ARCHIVED -  Decision CRTC 97-534

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Decision

Ottawa, 29 August 1997
Decision CRTC 97-534
Fairchild Television Ltd.
Vancouver, British Columbia - 199702379
Licence renewal
1. Following Public Notice CRTC 1997-65 dated 26 May 1997, the Commission renews the broadcasting licence to operate an ethnic regional discretionary specialty programming undertaking, from 1 September 1997 to 31 August 2004, subject to the conditions in effect under the current licence, as well as to those conditions specified in the appendix to this decision and in the licence to be issued.
2. In Decision CRTC 93-730 dated 9 December 1993, the Commission approved the application by Fairchild Broadcasting Ltd. (which later changed its name to Talentvision TV Ltd.) to acquire, from Cathay International Television Inc., the assets of the undertaking. On 1 May 1997, Talentvision TV Ltd. and Fairchild Television Ltd. amalgamated and continued operations under the name of Fairchild Television Ltd.
3. This undertaking provides a regional, discretionary, specialty service that consists of programming of Type A, as defined in Schedule II to the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990, having as its primary target audience the Chinese ethnic communities of British Columbia. This undertaking provides its subscribers with programming predominantly in the
Cantonese language, complemented by some programming in the Mandarin, Vietnamese and Korean languages.
4. The Commission acknowledges the numerous interventions submitted in support of this application.
This decision is to be appended to the licence.
Laura M. Talbot-Allan
Secretary General
This document is available in alternative format upon request.
APPENDIX TO DECISION CRTC 97-534 / ANNEXE À LA DÉCISION CRTC 97-534
FAIRCHILD TELEVISION LTD.
CONDITIONS OF LICENCE
Nature of the service
1. The licensee shall devote to the distribution of Type A ethnic programs, i.e. those in languages other than English, French or native Canadian, not less than 60% of the total time
i) during which programming is distributed on its undertaking, and
ii) during the hours between 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
2. The licensee shall not provide the service to any location outside of the Province of British Columbia without obtaining the prior approval of the Commission.
3. The licensee shall, in each broadcast year, devote to the distribution of feature films in English, French or a native Canadian language not more than 25% of the total programming time permitted for the distribution of programs in those languages.
4. The licensee shall devote to programming in Vietnamese no less than 15 hours per week, including 3 hours of locally-produced programming.
5. The licensee shall devote to the broadcast of Canadian programs not less than
i) 33% of the time between 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. and
ii) 31.5% of the total hours devoted to all programming.
6. (a) The licensee shall expend on the acquisition of, or investment in, Canadian programs in each year of the licence term, 29% of the gross revenues earned during the preceding year.
(b) In each broadcast year of the licence term, excluding the final year, the licensee may expend an amount on Canadian programming that is up to five percent (5%) less than the minimum required expenditure for that year calculated in accordance with this condition; in such case, the licensee shall expend in the next year of the licence term, in addition to the minimum required expenditure for that year, the full amount of the previous year's underspending.
(c) In any broadcast year of the licence term, including the final year, the licensee may expend an amount on Canadian programming that is greater than the minimum required expenditure for that year calculated in accordance with this condition; in such case, the licensee may deduct:
(i) from the minimum required expenditure for the next year of the licence term, an amount not exceeding the amount of the previous year's overspending; and
(ii) from the minimum required expenditure for any subsequent year of the licence term, an amount not exceeding the difference between the overspending and any amount deducted under paragraph (i) above.
(d) Notwithstanding the above, during the licence term, the licensee shall expend on Canadian programming, at a minimum, the total of the minimum required expenditures calculated in accordance with the licensee's conditions of licence.
7. (a) During each clock hour, the licensee shall broadcast not more than eight minutes of commercial messages of which no more than four minutes shall be local commercial messages.
(b) In addition to the maximum of eight minutes of commercial messages referred to in (a), the licensee may distribute during each clock hour, a maximum of 30 seconds of additional advertising material that consists of unpaid public service announcements.
(c) Where a program occupies time in two or more consecutive clock hours, the licensee may exceed the maximum number of minutes of advertising material allowed in those clock hours, up to a maximum of ten minutes in any clock hour, provided that the average number of minutes of advertising material in those clock hours occupied by the program does not exceed eight minutes.
8. The licensee shall adhere to the guidelines on gender portrayal set out in the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' (CAB) Sex-Role Portrayal Code for Television and Radio Programming, as amended from time to time and accepted by the Commission.
9. The licensee shall adhere to the provisions of the CAB's Broadcast Code for Advertising to Children, as amended from time to time and accepted by the Commission.
10. The licensee shall adhere to the guidelines on the depiction of violence in television programming set out in the CAB's Voluntary Code Regarding Violence in Television Programming, as amended from time to time and accepted by the Commission.
11. No director, officer, nominee, employee or representative of Television Broadcasts Limited, Condor Entertainment B.V., their affiliates or subsidiaries, or any person associated with these companies, shall serve as a director or officer of the licensee.
Definitions
In these conditions:
"broadcast year" shall have the same meaning as that set out in the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987.
"clock hour" means a period of 60 minutes beginning on each hour and ending immediately prior to the next hour.
"expend on acquisition" means
(a) expend to acquire exhibition rights for the licensed territory, excluding overhead costs;
(b) expend on the following items associated with the production of a program:
- talent fees (on air and other)
- directly-attributable salaries and benefits
- film and tape
- studio sets, properties and other production materials
- use of remote and other production facilities
- delivery of remote programs to the satellite uplink or main studio and
- any other matter directly related to the production of a program; or
(c) expend on the production of filler programming, as defined in section 2 of the Pay Television Regulations, 1990, including direct overhead costs.
"expend on investment" means expend for the purposes of an equity investment or an advance on account of an equity investment, but not overhead costs or interim financing by way of a loan.
"semester" means each six-month period beginning 1 March and 1 September.
"officer" means the chairperson, president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, comptroller, general counsel, general manager, managing director or any individual who performs functions for the licensee similar to those normally performed by an individual occupying any such office, and each of the licensee's five highest paid employees, including the above.

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