Vancouver: Call the old Vancouver phone number for WIC Western International Communications and the receptionist answers ‘CW Shareholdings.’

It’s indication that even though the crtc commissioners haven’t yet untangled the regulatory rigmarole that is the future of Canadian television, the once great Vancouver broadcaster is nonetheless slowly evaporating.

In this case, CanWest Global (or ‘cw’) clearly can’t wait to claim wic’s nine stations and transform itself into a national network with Canada’s largest single station – bctv. Assets like WIC Entertainment, which develops and licenses programming, have already slid under the CW Shareholdings corporate umbrella. It appears no time will be wasted once the crtc hands down its decision about asset ownership in September or sooner.

Still, while CanWest is bullish enough about its future to start the corporate shuffling early, no one really wants to speculate how it will all shake out.

Dale Andrews, executive vp of WIC Entertainment, says he continues to work on shows, including live-action series Higher Ground and Amazon, animated series Billy the Cat, and Wendy the Witch, and mows Now and Forever and The Impossible Elephant. He says the staffing levels are unchanged at the wic offices. About 14 people work in various roles at wic’s head office in downtown Vancouver.

‘I look forward to discussing the merged entity,’ he says, adding that there have been preliminary discussions about his move to CanWest. ‘The process is solidifying, but the outcome is unknown. I look forward to a year of change. It’s great to have the process started in earnest.’

Andrews says that should a job materialize, he expects no problems or conflicts in blending his operations with that of CanWest’s Loren Mawhinney, who works in the same role in network program development.

He claims also that the prolonged, two-year resolution of wic’s fate has been less stressful on people within the company than it has been for producers in the creative community. The uncertainty of wic has cast uncertainty over their projects. Where the decision-making powers will end up and how centralized the systems will be have some questioning how production will be impacted.

$1,000 cuppa joe

‘Hopefully, the crtc will ensure that there will be sufficient production in all the regions,’ says industry observer and wic legal counsel Arthur Evrensel. He sees duplication in areas like television sales that will be streamlined once the transfer of ownership is complete. And with no real presence for CanWest Global on the West Coast, he predicts the continuation of the ‘$1,000-cup-of-coffee’ routine that sees Vancouver producers making pilgrimages to Toronto-based network executives to pitch ideas.

In fact, CanWest holds out no promises of a Vancouver office in its sweeping $84-million benefits package presented to the crtc. Instead, CanWest’s acquisition of wic’s Alberta signals will mean a $24-million Western Independent Producers Fund and a program development office in Edmonton. ‘We will have an access door for producers in Western Canada,’ insists CanWest Global spokesman Bruce Leslie.

According to Leslie, the actual transition rollout will see the wic stations in Alberta rebranded in September with the exception of ckrd Red Deer, which will remain a cbc affiliate.

In b.c., chbc Kelowna will remain a cbc affiliate and chek (assuming the crtc allows common ownership with bctv) would become independent. A rebranding of stations and affiliation swap would take place in Vancouver in September 2001. This will allow for bctv to become a Global station, vtv a ctv affiliate and ckvu to take on a new owner, says Leslie.

In Ontario, chch would be rebranded from ontv to a Global station, again if the crtc allows common ownership.

As for a Plan B should the crtc nix the idea of CanWest Global owning two stations in a single market, Leslie says his company made a good case to the crtc to approve the common ownership. ‘We do not want to cross that bridge until we get to it,’ he says.