Wow! It’s been two months already!

It’s now been two months since Bluepoint bought and took over the operation of SCN on behalf of the current licence holder, the Government of Saskatchewan.

Bluepoint’s founder and CEO, Bruce Claassen was in Regina in July for a press conference, a tour of SCN, and a chance to start to meet with Saskatchewan government and industry leaders. (you can find more information on Claassen’s visit at SCN’s website: www.scn.ca)

Claassen was accompanied by Marcus Gurske, who is handling SCN/Bluepoint’s communications and community engagement, and Karen Shack, Bluepoint’s CFO who is responsible for overseeing the integration of SCN and Bluepoint and ensuring the station is is set up and running in a proper businesslike fashion.

Right now, SCN is being run by 4 people, all former SCN employees. Joanne McDonald is the acting station manager, Dallas Brown is running Master Control, Christa Huntley is handling traffic and Bradd Rap is in charge of technology, networks and computers. We have been helped out by Jim Johns who came in to deal with some computer network and telephone issues, and by Dave Stanchuk and our friends at SaskTel.

It’s great hearing from all our friends and supporters out there, but until we go through the CRTC licensing process we are unable to accept proposals, buy anything (including pre-liceses) or make commitments with SCN’s CMF envelope.

Bluepoint has submitted an application to, and is dialoguing with the CRTC regarding the potential transfer SCN’s broadcast licence to Bluepoint. We are requesting some changes, such as be allowed to run commercials in prime time (like ACCESS Alberta and Tele Quebec do) so that we have a cash flow to keep the station running and work with the local production community. We hope that our application will posted on the Commission’s web site soon along with information on how to submit letters of support or opposition (”interventions”), and time lines for a possible hearing.

I get a sense that the CRTC is working hard to fit SCN into an already very busy fall schedule and am hopeful that we can get past this waiting phase and start to make some stuff happen. It was just this past spring that we all thought SCN was dead, so Bluepoint and the Commission are both still scrambling to get all the pieces in place to try to make this work. Normally a deal like this takes something like 18 – 24 months to pull together and get licenced, so we all should appreciate the effort the CRTC is making to expedite this.

Once the application becomes a public document and the hearing process is announced, we will let you know and will be much better able to share information and talk with you all about the new SCN.

In the meantime, thanks for you patience and support.

Richard Gustin
Project Manager
SCN/Bluepoint