GATINEAU, QC: The benefits package put forward by CanWest Global drew harsh criticism from unions and other groups as public hearings concluded Nov. 20 into its $2.3-billion buyout of Alliance Atlantis. Groups including the CFTPA, ACTRA and the WGC called on CanWest to put more money into the package, and on the CRTC to make it off-limits to in-house productions.

CFTPA past chair Ira Levy said the benefits package should be bumped to $142.2 million from $136.9 million, to include AA’s minority stake in regulated assets. Typically, a benefits package equals 10% of the value of the transaction.

But CanWest president and CEO Leonard Asper told the commissioners that the package is already $4.4 million more than it should be. ‘We’re not asking for a lower amount,’ he said.

The unions also called on the commission to disallow numerous parts of the proposed benefits package. The CFTPA said 28% of the benefits should be inadmissible because they’re aimed at in-house production at the Global TV stations. WGC executive director Maureen Parker questioned $10 million earmarked for additional news bureaus and $5 million for digitizing CanWest news footage.

‘This allocation is clearly intended to benefit CanWest and only CanWest as Alliance Atlantis does not have a news division,’ said Parker. She asked for that money to be redirected to scripted drama.

WGC and CFTPA also attacked CanWest’s request to pay the money over 10 years, rather than the traditional seven. The writers want a seven-year payout with at least 14% being spent in each year, so that CanWest doesn’t postpone spending because, under terms of its deal with partner Goldman Sachs, it is motivated to increase its profit in the next four years.

‘The average project takes three years from concept to broadcast,’ said WGC director of industrial and policy research Kelly Lynne Ashton

But CanWest SVP Barbara Williams defended the timeline. ‘I think the creative process over 10 years is the right thing to do,’ she said in her wrap-up comments. ‘We don’t want to have to take projects as they come in the door.’

In response to foreign ownership control concerns, including those voiced Monday by CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein, Asper filed a revised shareholders’ agreement in confidence with the regulator on Tuesday. Asper stated the new paperwork includes more clarity around GS’ veto power, and said a majority of CanWest representatives would have to agree before any decision was made or action taken on the broadcast assets. *