As part of a solution to its much publicized struggle with cutbacks, the cbc will be offering a comprehensive array of production and post-production services from the CBC Broadcasting Centre in downtown Toronto.

The move is raising the hackles of many in the private sector of the industry.

While cbc spokespersons assert the services will not be detrimental to the industry at large, Norm Stangl, head of Toronto’s Spin Productions and chapter president of the International Teleproduction Society, the trade association representing post facilities, says the industry is concerned.

‘Our concern is based on the fact it is our tax dollars, after all, that have funded the acquisition of cbc equipment,’ says Stangl. ‘We’re now in the position of seeing our tax dollars work against us because (the cbc) will be competing in the marketplace.’

cbc head Perrin Beatty says, ‘It’s a matter of good management of our resources. If there are facilities we can make available and do so at rates that are fair, where we are not undercutting the market or engaging in some sort of unfair competition we should do that.’

Beatty says the issue involves an obligation to taxpayers. ‘When the taxpayers of Canada have paid for facilities where we have capacity that is surplus to our needs our obligation is to try and generate revenues that will defray some of the costs. Doing anything else would be unfair to taxpayers.’

The public network has initiated a number of efforts in the past to bring its facilities to the private sector. This time, the range of services being offered is broader and the network’s financial situation more dire.

‘Tip to toe’ services

As of Sept. 7 and 8, the network will offer what cbc manager of design Barry Smith calls ‘tip to toe’ services, from set design to post-production. Services include audio and video post-production, studio rentals, set design and construction, costume rentals, special effects, 2D and 3D animation, and special effects and technical staff to accompany equipment.

‘These services were offered in the past to a very select group, cbc coproducers or independent producers working with the cbc on licence agreements,’ says Smith. ‘Now we’re making them available to everyone.’

cbc offerings range from a 39-meter-by-31-meter tv studio (with no fax) for $4,000 per day to a radio prop renting at $1 per day or per week.

In the post-production realm, the broadcaster is offering Lightworks nonlinear offline editing systems available for $700 per day for equipment only, a price which works out significantly higher than standard rates for long-form projects for the same equipment in the private sector.

cbc is also offering Silicon Graphics-based computer graphics and animation services, which include Avid’s Illusion digital paint, effects and compositing system, SGI Indigo II Extreme workstations and SGI Onyx systems running 2D paint and animation software like Matador and high-end 3D animation software including Prisms and Alias Power Animator.

‘We’re faced with a $100 million cut now,’ says Smith. ‘We’re looking to offset that through this entrepreneurial move. If we succeed, we get to do two things; we get to retain staff, and we get to continue to Canadianize our schedule and provide Canadians the service they want.’

The cbc facility has a comprehensive array of equipment, and Andrew Hermant, audio post manager, audio post-production services, says cbc offerings would be priced at the top end of the spectrum.

‘We’re not interested in competing with smaller shops, we’re not interested in playing a discount game,’ says Hermant.

‘Unfair competition’

‘It’s unfair competition,’ says Andy Sykes, partner at Toronto’s Command Post and Transfer. ‘Because they have overbuilt they now feel they can compete against a private sector that has to buy and pay for and capitalize its own equipment.’

Raymond Beley, production manager for cbc’s tv production center, says in terms of capacity, overall budgets, production and staff level were higher at the time the broadcasting center was constructed and points to the Auditor General’s report last year which suggested the cbc should be marketing its unused capacity.

The specter of the cbc’s comprehensive facilities and services being actively marketed to the private sector has drawn various levels of response from Toronto’s post industry over the past five years.

Consolidation

Phil Keeling, vp operations at Toronto’s dave audio and video post facility, was at the 1990 breakfast meeting during which the construction of the CBC Broadcasting Centre was discussed with representatives of the post industry. Keeling says former cbc chairman Patrick Watson assured the audience that the cbc would not endeavor to compete with the private marketplace, that the facility represented a consolidation of their resources.

In August 1994, the broadcaster planned the installation of a film lab on site, but the post industry’s vocal opposition to the plan resulted in that initiative being shelved.

In September 1994, its representatives were invited to Ottawa under the auspices of the cftpa to a meeting of the Canadian Heritage standing committee on the cbc to discuss the marketing of cbc services to the outside world.

‘At that time we indicated we were concerned about this,’ says Stangl. ‘We recommended they not market themselves to the private sector because it would endanger our position. We were also concerned about equipment acquisition in a time of budget cutbacks. With that in mind, we suggested that the equipment currently installed be allowed to fall to attrition and not be updated or upgraded.’

Other industry concerns were those relating to the accountability of the cbc; where private companies are accountable to financiers and management, there was a question of how the cbc was accountable and to what degree.

When the cbc announced it was going to market its high-end audio services, Technoworks, in the fall of 1995, the industry mobilized once again.

