CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. – A few locals banded together with some employees worried about losing their jobs in an attempt to have a vote on the proposed $46 million sale of independent cable co-operative Campbell River TV to Shaw Communications quashed.
The company announced today it will reconvene a meeting on July 29th to attempt to complete the voting process and count the ballots.
As a co-operative, CRTV is required to attain 75% approval for any sale – as well as to change the bylaws of the entity in order to allow for such an ownership change.
However, on July 2, after most of the members had finished voting and left, a group of about 50, “who stood up and screamed and yelled,” says CRTV general manager Jim Forsyth, stuck around and attempted to hijack the meeting by tabling a new motion to destroy the ballots and try to delay talk of a sale of the company until November at the co-op’s annual AGM.
Shaw, which recently received CRTC approval to build its own cable system in Campbell River if it wishes, has offered $46 million for the Vancouver Island system, meaning the 12,500 co-op members will receive over $3,100 each should the purchase pass. “It’s a good offer,” said Forsyth.
While the group, led by some of the company’s employees, and backed by their union, “were successful in shutting the meeting down,” said Forsyth, “all 12,500 didn’t have a chance to have their voice heard.”
So far, “Shaw has been very good through the whole process,” said Forsyth, but the offer expires at the end of this month, so they must get on with the meeting. Shaw has also “guaranteed the vast majority of the people here will have their jobs at the end of it,” said the GM, who admitted though that he’d likely be looking for a new employer after 14 years with CRTV.
While the ballot boxes have been sealed and are in the posession of Valiant Trust, which oversaw the meeting, Forsyth believes most of the community favours the sale to Shaw, which has a system in nearby Courtenay. “With a kilometre of fibre,” Shaw could connect to the CRTV system, added Forsyth.
– Greg O’Brien
