Source : Globe & Mail

A Toronto television distributor is alleging the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. intentionally withheld plans to sell a vast portion of the rights to its TV catalogue to a foreign buyer, even though it had a clear opportunity to let domestic companies in on the process.

In letters exchanged Friday between top CBC executive Richard Stursberg and Canadian distributor Oasis International, Mr. Stursberg says the public broadcaster had to move quickly on a deal, and didn't have time for an auction of the taxpayer-funded assets.

The CBC sold the international rights to roughly 700 hours of its programming to Fireworks International, a subsidiary of British-based ContentFilm, late last year. The deal, for an undisclosed sum, came after the CBC was approached in late November, said Mr. Stursberg, executive vice-president of the CBC's English services.

"ContentFilm came to us in late November with a proposal that fit all our criteria," Mr. Stursberg told Oasis International in a letter obtained by The Globe and Mail. "The benefits of the deal we've proposed ... significantly outweighed the downside of using an accelerated process."

However, Oasis president Peter Emerson says he met with CBC executive director Fred Fuchs on Nov. 15 to discuss the distribution of CBC shows and was told nothing of the interest in selling the international rights.

"My problem is he never mentioned the outsourcing of the CBC distribution library! Not once," Mr. Emerson says in a response to Mr. Stursberg. "You say ContentFilm came to you? How did they know to do this? I didn't know the CBC Library was in play."

Oasis is one of several Canadian companies that is angered it could not bid on the catalogue, which includes 132 titles. Mr. Emerson calls his company "the most obvious candidate in Canada" to buy the assets, adding "this stinks to me."

Though Fireworks and ContentFilm have since been tentatively sold to Toronto-based Peace Arch Entertainment, Canadian producers and actors are criticizing the CBC for shutting out domestic bids.

The nasty exchange comes as the CBC board is set to approve the deal, according to sources close to the broadcaster, rather than provoke a battle with new CBC president Hubert Lacroix over stalling the sale.

In his letter to Oasis, Mr. Stursberg apologizes for recently saying on a CBC Radio program that domestic players lacked financial clout to distribute the library internationally.

However, Mr. Stursberg argues the CBC had to "capitalize on a situation that we saw as a time sensitive window of opportunity."

In response, Mr. Emerson urges the CBC to halt the sale, saying, "I can present a plan to you just as viable and perhaps more lucrative than the Fireworks proposal."

Industry estimates have pegged the value of the library at upward of $200-million; however, Mr. Stursberg disputes that figure in his letter, saying the value is a few million dollars because the library doesn't include much of the CBC's prime-time programming from most the 1990s and early 2000s.

Mr. Stursberg and Mr. Emerson could not be reached for comment last night.

© Globe and Mail