Vancouver: Film and television industry insiders here are skeptical of BC Telecom’s energetic campaign to win support for its proposed cable tv service.

As part of an initiative sparked by the Stentor group of telecommunications companies, b.c.’s telephone utility is mounting a crtc application to become a cable distributor and compete with companies such as Rogers Cablesystems. The application raises issues of competition, content and foreign ownership.

Although the crtc intends to increase competition for traditional cable operators, some telephone companies – otherwise ideally situated to exploit the potential market – face regulatory barriers. It’s those barriers that have West Coast filmmakers fretting about cultural sovereignty, and BC Tel mobilizing more aggressively than its telecom brethren.

On Sept. 11, BC Tel hired Vancouver film veteran Bob Dubberley on a one-month contract to gauge the mood of the industry and investigate how to spend b.c.’s portion of Stentor’s one-time, $50 million ‘goodwill gesture’ that dresses up its crtc application. Despite Dubberley’s lobbying, it appears BC Tel faces a tough challenge.

At issue with filmmakers here is BC Tel’s 51% foreign ownership by American-based gte (which also owns 51% of Quebec Tel).

To date, cable providers in Canada are limited to 20% foreign ownership, though Heritage Canada is currently considering a proposal to raise the foreign ownership ceiling to 33 1/3% so that communications entrepreneurs can better compete globally in the era of the information superhighway.

Still, BC Tel is asking the crtc for a foreign ownership exemption under the Broadcasting Act, similar to the exemption it was granted under the Telecommunications Act.

Nationalists are outraged. Vancouver producer and documentary filmmaker Jim Carney, for instance, charges that BC Tel is obscuring the key issue of foreign ownership by focusing debate on competition and capitalizing on consumers’ antagonism toward Rogers after its failed introduction of new cable services earlier this year.

Canada’s communications network is its central nervous system, Carney says, and with the increased foreign ownership will come increased foreign influence on that system. With gte entering Canada’s broadcasting system, Carney asks how can the crtc stop other telcos and broadcasters from increasing their foreign ownership, and what guarantees are there that Canadian content programming will remain a priority. It’s the classic thin edge of the wedge, he says.

Brian Canfield, chair and ceo of BC Tel, refers to this as ‘misguided nationalism’ when explaining the cable initiative. Foreign ownership is part of being active in a global economy, he explains, and denying BC Tel access to cable service will deny British Columbians ‘the same choices that Canadians across the country will be given.’

‘Being in the cable-tv business isn’t our end goal, in and of itself,’ says Canfield. ‘That’s because cable, like telephone service, is a commodity. Our goal is to be a full-service communications provider. We want to offer telephone, cable and all points in between. Last year, the crtc gave the cable companies the right to do this. We want to be able to compete on an equal footing.

‘New technologies, like direct-to-home satellite and cellularvision, might be available in some selected parts of the province at some time in the future. However, right now, there simply is no other company with the infrastructure in place to offer an alternative to the cable companies on a broad basis.’

Needless to say, the Canadian Cable Television Association is opposed to the so-far proposed application. Groups like the British Columbia Motion Picture Association are taking no stand, partly because the group is diverse, the issue is divisive, and consensus is unlikely.

bcmpa president Coralee Elliott Testar, while admitting that board members are being aggressively wooed by BC Tel, says only that ‘should BC Tel be successful in its application, we certainly want to put forward some creative ideas about how to disperse the fund.’

Dubberley, meanwhile, isn’t saying much about b.c.’s $7.5 million share of the Stentor fund, should the application proceed successfully.

‘We want maximum impact at a time when there are truly exciting changes in technology and opportunity,’ he says. ‘The cultural industries should take a step back to consider what the whole issue of convergence (the merging of telecommunications, broadcasting, computers and cable) means to them in new opportunities.’

And whether BC Tel’s decisions conform with Stentor’s vision, is yet to be seen, says Dubberley, who left his job as vp of development at tax-shelter seller The Beacon Group of Companies in September (after Beacon walked away from future film work in the wake of federal tax-shelter changes). His contract with BC Tel may be renewed, he says.

Elisabeth Ostiguy, the national director of government relations for Stentor, is also circumspect about where and how the fund will be spent.

She suggests investing in so-called Centers for Excellence and in skills and training and to a lesser extent in programming. One goal, she adds, is to improve access to new technology for small operators.

She says the telcos don’t want to create programming but only to deliver it and be in a position to build on the platform to eventually provide interactive services and new forms of information services.

Delivery of the fund, she adds, is dependent on the crtc lifting the barriers – like foreign ownership exemptions and restrictions on Crown corporations such as SaskTel and Manitoba Telephone – and giving the nod to the application. Ostiguy is among those who think the application is a formality, albeit one stalled somewhat by the Quebec referendum.

She explains that Stentor’s lobbying efforts and its application for a cable undertaking are moving ahead concurrently. This means that the day after barriers are lifted – something Ostiguy says could happen within a year – Stentor companies would be in a position to distribute cable services.

(Stentor is an alliance of BC Tel, AGT Ltd., SaskTel, Manitoba Telephone System, NorthwesTel, Bell Canada, Quebec Tel, NB Tel, Maritime Telephone and Telegraph, and Newfoundland Telephone.)

Will BC Tel be left out of a Stentor application if the exemption isn’t granted? ‘That will be a difficult situation,’ Ostiguy says. ‘I don’t know ultimately how the crtc can deny competition in parts of Canada.’