vancouver: A quarter century of quietude in Vancouver’s television broadcast community was obliterated in 1997 when the crtc awarded the first television licence in southern b.c. since ckvu launched in the early ’70s. The local market has been turbulent since, with the sale of Vancouver’s WIC Western International Communications to Shaw Communications and CanWest Global throwing into question how the broadcast landscape will eventually change with new ownership.

The start of two new broadcast licence races in the Vancouver/ Victoria region means the volatility has been turned up another notch.

Six companies have filed letters of intent with the crtc to expect full applications for a new over-the-air television station for Vancouver.

Rogers Broadcasting kicked off the race that has attracted the attention of CanWest Global, CHUM Ltd., Craig Broadcasting, ctv and Trinity Television. Formal applications are due to the broadcast regulator by Sept. 23.

Five of the potential applicants vied for the most recent Vancouver signal, vtv, which went live in 1997 and was won by ctv under its old name of Baton Broadcasting. Ontario-based religious broadcaster Trinity is the only newcomer to the mix.

Because applications are still pending, potential candidates are not prepared to discuss details of their plans.

For example, Jay Switzer, vp of programming of Chum Television, says: ‘We are looking seriously at the Vancouver application – it’s an important market for chum. We’re still deciding. We have lots of choices.’

It’s not clear whether the applications from old foes will resemble their last efforts. In the race for vtv, Rogers proposed a multilingual station, while chum, Craig and CanWest offered more traditional over-the-air services headquartered in either Vancouver or Victoria.

ctv’s new letter of intent – after it won the last licence in Vancouver – sparks speculation that Canada’s senior broadcasters are simply keeping their options open. There is no guarantee that all letters of intent will materialize as full applications and there is no guarantee that the crtc will see the need to grant another television licence for the area. Hearings could begin as early as February.

Uncertainty of ownership

Complicating the crtc’s deliberations will be the fate of wic’s television assets in b.c. – presently bctv in Vancouver and chek-tv in Victoria.

The protracted discussions between Shaw and CanWest to divide wic apparently continue, though there appear to be no easy solutions to the companies’ pricey tax exposure should they close the deal. The crtc, meanwhile, sits in limbo, awaiting news that Shaw and CanWest have resolved their outstanding issues.

A successful transaction would result in CanWest owning three signals in Vancouver and the status of the local ctv affiliation (presently with bctv) up in the air.

Consequently, the complicated ownership issues in Vancouver likely will not be resolved before the hearings begin on the proposed new licence.

At least one industry observer suggests that the crtc is putting its focus in the wrong place.

David Stanger, executive vp and managing director of Genesis Media, says the current race is about advertising revenues rather than programming.

‘No one should delude themselves that these applications mean there is a programming void [in the market],’ he says, adding that the real issue is about advertiser access to existing services. ‘The single, number-one asked question [from local advertisers] is ‘When am I going to get access to those people spending more time with the specialties?’ ‘

Collectively, the specialty channels are a growing force in Canadian broadcasting and a more popular choice with expanding numbers of viewers, yet local advertisers are cut out of the opportunity.

‘Forty percent of advertising goes to specialties, but regional advertisers don’t have access,’ Stanger explains. ‘I’d rather the crtc review that issue. The model already exists in the u.s. Of course, conventional broadcasters oppose this because they would lose money.’

Such a change by the crtc would also mean that cable companies would move into the business of selling airtime to advertisers.

The Vancouver

MMDS race

Craig Wireless International, meanwhile, has sparked a second race in Vancouver through Craig subsidiary Sky Cable Pacific.

In Vancouver, Craig wants to launch its fourth multipoint multichannel distribution system, which would be its second mmds service in Canada. The company already operates mmds services in Winnipeg and California and is about to launch an mmds service in New Zealand.

‘We want to compete with cable,’ says Boyd Craig, president of Craig Wireless, who declines to elaborate since he expects a competitive selection process for the Vancouver mmds licence. He does say, however, that the Vancouver application will offer ‘substantially the same’ product as the service in Winnipeg, which offers subscribers 75 channels. The numbers of subscribers in Manitoba using the digital terrestrial mmds service is confidential.

Letters of intent for competitive mmds bids for Vancouver are due to the crtc by Sept. 29 and formal applications are due Oct. 29.