ARCHIVED - Public Notice CRTC 2001-90

Public Notice CRTC 2001-90

Ottawa, 3 August 2001

Distribution and linkage requirements for Class 1 and Class 2 licensees

In this notice, the Commission sets out revised distribution and linkage requirements for Class 1 and Class 2 licensees. These rules replace those contained in Public Notice CRTC 2000-155 dated 8 November 2000. The revisions to the linkage requirements are relatively minor in scope. They consist of additions and amendments necessitated by various Commission decisions taken over the past year. Among other things, the revised Distribution and Linkage Requirements for Class 1 and Class 2 licensees are now presented in two different sections, one for analog distribution and one for digital distribution.

General

The provisions set out in this public notice govern the distribution, by licensees of broadcasting distribution undertakings holding a Class 1 or a Class 2 licence, of the following programming services as part of the basic service, as part of an analog discretionary tier, or as part of a discretionary digital tier:

a) any pay television service and any television pay-per-view service, the operator of which is authorized to provide the service to all or any part of the licensed area of the broadcasting distribution undertaking;

b) any specialty service, the operator of which is authorized to provide the service to all or any part of the licensed area of the broadcasting distribution undertaking;

c) any Category 1 and Category 2 service, the operator of which is authorized to provide the service to all or any part of the licensed area of the broadcasting distribution undertaking;

d) any satellite service as set out in the list of Part 2 eligible satellite services, other than a Part 2 eligible satellite service that the licensee was authorized to distribute as part of its basic service before 3 June 1993; any satellite service as set out in the new list of Part 2, Part 3 and DTH Eligible Satellite Services for digital distribution; as well asany non-Canadian religious satellite service;

e) any Canadian television service included on the list of Part 3 eligible satellite services.

The distribution and linkage requirements are presented in two parts, one dealing with programming services distributed on an analog basis, and another dealing with services distributed on a digital basis. The provisions set out in this notice replace those contained in Public Notice CRTC 2000-155 dated 8 November 2000.

PART 1

Rules regarding the distribution of programming services on an analog basis

Where a licensee distributes any of the following specialty programming services, the licensee is required to distribute that service on a dual status basis, that is, as part of the basic service, unless the operator of that service consents in writing to its distribution as a discretionary service:

· CBC Newsworld;
· Vision TV;
· YTV;
· MuchMusic;
· The Sports Network;
· Canal Famille;
· MétéoMédia/
    The Weather Now;
· MusiquePlus;
· Réseau des Sports;
· TV5;
· Le Réseau de l'information;
· Country Music Television; and,
· any other specialty programming service that may be designated by the Commission for distribution on a dual status basis.

a) Where a licensee distributes any of the following specialty programming services, the licensee is required to distribute that service on a modified dual status basis, that is, on a discretionary basis, unless the licensee and the programming service operator agree to its distribution as part of the basic service:

· The Comedy Network;
· History Television (History and
Entertainment Network);
· Teletoon;
· CTV NewsNet (CTV News 1);
· Canadian Learning Television;
· CTV SportsNet (S3 CTV Regional Sports);
· ROBTv (Report on Business Television);
· TreeHouse TV;
· Prime TV
· Space
· Outdoor Life;
· Home and Garden Television (HGTV);
· Star TV (Star Entertainment);
· Cable Pulse 24;
· Headline Sports (Sportscope Plus);
· MuchMoreMusic;
· Talk TV;
· Food Network Canada;
· Canal Vie;
· Canal Nouvelles;
· Musimax;
· Canal Z, aux limites du savoir;
· Séries+ (Canal Fiction);
· Canal Évasion;
· Historia (Canal Histoire);
· arTV (La Télé des Arts); and,
· any other specialty programming service that may be designated by the Commission for distribution on a modified dual status basis.

b) Notwithstanding paragraph 4a) and except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, where a licensee that operates an undertaking in a French-language market distributes any of the following programming services, the licensee must distribute that service solely on a discretionary basis. All of the following services, depending on their availability, must be part of the same tier:

