CBC's All-Sports Channel Bid Attacked By Rival Media Companies

The CBC's bid for an all-sports TV channel "is under attack from media companies that assert the licence application is misleading and contradicts the guidelines established by the federal regulator," according to William Houston of the GLOBE & MAIL. CTV-TSN, Rogers Media, Score Media and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), as well as the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, "have appealed to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission [CRTC] to reject the CBC application." The CBC's proposed channel was "initially viewed as likely to receive a licence" but the net "could be in trouble" due to the complaints. The media companies said that the CBC's channel, which would be called CBC SportsPlus, will "compete with TSN, Rogers Sportsnet and the Score, because it will devote 75[%] of its programming to professional sports." CTV said in a letter, "While purporting to offer a service that puts the emphasis on the celebration of the amateur athletes, the CBC's programming plans suggest otherwise. ... Is SportsPlus a professional sports service in amateur sports clothing?" MLSE called the desire for 80% of programming on the net to focus on Canadian content "commendable," but it noted that is "not a terribly high bar to reach." MLSE said that a Canadian athlete competing in events like a PGA Tour tournament or an NBA or MLB game would "qualify the telecast as Canadian content." An issue with the Score is that the channel "will bid against existing sports services for major-league properties and, therefore, push up the price of rights." In a reply to the CRTC, the CBC has "volunteered to increase the channel's amateur-sports content to 30[%]." The CBC "argues that it needs the sports service to compete with CTV-TSN for the rights to major sports events such as the Olympics." CBC's application will be heard by the CRTC on July 7 (GLOBE & MAIL, 6/27).