Source : Toronto Star

The shootout at the public broadcasting ranch is going down to the wire.

On the eve of a crucial teleconference of the CBC's board of directors, the group representing virtually all of the country's major producers has added its voice to the mounting chorus of objections to a highly unorthodox sell-off of international rights to shows produced with Canadian public funds.

In a letter dated Monday to Timothy Casgrain, chair of the CBC board, Guy Mayson, president of the Canadian Film and TV Producers Association, asks the board to reject a deal made by CBC Television to sell 135 titles and 700 hours of its international sales catalogue to Fireworks International, a division of ContentFilm.

"We feel that a more transparent and open bidding process should be required when an important public agency is looking to divest itself of some of its assets and that Canadian companies should at least be allowed to bid," Mayson writes. "The fact that this business transaction appears to have been negotiated and presented to the CBC board of directors without any opportunity for Canadian companies to bid ... seems contrary to good public policy."

To which I would add: You can say that again.

In a sane and honest world, the CBC board would take the honourable course and reject this deal, insisting instead, as Mayson puts it, "that CBC management allow Canadians and international companies who may be interested the opportunity to provide competitive bids on these important assets before any sale is approved."

Unfortunately, the more likely result is that Casgrain will dismiss this request and join hands with new CBC president Hubert Lacroix in a show of support for CBC management, especially executive vice-president Richard Stursberg, while rubber-stamping a senseless violation of the rules of the game.

What's missing is the uproar this charade should have provoked in Ottawa. Josee Verner, the heritage minister responsible for the CBC, has managed to avoid the issue, and the opposition hasn't jumped on it. Without pressure from Ottawa, CBC board members can tell themselves the protest is just the work of troublemakers who lost out on a potential bonanza.

But it wouldn't take Sherlock Holmes to conclude this deal had a funny smell right from the start. And there a number of questions that need to be answered in the public interest. Among them:

Exactly what role did three American amigos - Jeff Sagansky, Fred Fuchs and Gary Howsam - play in securing this deal? They all worked closely together in L.A.

Sagansky plays a lead role in operations of both Content and Peace Arch, a Toronto-based firm that, it was revealed just after the CBC sale was announced, is in the process of acquiring Content. Howsam was chief executive of Peace Arch but had to step aside because he is facing fraud charges in the U.S. Fuchs, a former Peace Arch executive, worked closely with Howsam before becoming the CBC's director of programming.

Why does Stursberg proceed as if he were a tycoon with unlimited authority running a private empire rather than a public servant working for a Crown corporation?

How much up-front money did the CBC get in this deal? The answer, insiders suspect, is zero.

How many millions of dollars is the deal worth? Who will get rich?

Will Fireworks have the right to make creative decisions about cast and script for shows produced with Canadian public funds?

What possible reason could the CBC have for not putting this out to tender, seeking the best offer?

Over to you, CBC board.

© Toronto Star