what constitutes a non-programming service or how many ppv channels will be left by 1999 after its is pared down to deliver tier three is another story.)

Buried in the layers of the proposed bdu policy are the words ‘first use’ to define digital implementation, leaving the cab requesting clarification of the commission’s definition because ‘some cable operators appear to believe that as long as they have one digital subscriber in their system by September 1, 1999, they will have fulfilled their obligations and will not have to add any new services on analog.’

According to Peter Miller, senior vp and general counsel for the cab, a defined threshold for digital deployment is necessary ‘now.’

‘We need clarity. Not just for the services that are left to go up, but so the cable companies can know they’ve got 18 months to meet the mark. Rogers doesn’t want to have to dump the Home Shopping Network. Yes, at the end of the day [investing in digital] is a business decision that the cablecos have to make, but if there’s a reasonable threshold set, then they are better able to do that, or alternatively say there’s no way we’re going to make that threshold and we better start planning to get these services onto analog.’

Shaw questing Headline Sports

Elsewhere on the spectrum, things only get more interesting.

Shaw is seeking crtc approval for part ownership of cable channel Headline Sports, which is already in 2.2 million homes on its system, and will clear Rogers as of Oct. 17.

Headline Sports was originally controlled 66.3% by Clairvest, a publicly traded Canadian merchant bank based in Toronto. Although Paul Williams, executive vp of Headline Sports, will confirm only that Shaw is applying to the crtc for approval of an undisclosed percentage of ownership in the service, word is the cable company is in for about 50% after purchasing the majority of Clairvest’s shares. Clairvest no longer has any stake in the channel. First Control, a subsidiary of Western Coaxial, a Hamilton, Ont.-based cable operator, is also part owner.

With Rogers Programming Services owning a piece of Outdoor Life, Shaw owning 100% of Treehouse tv, plus the Headline Sports application, discussion abounds on the crtc’s ability to follow through on any of the anti self-dealing speak that pebbled the application processes. Rogers’ applications for Chatelaine tv, Today’s Parent tv, The Documentary Channel and International Film Festival Channel will likely add momentum to the broadcaster’s drive to have the commission define the rules on what is the appropriate level of ownership in specialties for the cablecos.

Meanwhile, the tier three inductees prep for their Oct. 17 launch.

For the record, ytv’s Treehouse tv, Global Television Network’s Prime tv and Headline Sports proved the dark horses in the mid-September announcement, the latest Canadian additions to what is a 16-service package for Rogers and 12-odd somewhat elastic tier for Shaw. (chum’s Cable Pulse 24 is reportedly also en route. See Programming, p. 8.)

Rogers is carrying Prime, Treehouse, Headline Sports, Outdoor Life, Space: The Imagination Station, HGTV-Canada, Family Channel, The Comedy Network, History Television and teletoon. The u.s. services are Black Entertainment Television, cnbc, The Food Network, The Golf Channel, Speedvision and wtbs-tv. Shaw’s lineup carries all of the above although some systems will carry either bet or Speedvision, depending on the community.

tmn’s Viewer’s Choice ppv will be scaled down to ‘very few’ from the 10-odd channels it currently occupies to accommodate tier three, says Rogers vice-chair Phil Lind. Depending on the analog rebuild schedule, Viewer’s Choice may pump back up by the end of next year. ‘Or we’ll be able to restore it over the digital system.’

New and newer

Specialty applications just filed are expected to gather all in sundry in Ottawa in the spring for a hearing.

The feeling is, post the Eligible Services Lists decision, that the licensing process will be easier this time than in the past, more an exercise in illustrating a particular niche’s viability and a willingness to play distribution roulette. The relative slam-dunk environment is in part behind the volume of applications, as is the knowledge that the cablecos have almost free rein to fill any perceived absence in the specialty spectrum with selections from the Eligible Lists.

Alliance ceo Robert Lantos echoes general sentiment on the eligible extension.

‘On one hand, I applaud the crtc. It has seen fit to award us a licence each time we’ve applied for a service.

‘But I have reservations now about the number of American services that have come in. I think our broadcasting system is American enough and it’s questionable to me whether we need to clutter the landscape with more of the same. My preference is always for more Canadian services and Canadian content.’

Canadian services with Canadian content run amok for this upcoming round of licensing. Astral is partnered with Southam and News Travel Network of San Francisco for travel service Destination, with Nelvana and Cinar Films for Totally Teen tv (13-19 year olds), a French-language version of Alliance’s History Television (a 50/50 partnership with Alliance), Canal Justice, Canal Gourmande, and a family entertainment service, Canal 7-77.

Global is in for Mystery, Action and Romance, plus five regional news and information channels for the Maritimes, Quebec, Red River, Sask., and British Columbia. wic too is proposing 24-hour news channels for Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal, plus a travel channel. Salter Street is bidding the Independent Film Network, Play-tv and The Canadian Consumer Channel. cbc is chasing Land & Sea, a channel for rural Canadians, The People Channel (in partnership with Atlantis), and four French-language services themed history, business, the arts, and film and television classics.

Meanwhile, at the production end for the incoming tier three, ytv is already in production with two series which will air at the Treehouse launch Nov. 1. Ants in Your Pants, a kids’ music video program, and Crazy Quilt, a craft and storytelling series, are in process in-house. The service is aimed at preschoolers.

In the service’s first year, Canadian content levels begin at 60% during the day and 50% in primetime. Over the seven-year term, the service plans to invest $10.4 million in Canadian production, a total of 325 hours of original Canadian programming from independent producers. Target expenditure for Canadian acquisitions is $3.6 million over seven years.

At Global, Prime has committed to 50% Cancon during the day and in primetime, and will spend 40% of the previous year’s gross on Canadian programming.

Programming theoretically will be directed towards aging boomers 50-plus.

The Canadian programming budget is projected at $60 million-plus over the licence term, with $50 million to independent production. In year one, $4.3 million is allotted for indie production.

By licence, Prime is committed to provide more than $5 million exclusively to independent producers through equity investments in the last three years of licence.