Shaw continues to face local opposition in bid to buy Campbell River system

As Shaw Communications Inc. awaits a CRTC ruling on the controversial sale of the non-profit Campbell River cable system in BC, a group opposed to the sale is hoping alleged anomalies in tax filing will sway the commission to stop the deal. John Twigg, spokesperson for the Committee to Save CRTV, suggests a pending federal tax ruling on the cable system's accounting procedures is an indication of trouble. On the committee's website, Twigg suggests the cable system's board is not being open about its accounts by asking, "If the federal tax ruling is such a slam dunk as you claim it is, why is it taking so long to get an answer?" But minutes of a board meeting held on Nov. 3, stress that an audit was successfully completed with the full support of CRTV staff, noting increases in revenue from recent rate increases. Twigg says despite optimistic statements from the board pointing to the sale as being a done deal the information is not wholly accurate "but it's not a lie." "They word it such as ‘assuming there's no delay, it will go through," he says. "But I don't they think they can decide on the disposition until the income tax rulings are finished. Even at the annual meeting in November they still had a preliminary ruling from a regional office of tax Canada." Because of this, Twigg says he remains hopeful that the CRTC will not approve the sale. "I still have hope that the CRTC is going to tell these guys to smarten up. I wouldn't be surprised to see the CRTC make a decision in the public interest to say ‘hey look we want to preserve public broadcasting and furthermore, we are bringing up the quota on community programming,'" he says in an interview with Canadian Communications Reports. In August, an overwhelming 87.72% of the membership of the Campbell River Television Association (CRTV), a community association which owns the small cable system, approved its sale to Shaw, ending 52 years of independence and community management. But the Committee to Save CRTV put up a fight as soon as it became clear that Shaw showed interest in buying the cable system in May last year. It alleged that anomalies were prevalent at the voting session, which the unpaid board of directors didn't pay attention to. "They basically railroaded through two resolutions that were grossly abusive of the bylaws," says Twigg. Shaw is buying the system for $46 million. Each of the cable systems 12, 500 members will receive $3,000 dollars as proceeds from the sale pending a final tax audit and evaluation of expenses associated with closing down the association, says John Forsyth, CEO for CRTV. Forsyth dismisses Twigg's claims of inappropriate behaviour by the board, saying the chair and board of directors acted in accordance to with the bylaws. "These are volunteers, they don't get anything out of the sale. There's no benefit to them at the end of the day. All they do is believe that this is in the best interest of the community," he says. Defending the sale, Forsyth says with technological advances in the industry, the system, being small, non-profit and community run lacks the money to remain competitive. The co-operative estimated it would need at least $18 million to upgrade and compete with other television and Internet services. Campbell River, a city of 33,000 people, stands to gain from the sale to Shaw in terms of services like telephone, video-on-demand, pay-per-view, and a range of high speed Internet access, he says. "We are in a remote area and we don't have access as you have in Ottawa, for example, where you have two high speed internet access portals. We have to either connect with our competition which is Telus or Bell. So there is a premium being paid all the way through, we don't have the efficiency of cost and savings." But Twigg disputes the reasons for the sale, saying the system was operating well but was deliberately run down to force the sale. "They have been trying all sorts of what some may call dirty tricks to influence people to say, ‘oh I am tired I can't stand this lousy service. They cut off the FM channels and they won't get Turner Classic Movies." Twigg says he's against the sale because he wants to protect the editorial independence found in small cable systems, adding that he fears the kind of aggressive community programming kept by CRTV, which he says contributed significantly to the development of major public policy issues in BC, will be lost. "This is what I call citizen democracy. This is an independent voice against corporate media concentration," he says. Asked whether he will consider legal action in court if the CRTC approves the sale, Twigg could only say "It remains to be seen." Forsyth however warned that anyone is free to launch a legal action but must also be prepared to face the consequences of a face-off in court. "They also, at that point, become liable and responsible for any damage they may cause to the sale." As part of the purchase-agreement, Shaw has agreed that CRTV's 20 employees and their union will keep their current positions, says Forsyth. However, he says he can't comment on what Shaw plans to do in terms of changes in programming. Calls to Shaw's head offices in Calgary to establish their plans for CRTV once the sale is approved were not returned by the time of going to press.

Shaw continues to face local opposition in bid to buy Campbell River system

Broadcast | January 10, 2009

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