ARCHIVED -  Decision CRTC 97-575

Decision

Ottawa, 2 October 1997

Decision CRTC 97-575

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Application to amend CBC Newsworld's condition of licence pertaining to the nature of service - Denied

1. Pursuant to Public Notice CRTC 1997-77 dated 11 June 1997, the Commission, by majority vote, denies the application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), licensee of the specialty programming undertaking CBC Newsworld, for an amendment to its condition of licence # 1. It is this condition that defines the nature of the service that CBC Newsworld is authorized to provide. The condition currently reads:

The programming provided by the licensee on the news and information service shall be dedicated exclusively to programs drawn from the following categories as set out in Schedule I to the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990: News (category 1); Analysis and Interpretation (category 2); Reporting and Actualities (category 3); Religion (category 4); Education, informal (category 5b); and Sports (category 6). Programs from the sports category shall include no live programming.

2. The CBC had requested that the Commission add the following wording to the description of the programming permitted within the service:

Programs of comedy sketches (category 7f). Programs from category 7f shall be Canadian and shall not occupy more than three hours per week of the service's total schedule.

3. The CBC requested the amendment for the purpose of enabling it to broadcast programs that would, in the applicant's words, "provide a topical, satirical interpretation of newsworthy events in comedy sketch form."

4. The application was filed with the Commission in early April 1997, after letters had been sent by the Commission to the CBC directing it to remove the programs Royal Canadian Air Farce (Air Farce) and This Hour Has 22 Minutes (This Hour)from CBC Newsworld's schedule. The Commission's directive was issued following its consideration of complaints received from various parties, who argued that the inclusion of these programs in Newsworld's schedule was in contravention of the undertaking's condition of licence # 1.

5. The Commission received 1,274 interventions in support of the CBC's application. Most of these were from individual viewers, who believe that Canadian programs such as Air Farce and This Hour offer a unique perspective on important Canadian news events and are thus suitable for broadcast on CBC Newsworld. In their comments, the independent producers of these programs, namely Air Farce Productions Inc. and Salter Street Films Limited, echoed the views of the many other supporting interveners. They also argued that a second window for these programs on CBC Newsworld would afford greater exposure to Canadian talent.

6. Opposing interventions were filed by, among others, the CBC Private Network Affiliates Committee (CBC Affiliates), the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) and Baton Broadcasting Incorporated (Baton). The CBC Affiliates and CAB stated that the broadcast of Air Farce and This Hour by both the CBC network and CBC Newsworld would fragment the audiences for these programs, thereby diluting the programs' commercial value to the CBC Affiliates and diminishing their ability to fulfil programming commitments. The CBC Affiliates also suggested that approval could result in the cross-subsidization of CBC Newsworld's program costs by the publicly-funded CBC, to the disadvantage of conventional broadcasters.

7. Baton's concerns were directed to the negative impact that approval of the proposed amendment could have on the Baton-controlled company licensed in September 1996 to carry on a new comedy specialty service (The Comedy Network; TCN). Baton indicated that commitments made in the context of the TCN application would not have been contemplated had it been known that the proposed service "...would be competing with yet another specialty channel that featured prime time comedy and one that had the privilege of basic cable carriage in most areas."

8. The opposing interveners also claimed that the proposed amendment contravenes the policy framework established by the Commission for specialty programming undertakings.

9. The Commission's policy framework describes a specialty programming service as a narrowcast service "offering thematic or vertical programming, often targeting a specific demography and having a well-defined genre, such as news, sports or music" (Public Notice CRTC 1994-59). A fundamental objective of the policy, one that has figured prominently in the Commission's assessment of all applications proposing new services, has been to ensure greater diversity within the Canadian broadcasting system. In licensing any new specialty service, the Commission has thus paid particular attention to the applicant's commitments to restrict its programming to a specific genre, or niche. It has required adherence to these commitments by prescribing the nature of service as a condition of licence. Accordingly, in the case of CBC Newsworld, the decision approving the original licence application emphasized the importance placed by the Commission on the CBC's "firm commitment not to broadcast live sports coverage or feature films and entertainment programs", and required the CBC, by condition of licence, "to abide by the definition of program service it has filed." (Decision CRTC 87-904).

10. To date, more than 20 Canadian specialty services are in operation. The Commission expects that these will soon be joined by several more, each providing its own unique blend of programming designed to appeal to a specific segment of the Canadian television audience. These services, complemented as they are by a broad range of other Canadian and non-Canadian services, and delivered across the country by cable, direct-to-home satellite and other forms of program distribution, provide Canadians with ready access to an offering of television services whose range and scale rivals or exceeds that available to viewers in virtually any other country in the world, generally at a more affordable cost.

11. In the Commission's view, and that of many others, Canada's specialty television industry is a success. The Commission, however, is convinced that the industry's viability, and its contributions to attainment of the objective of diversity, will continue to rely heavily on the efforts and abilities of individual licensees to assemble program packages that remain highly differentiated from one another, and capable of sustaining the interests of the distinct audience that each licensee has identified as its niche.

12. The Commission acknowledges the well-earned success of Air Farce and This Hour, and the tremendous popularity that these comedy programs enjoy among Canadians. It also notes the immense support for the CBC's application to broadcast this type of programming on both the main network and on CBC Newsworld. A majority of the Commission, however, is not convinced that such programs are a suitable component of a news specialty service such as CBC Newsworld, and is concerned that their inclusion in the service could have unwelcome implications and consequences for the Canadian specialty services industry.

This decision is to be appended to the licence.

Laura M. Talbot-Allan
Secretary General

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