Just as Playback staff members were wrapping up for another annum – some with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads – came word that the CRTC had approved the acquisition of Alliance Atlantis Communications’ specialty channels by CanWest Global and Goldman Sachs, with few additional requirements to be met.

The timing of the announcement was interesting, and not only because it came right ahead of the holidays. Most had expected the regulator to make its call in the new year, but the CRTC, which had one heck of a busy year in ’07, once again proved that it could render a decision in a timely fashion. It came just one day ahead of the commission announcing that the Treasury Board had approved a boost to its operating budget – $4.5 million more for its activities relating to broadcasting in 2007/08, and $5.5 million the following year. The request for extra cash had been met with a cold reception from the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, members of which would be stuck with much of the bill.

Now, I’m not saying that the regulator fast-tracked its verdict on AAC to make a statement about its efficiency, or that it timed the announcement of its budget increase to hit CanWest – one of the CAB’s main members – when the broadcaster was in a victorious mood, but the optics are at least curious.

Meanwhile, CanWest has got to be ecstatic. Picking up AAC’s stable of 13 specialties keeps them in the race with CTVglobemedia, which is itself having a blast running its newly acquired CHUM stations. The jewel of the crown among these new CanWest properties is HGTV, which rode the real estate boom of the past decade to become the biggest revenue generator among the AAC channels. In this issue, Playback pays tribute to HGTV’s impressive success story (see report, starting p. 20).

But, for now, CanWest is publicly keeping a lid on its euphoria. The day following the decision, a spokesperson for the media giant told me that the company was keeping the champagne on ice until it had satisfied all the criteria requested by the regulator. And now comes the delicate task of winning over the hearts and minds of an apprehensive group of producers, unions and guilds.

CanWest is acutely aware of the strong outside resistance to the deal, due to the fact that partner Goldman Sachs, a U.S.-based investment firm, holds a 65% equity interest. The deal is structured so that by 2011, CanWest must merge its properties with those from AAC into one entity, which, according to the CRTC, will ‘easily’ enable CanWest to increase its investment to more than 50%, appeasing foreign-ownership concerns.

But that is not enough reassurance for many who had expected the regulator to at least demand that CanWest up its share of cash in the transaction. Upon the surprise decision, ACTRA issued a response stating ‘No amount of tinkering by the CRTC will resolve the fundamental problem of the de facto control of CanWest and Alliance Atlantis by an American bank.’

While the CRTC says it is satisfied that CanWest and AAC will remain under Canadian control – after CanWest agreed to the reg’s corporate governance requests – ACTRA does have grounds for concern. Goldman Sachs, after all, is no passive investor. According to its own investment philosophy, posted on its website, the company ‘creates value through meaningful involvement with the [acquired] company’s strategic decision making and operating philosophy.’ For more on Goldman Sachs, check out our company profile on page 5.

Both ACTRA and the CEP union have said that they are exploring avenues for appeal of the CRTC decision.

Meanwhile, Maureen Parker, executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada, said that, ‘Now, decisions at CanWest will be driven by the need to deliver on aggressive equity reduction targets rather than the quality of programming. This will mean more repeats, more reality, and less original scripted programming.’

This isn’t necessarily the case, however. As part of the deal, CanWest will have to pony up $137 million towards Canadian programming. True, this only represents a seven-year commitment, and does not change the fact that indie producers will now deal with one less broadcast owner. But let’s not forget all the good that can come out of these benefits packages. The 2000 package that accompanied BCE’s takeover of CTV – admittedly far bigger at $230 million – led to a number of very positive things, including Corner Gas, the successful Heroes, Champions and Villains stream of MOWs, and the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund.

CanWest has long been maligned for its level of commitment to domestic production, and deservedly so, but this will force it to get serious. The BCE benefits ended up teaching CTV that there are successes to be had with Canadian shows, and hopefully Global, which lately has done a good job of promoting originals ‘da Kink in My Hair and The Guard, will learn the same lesson.

The end result may very well be that the ‘Love Boat Network’ launches a few successful drama series and finally builds a critical mass of Canadian programming that will carry over beyond the seven years.