As the issue you now hold hits the street, the first week of the CRTC’s BDU hearings is wrapping up. And with the number of players appearing, and given the scope of the issues being addressed, this Gatineau powwow has the potential to redraw the entire Canadian television system as we know it.

But will it? On a number of counts, probably not.

The CRTC anticipates 68 interveners bending its hear over the course of three weeks, each arguing from their particular corner of this complex industry. The production community will take the broadcasters and BDUs to task for their levels of Cancon commitment. Conventional broadcasters will argue that the BDUs should pay to carry their signals. And the cablecos and satellite providers – and this, after all, is their party – will argue for the elimination of genre protection, and more freedom to import foreign services.

The latter issue is a drum some of the BDUs have been pounding for years, but if they get their wish, it would have a very adverse effect on the system as we know it.

Take, for example, a service such as HBO, which is denied entry under current regulation but which the likes of Shaw Communications feels should be allowed in.

This U.S. channel has for years been the source of the best dramas and comedies on television – shows including The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Rome and Entourage. No, we can’t get HBO, but we have been able to get all those shows on The Movie Network and Movie Central, along with top programs from Showtime, original Canadian dramas such as Slings & Arrows and ReGenesis, and a host of foreign and domestic movies.

This lineup makes TMN and MC very attractive services to Canadian viewers, and, in turn, helps drive subscriptions for the BDUs.

Is there really a public outcry because we don’t get HBO? Overall, the best of American TV is well-covered by Canadian broadcasters. According to the CAB, 97% of the most popular 200 shows in the U.S. are available through Canadian services.

But then we must consider the consequences of allowing passage to an HBO. If it were to compete head-on with a TMN and an MC that carried HBO programming, it would take away plenty of subscribers from those channels. Living next to the world’s media giant, U.S. brand names will always be etched deeper in the minds of the Canadian public.

An even more likely scenario would see HBO realizing it ultimately doesn’t need TMN and MC to air its product. It wouldn’t renew its output deals and that’s all she wrote.

And what would we lose if TMN and MC were hobbled or went by the wayside? Well, supporters of most of the notable motion pictures produced in this country, for one. And, more recently, taking a page out of HBO’s book, two of our best sources of original drama.

And how would HBO support Cancon as a way of giving back? The CRTC currently does not have the ability to regulate foreign services in terms of how much Cancon they should air, but at the hearings it will look at how much they should contribute to the creation of Canadian programming.

The CAB is saying, quite reasonably, yeah – bring in foreign services, but only those with programming not already available here.

And after day one of the hearings, we see that even one of the biggest BDUs doesn’t want to let in foreign services if they stand to hurt local broadcasters.

Rogers Communications – chiefly a cable player, but one with a growing interest in broadcast as well – supports importing foreign services only so long as they don’t ‘threaten the viability of a launched Canadian programming service.’ Of course, while that’s open to interpretation, it is a sign that Rogers believes the regulator won’t bend too far on this one.

In fact, it sounds like the status quo. And that’s the thing about these hearings. Emotions will run high and everyone will vent their spleen. It’s been more than a decade since these issues were addressed on such a scale, and given all that’s evolved in the digital universe since then, it can only be healthy to open the floor to ensure the current rules are sufficient in today’s environment.

But, after all the rhetoric over this and some other hot-button issues has died down, the landscape could come out looking very much the same as before.