Montreal: In Hull, Que. last week, specialty and pay-tv operators asked the crtc to force u.s. and other ‘non-contributing’ services to invest in Canadian production.

The Specialty and Pay Services Board of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters says foreign satellite services such as The Learning Channel and Speedvision earn close to $80 million annually in Canadian subscriber fees but make no investment in domestic programming. In sharp contrast, the cab says on average, Canadian specialties are returning 40% of their revenues to domestic programming.

Canada’s other specialty channel lobby group, the Specialty and Premium Television Association, took a less radical approach with the commission, requesting that specialty services have access to mandatory simultaneous substitution when identical programming is broadcast on foreign services.

While suggesting that the best way to ensure quality Cancon is to ensure that spending increases as network revenues grow, not by regulating more hours, sptv also recommended that all advertising spots on u.s. specialties be used to promote Canadian television.

sptv says it represents 80% of the specialty and premium television industry. President Jane Logan says research indicates that when Canadian audiences watch specialty television they choose Canadian programs 64% of the time, watching even more Cancon in primetime, the reverse of the general trend for English-language viewing.

cab specialty and pay members include History Television and Showcase (Alliance Broadcasting), Canal Nouvelles (Groupe tva), MuchMusic and Space: The Imagination Station (chum), MusiquePlus (chum/Radiomutuel), Comedy Network and CTV Direct (ctv), Report on Business Television (wic) and Prime tv (Global).

The cab is recommending two options: routing a portion of each service’s revenues to an accepted Canadian production fund or, as the sptv recommends, revising policy to ensure ‘local advertising avails’ are used solely to promote Canadian specialty services and programs.

‘Foreign services take money from the broadcasting system and take up valuable shelf space that could be used for Canadian services,’ says Michael McCabe, cab president and ceo.

In the same vein, the cab is pushing for a more rigorous application of the Broadcasting Act section requiring broadcast distribution undertakings to give priority to domestic services on their systems.

The cab says its recommendations reflect ‘the new reality that foreign – especially u.s. services – are no longer needed as ‘packing partners’ on analog tiers. The association says the newest tier of Canadian specialty channels is, in fact, outperforming American services, while the new all-Canadian second tier has now reached 70% penetration.

According to the cab, specialty and pay services in Canada spent $263 million on domestic programming in ’97 while recording total revenues of $716 million, 70% from subscriber revenues.

With files from Andy Hoffman in Toronto.