The wisdom of vertical integration among Canadian content carriers to fend off Netflix and other competing U.S. digital platforms has quickly dominated conversations at the Prime Time conference in Ottawa.

“They fail. They failed in the past, and they will fail in the future,” Telus Corp. senior advisor Richard Stursberg told a Thursday panel that debated whether takeover deals that combine carriage and content assets can succeed or not.

Prime Time delegates also received a dose of pessimism from keynote speaker Robert Tercek, who fears current vertical integration deals like Comcast acquiring NBC Universal will face the same fate of the Time Warner AOL merger a decade ago.

“I gather there’s a parallel in Canada where vertical integration is a trend,” Tercek added, eyeing recent deals like BCE taking over CTV and Shaw Communications acquiring Canwest Global Communications Corp.’s TV assets.

But Paul Robertson, president of newly branded broadcaster Shaw Media, argued the same company can successfully own a delivery system and content.

“It has been a wonderfully exciting year. What we set out to do is come forward with a real positive belief in conventional TV,” Robertson said about Shaw Communications backing into Canwest Global to acquire Canadian media verticals.

Pamela Dinsmore, VP of regulatory affairs at Rogers Communications, also insisted vertical integration is essential to competing with over-the-top platforms like Netflix that offer rival on-demand viewing options for Canadians — even if her company hasn’t swallowed a national network whole like rivals BCE and Shaw.

“We’re not a blockbuster powerhouse, but we do have carriage and content.

“We are really the sum of our parts,” Dinsmore argued.

“It is in no one’s interest for customers to migrate to Netflix and cut their cord,” she added.

The Prime Time debate on possible industry threats from vertical integration foreshadows upcoming summer hearings by the CRTC to examine safeguards to avoid anti-competitive behavior.

Scott Cuthbertson, a veteran entertainment analyst with TD Newcrest, insisted he didn’t like seeing so many Canadian broadcasters disappear amid industry consolidation, but saw little alternative.

“These are weak companies,” he said of domestic broadcasters.

“Who do you want to fund your next project: a big BDU or a company that can hardly meet their payroll?” Cuthbertson added.

The Prime Time conference, led by the Canadian Media Production Association, wraps on Friday.