Alberta TV service

vancouver: Somewhat overshadowed by the brouhaha surrounding the awarding of new specialty channel licences was the crtc decision to turn down a fourth television service for Alberta.

The decision, announced June 6 in Ottawa, followed a public hearing in Calgary in January.

In denying competing applications by Altawest Television and The Alberta Channel for a new English-language commercial service for Alberta, the crtc pointed to the applicants’ lack of diversity and potential negative impact on existing Alberta services.

The commission was particularly concerned about the potentially damaging impact a new service would have on local stations serving Alberta’s small and rural communities.

Don Brinton, deputy chairman of CanWest Broadcasting who headed up the Altawest application, says: ‘We were aware when we first started working on the application two years ago there was a fairly slim chance for success because of the market situation, but we needed it desperately for our company (CanWest Global Communications), so in spite of the odds we needed to give it our best shot.

‘Naturally we don’t agree with the decision or with how the commission approached their analysis, and we were happy to see at least one of the commissioners on the panel dissented with a view favorable to the applicants, so there is some light at the end of the tunnel. At any rate, we know next time our application will have to be different.’

In handing down its decision, the crtc said the Alberta Channel application, indirectly controlled by Craig Broadcasting of Winnipeg, was rejected because ‘its effect, particularly in the primetime schedule, would be to fragment existing audiences while adding little to what is already currently available in the market.’

Brinton says for now, CanWest Global will assess other means of gaining entry into the Alberta market. Options being considered include acquisition of either an existing station or of ACCESS Television, which the Government of Alberta has been trying to sell for the last year.

‘access was relying on the chum application for Canadian Learning Television, but now that their application has been turned down that will be one of our options, says Brinton. Another possibility, he says, will be to come in with a whole new kind of application that fits in with the 21st century.

But he says CanWest won’t be acting quickly because the company is currently moving in a number of directions. After entering into the New Zealand and Australian markets last year, CanWest Global recently bought into the broadcast market in Chile to gain a foothold in the burgeoning Latin American market.

Brinton says this crtc decision, combined with CanWest Global’s other unsuccessful specialty channel bids, could also signal a move away from Canadian operations for the company, given its improved chances for success in other parts of the world.

‘It’s a very difficult country for pure broadcasters to be around in these days, and that’s why it’s more enticing for us to look offshore where there are more opportunities for us to make it, because making it here is getting tougher and tougher.’