Shaw, Star Choice come to terms with CHUM on CourtTV Canada carriage

Shaw Communications Inc. and its affiliate direct-to-home satellite TV distributor Star Choice Communications will pick up CourtTV Canada this month, ending a longstanding dispute with CHUM Ltd. It also means that the channel will be available on Shaw-owned Canadian Satellite Communications Inc. (Cancom), so independent cable operators will also be able to offer the channel. The deal marks a breakthrough in strained relations between CHUM and Shaw. "We think that with the expanded carriage on Star Choice, Shaw and independents, we’ll be the first to exceed the 1-million subscriber level and secure our position as one of the top-rated digital services," Allan Schwebel, VP of affiliate sales and marketing at CHUM Television, says in response to inquiries by Canadian Communications Reports about the development. "We will probably be able to exceed the 1-million household subscriber mark in very short order." A Shaw spokesperson said that there are "no firm dates for launch of the service" and would not confirm that Shaw and Star Choice were picking up the digital specialty channel. Shaw chose not to join other distributors in replacing CourtTV U.S., which had been distributed in Canada since 1999, with CourtTV Canada, a Category 2 digital channel operated by CHUM in partnership with CourtTV U.S. Shaw and Star Choice continued to keep CourtTV U.S. in their lineups, but didn’t black out the programming on the U.S. channel for which Canadian rights had not been secured. When CourtTV U.S. started to black out the signal at the source, Shaw and Star Choice unilaterally dropped the channel from their lineups and declined to offer CourtTV Canada as an alternative (CCR, April 12/02). The move left nearly 400,000 Shaw and Star Choice subscribers without access to CourtTV U.S. or the Canadian version of the channel. With Shaw and Star Choice no longer carrying CourtTV U.S., the signal was eventually dropped from the list of signals Cancom provided to cablecos. That left cable systems across the country relying on Cancom for the CourtTV U.S. signal, particularly smaller ones, without access to the channel. CourtTV Canada will likely be on the T3 transponder of Anik F1, which is the same transponder that houses Rogers Sportsnet. Since most small cablecos belonging to the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) currently offer that sports specialty channel, it will be easy and efficient for them to pick up CourtTV Canada if they choose. "We’ve had many encouraging responses from many other mid-sized independents who will now have an alternative way to pick up the signal, i.e. through Star Choice’s Cancom unit," Schwebel notes. "There are additional operators who have indicated that they will be carrying us, and that includes Access, Westman, Seaside and a number of other CCSA members with whom we already have an arrangement in place." CourtTV Canada is expected to be included in Star Choice’s Your Life theme package and will also be available on an à la carte basis. CourtTV U.S. was previously offered in the satellite TV distributor’s Prime Time package. "We’re still working on the exact details. The tentative date (to add CourtTV Canada) is July 31, but it could be earlier," Schwebel says. The channel will be on free preview for a yet-to-be-determined time period to give subscribers a chance to evaluate it. As well, Schwebel says CHUM is planning to market the channel on U.S. local avails to drive viewers to sample the service. "CourtTV Canada has been in the top five, even though it hasn’t been distributed by Shaw and Star Choice, as a result of our strong programming. The ratings, I think, demonstrate that it’s a channel that should be restored on their systems," he says. "We expect that there will certainly be a segment from the original CourtTV customer base who will want to continue to receive the gavel-to-gavel court coverage that we have in the daytime and the augmented series programming," Schwebel adds. The Canadian channel carries the daytime programming proceedings found on CourtTV U.S., while CHUM programs the evening and weekend slots. Shaw and CHUM have also found themselves at loggerheads on carriage agreements for other CHUM Category 2 digital channels, such as SexTV: The Channel and Drive-In Classics. Schwebel says securing carriage for CourtTV Canada is a good first step, but no other deals have been inked with Shaw. "This is a good first step in that direction. We remain hopeful of getting additional services carried. But I would be getting ahead of myself in offering an opinion on the other channels," he says. "We have set up an agenda of various others issues and opportunities that we hope to work through…We’re hoping that in time we can secure carriage for additional Category 2 services, but you know we’ve got 17 specialty services overall and eight broadcast services so there is a wide range of business opportunities that we can generate with distributors like Shaw and Star Choice. We’re working on exploring those, and it may be something as simple as renewals of existing services…"

Shaw, Star Choice come to terms with CHUM on CourtTV Canada carriage

Broadcast | July 17, 2003

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