With six specialty licensees on deck, the broadcasters are waxing subtle in interventions filed to the crtc on Shaw Communications’ 48% purchase of Headline Sports.

After widespread flapping about on Shaw’s bid for control of the sports specialty channel, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting is one of few adopting ‘oppose’ in its intervention, in part on the grounds of concentration of ownership. Others, including the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and the Specialty and Premium Television Association, are treading carefully.

Shaw, Canada’s third largest cable company, controls ytv, Treehouse tv and Country Music Television, has minority positions in The Comedy Network (15%), Telelatino (20%) and teletoon (20%), a video-on-demand licence with Alliance Communications, and effective control of Star Choice direct-to-home satellite service.

Its application in process at the crtc seeks approval of a purchase of 682,576 common shares of Headline Sports.

According to the cab’s intervention, it is negotiating in good faith with Shaw to launch the six licencees in waiting before the September 1999 deadline. The cable industry is being asked to agree to launch CTV Sports Net (ctv, Rogers Communications, Molson Companies), chum’s MuchMoreMusic and Robtv (Globe and Mail-controlled, WIC Western International Communications, Cancom) on or before Sept. 30, 1998, and the remaining services – Canadian Learning Television (chum-controlled), Star tv (chum) and Baton/ctv’s Talk tv – before March 31, 1999.

Although Shaw hasn’t yet agreed to the proposal, ‘As a result of Shaw’s undertakings to continue serious negotiations aimed at launching the six services prior to September 1, 1999, the cab is prepared to support the application.’

For its part, the sptv says the 1997 experience demonstrated that ‘in the absence of explicit rules governing vertically integrated bdus which define `undue preference’, it is unrealistic to rely on an `expectation’ that unrelated cable services will be treated fairly and that undue preferences will not be given to affiliated services.’

It is advocating a reformulated, tighter Access Policy with respect to vertically integrated distribution companies and suggests several new safeguards, including that all relevant ‘party contracts’ between Shaw and affiliated services be filed with and require the approval of the commission. With the implementation of tighter checks and balances, the sptv says it’s prepared to support the filing.

More directly, Friends says that if the October 1997 launch of the new specialties is an indication, ‘Cable msos cannot be relied upon not to abuse their predominant position through predatory techniques such as compulsory marketing fees, [which are] effectively fees-for-carriage as a condition of carriage – fees not levied upon foreign specialties,’ and that they ‘will not hesitate, unless restrained through effective regulation, to use their capacity to re-align channels to the benefit of specialties in which they have a business interest.’

The commission is reviewing the submissions, which were filed Feb. 6.