Pay-TV hopeful before CRTC faces onslaught from Slavs

The Russians are coming -- and so, apparently, are the Bulgarians and the Serbs. Does sports and construction magnate Larry Tanenbaum, the financier behind the proposed Spotlight Television pay-TV channel now before the broadcast regulator, know how much competition he faces?

According to the CRTC website, Spotlight is just one of seven applications for a new national, general-interest pay-TV service that would compete with Corus's Movie Central and Astral's The Movie Network.

Three of the seven show the handiwork of one individual, a certain Alex Evaniuk of Toronto; a man of mystery, he wasn't keen to disclose details yesterday.

The titles, however, speak for themselves.

Evaniuk wants to launch First Bulgarian Television, First Russian Television and First Serbian Television in Canada. The idea of such proposals actually winning may seem an idle fantasy, but I am assured by the CRTC that the applications are real, although the agency had trouble explaining how "niche" applicants like First Bulgarian got thrown in with "general interest" names like Spotlight. Not all seven can win, of course. The CRTC likes underdogs -- and Tanenbaum hardly qualifies.JUST JAWING Quebecor Inc. founder Pierre Péladeau's kids are mad as hell.

The seven offspring of the legendary and controversial Quebec entrepreneurial hero have affixed their names to an angry letter to CBC supremo Robert Rabinovitch -- CCed, of course, to Quebecor's flagship tab Le Journal de Montréal, which gave it prominent play yesterday on the letters and opinions page.

The letter complains about comments made by Radio-Canada talk show host Guy A. Lepage on the hit TV show Tout le monde en parle, which aired on Sunday.

One of the guests on the freewheeling show was former Parti Québécois premier Bernard Landry. Landry was -- as is his wont -- waxing lyrical about Quebec's rich entrepreneurial heritage and cited Péladeau, who died in 1997, as a shining example. (En passant, he erroneously called Quebecor the world's largest commercial printer. In fact, Quebecor World, as it's known, was surpassed by R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. a couple of years ago.)

Landry said Péladeau "s'est cassé la guele comme il le faut au départ et a recommencé et puis a monté cet empire extraordinaire." Loosely translated: Péladeau "truly cracked his jaw at the beginning, but started again and then built this wonderful empire." Lepage -- known for his quick and cutting wit -- shot back: "By cracking other people's jaws."

The incensed letter from les enfants Péladeau says the comments are "disrespectful and erroneous." They cite Péladeau pere's creation of thousands of jobs, the confidence he gave to French-speaking Quebeckers on the business and cultural fronts (he doled out big bucks to symphonies).

"Our father loved winning in this jungle that is the world of business." And they cite his motto: "You have to play to win."

"That's what he did, knowing that only the most tenacious and the most persevering succeed and not those who 'crack the jaws of others.' "

The letter is signed by the kids, including Pierre Karl, and CCed to Liza Frulla, Heritage Minister, and Daniel Gourd, vice-president at Radio-Canada. The letter also appeared -- over Érik Péladeau's name -- in Le Devoir yesterday.

There was no immediate rejoinder from the CBC. thegoat@globeandmail.ca