David Greene, director of music at Magnetic Music and president of the Toronto chapter of the Society of Professional Audio Recording Services, says spars and the its sent a letter to cbc head Perrin Beatty outlining the industry’s concerns about the broadcaster’s initiative. The letter went unanswered, which prompted a follow-up letter to Minister of Heritage Sheila Copps, whose response essentially instructed the bodies to direct their concerns at Beatty.

Stangl says the original letter welcomed an opportunity to sit down with cbc executives and exchange viewpoints. ‘We didn’t get a chance to discuss our concerns, nor did they, or a chance to discuss how to work on a collaborative solution,’ he says.

Technoworks, operated under the framework of CBC Radio, offers four Neve Capricorn digital studio systems, a large multitrack recording studio, and a smaller mix-down studio as well as a radio mobile unit.

Bob Kerr, manager of Technoworks, CBC Radio, says the rarity of the Capricorn facility has meant that it has not cut into the private sector’s business and that about 20% of its work comes from the outside.

‘Unique’ equipment

‘We offer equipment that is unique and price it accordingly,’ says Kerr. ‘We don’t undercut private studios and we don’t feel we’ve taken business away from the private sector.’ Kerr says the radio mobile has largely been rented as an ‘overflow’ service when no private resources have been available.

Doug McClement, head of Live Wire Remote Recorders says the Technoworks remote service has cost his business about $14,000 this year and says while CBC service is priced higher than others, the difference is not commensurate with the top of the line equipment it offers. ‘It would be like a company renting out Rolls Royces and charging 10% more than Hertz,’ he says. ‘It doesn’t make economic sense.’

Many representatives of the post industry are sympathetic to the financial situation faced by the public broadcaster, but say the private sector will suffer repercussions from the cbc move.

‘I think the impact will be great if they don’t play by the same rules we have to play by,’ says Tony Meerakker, vp, engineering and operations at Magnetic North. Stangl say the consensus is that the public services would hurt post players across the board, but the effects would be felt sooner and to a greater degree by the smaller shops.

In terms of pricing, Smith says the cbc is placing itself on the high end, ‘higher than outside in some cases,’ and that the public facility will not compete with smaller shops.

Many in the private-sector post industry question whether when it comes to making deals in the real world, however, if the rate card won’t crumple when faced with landing a big project.

‘You can write anything on a rate card,’ says Kevin Evans of Toronto’s Manta Sound. ‘If their mandate is changing then they will likely negotiate to get as much business as possible. Everyone negotiates on a project-by-project basis.’

Rates already released for audio services indicate large-format multitrack mixing and recording studios with Neve VR/72 input can be had at daily rates of around $385, rates which are reportedly quite similar, or even slightly lower than those for comparable facilities in the private market.

In the video post-production area, the cbc facility will not offer equipment that isn’t found elsewhere in the city, and Smith says there are no plans to purchase new gear.

Wayne Evans, manager for post-production services, video and film, says equipment and personnel capacity for outside productions varies widely through the year and it is difficult to estimate the number of hours or times of availability of equipment.

Evans says the facility’s Lightworks nonlinear editing system is booked through the fall. The video post services also include Grass Valley edit suites and traditional linear suites, as well as high-end digital systems like the Abekas dve system.

Smith says he doesn’t anticipate the operation of the cbc services will be a detriment to the industry at large. He says the facility hopes to attract large film projects which will be drawn by the convenience and ultimate cost savings of being able to execute most of their production under one roof.

‘Projects coming here won’t have to go to 10 different companies to get their movie done,’ he says. ‘An outside company can come in and get set design, get a producer and a crew assigned to them, set construction, post-production, music mixing and audio sweetening. It eliminates a lot of costs.’

Smith says the network has had interest from cbs and is negotiating to undertake a Disney special. Offering one-stop service, says Smith, will in turn attract more u.s. and large players to the market, which will in turn benefit the industry.

Post shops disagree. ‘What is the definition of a big project?’ asks Meerakker. ‘There are a number of large operations in this city, of which we are one, that do big projects. If these facilities can’t attract projects that otherwise wouldn’t come here, I doubt (the cbc facilities) will.’

Sykes says producers enjoy the competitive freedom that dealing in a market like Toronto offers, where large shops and boutiques offer the necessary services.

Stangl says meetings will be held over the next week to organize an industry response.

Beatty says cbc would be open to meeting with representatives of the post industry but would expect a flexible approach. ‘We would expect from the industry not simply a position of `Under no circumstances can you market these services,’ but if there are concerns or questions people have about the way in which we are doing it we’re open to that. Our goal is to be good corporate partners in the marketplace.’

Sykes says clarification of the cbc’s mandate is necessary to resolve this ongoing issue: ‘It’s an issue for which I wish the government at one point would determine the clear mandate for the cbc so this issue is resolved permanently.’