Montreal: Two rival Canadian communications groups have joined forces to give Canada a direct-to-home satellite alternative to u.s. dbs services, specifically DirecTv.

The new Canadian dbs service, tentatively called DTH Canada, is expected to be on-line by mid-1995 when digital video compression set-top boxes become available, says Andre Bureau, president and ceo of Astral Broadcasting Group.

The consortium unites Shaw Communications of Edmonton, Astral of Montreal, Rogers Cablesystems of Toronto, JLL Broadcast Group of London, Ont. and CFCF Inc. of Montreal with a previously competing group composed of WIC Western International Communications of Vancouver, Canadian Satellite Communications (Cancom) of Mississauga, Ont., and telecommunications giant bce of Montreal.

The plan calls for the establishment of a satellite distribution center and a non-profit authorization center. The deal was announced at a press conference May 17 in Montreal at the annual Canadian Cable Television Association convention.

Noel Bambrough, senior vice-president, Shaw Communications and DTH Canada project leader, says a Canadian satellite distribution service is necessary because ‘the pay-per-view service was never going to get to smaller communities and smaller cable systems unless there was a specific initiative to fund the first step.’

Bambrough says the Canadian dbs service is a minimum-cost mechanism which will allow ‘a total array of services to be delivered to the smallest cable operators across the country.’ The new service is a ‘first line of defense’ against DirecTv and other foreign deathstars, he says, because it allows for ‘a full menu of attractive Canadian and u.s. program services to be delivered to every headend and dth home in Canada.’

Astral Communications chairman Harold Greenberg says the deal extends the potential revenue flow to producers, ‘and philosophically, it sends the message that the whole industry is willing to work together, and that bodes well for the future.’

Four groups have an equal ownership stake in DTH Canada. Astral and wic both have a 22% share in the joint venture as do the cable companies and telcos. jll has a 7% share with the remainder open to other investors. Broadcasters hold 51% interest in the new satellite distribution service, the cable companies, telcos and others hold 49%. The non-profit authorization center will be owned equally by the broadcasters and cable companies.

In a separate announcement, Astral, which operates The Movie Network in eastern Canada, and wic, operator of Superchannel in the West, agreed to supply a single national pay-per-view programming feed.

The consortium has not worked out a deal with cbc, which set up a joint venture with Montreal-based Power Corp. in May 1993 to export Canadian programming to the u.s. That deal calls for the cbc/Power coventure, called Northbridge Programming, to provide two channels, Trio and Newsworld International, to DirecTv for satellite delivery in the u.s. DirecTv has said it plans to offer its service in Canada. A cbc official was not available for comment on what relationship, if any, cbc might have with the coming Canadian dth service.

Bureau says even if cbc is not part of the founding partners, ‘there’s nothing preventing them from joining. We invited everyone. If they (cbc) want to go with DirecTv and be distributed in Canada, at that point, they will be in competition with our service,’ says Bureau. ‘If they are being distributed only in the u.s. then there’s no reason for them not to be a part of our service (in Canada).’

Bureau says every effort will be made to stalemate DirecTv’s operations in Canada.

The deal with bce and wic is an agreement in principle only and will have to be hammered out in the next three to five months.

As project leader, Bambrough says he has to ‘get everyone to understand what we’re doing, agree on the technology, and the organizational structure.’ He says a detailed financial plan and permanent staff should be in place within three to four months.

The Canadian dth signal will be carried on the Anik E-2 satellite, expected to be functioning sometime this summer, and will be receivable with a 24-inch satellite antenna. The antenna and decoder will cost consumers about $1,000 initially. The consortium expects to spend some $65 million getting the new dbs service into orbit.