· Canal Z, aux limites du savoir;
· Séries+ (Canal Fiction);
· Canal Évasion; and,
· Historia (Canal Histoire)

c) Notwithstanding paragraph 4a) and except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, where a licensee that operates a cable distribution undertaking in a Francophone market distributes the service of arTV (La Télé des Arts), the licensee must distribute that service on the existing discretionary tier having the largest penetration, that is, the discretionary tier that is received by the highest number of subscribers. The fee payable to the service provider shall be in the amount of $0.55 per subscriber per month.

d) Nothwithstanding paragraph 4a) and except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, where a licensee operates an MDS distribution undertaking in a Francophone market, the licensee must provide the service of arTV (La Télé des Arts) to any subscriber that receives, on a discretionary basis, three or more French-language specialty services. The fee payable to the service provider shall be in the amount of $0.55 per subscriber per month.

e) Notwithstanding paragraph 4a) and except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, where a Class 1 licensee was already distributing the U.S. specialty service, TV Food Network, on an analog basis on 4 July 2000, the licensee is required to distribute the service of Food Network Canada on a modified dual status basis, that is, on a discretionary basis, unless the licensee and the programming service operator agree to its distribution as part of the basic service.

Where a Class 1 licensee distributes any of the following specialty programming services, the licensee is required to distribute that service on a modified dual status basis, that is, on a discretionary basis, unless the licensee and the programming service operator agree to its distribution as part of the basic service:

· Life Network;
· Showcase;
· Bravo!;
· WTN;
· Discovery Channel;
· Canal D (Arts et Divertissement); and,
· any other specialty programming service that may be designated by the Commission for distribution by Class I licensees on a modified dual status basis.

Where a Class 2 licensee distributes any of the following specialty programming services, the licensee is required to distribute that service on a dual status basis, that is, as part of the basic service unless the operator of that service consents in writing to its distribution as a discretionary service:

· Life Network;
· Showcase;
· Bravo!;
· WTN;
· Discovery Channel;
· Canal D (Arts et Divertissement); and,
· any other specialty programming service that may be designated by the Commission for distribution by Class 2 licensees on a modified dual status basis.

Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, where a licensee distributes any of the following programming services, the licensee is required to distribute that service exclusively as a discretionary service:

· Fairchild Television;
· Talentvision;
· Telelatino;
· Odyssey;
· South Asian Television;
· any single or limited point-of-view religious specialty service;
· any other specialty programming service that is designated by the Commission for carriage on a discretionary only basis.
· any pay television service or any television pay-per-view service offered by a pay television undertaking; and
· any satellite service as set out in the list of Part 2 eligible satellite services, other than a Part 2 eligible satellite service that the licensee was authorized to distribute as part of its basic service before 3 June 1993;or any non-Canadian religious satellite service.

Where a licensee is authorized under the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations or a condition of its licence to distribute, on a discretionary basis, U.S. independent or duplicate network stations, each such service must be distributed on a separate channel.

Linkage requirements with respect to programming services, other than single or limited point of view religious services, distributed as discretionary services

The non-Canadian satellite services specified in the list of Part 2 eligible satellite services may only be offered in a package with Canadian pay television and/or Canadian specialty services, and such a package must be distributed on a discretionary basis, subject to the following linkage requirements:

a) a Canadian pay television service may be linked in a given discretionary tier with no more than five channels containing any of the non-Canadian-originated services specified in either Section A or Section B of the list of Part 2 eligible satellite services, but in no case can a licensee distribute more than five channels of non-Canadian-originated services linked with Canadian pay television services, regardless of the number of Canadian pay television services distributed by the licensee;

b) (i) each Canadian specialty service may be linked, when distributed on a discretionary basis within a given discretionary tier that may include one or more Canadian specialty and/or pay television services, with no more than one channel containing any of the non-Canadian-originated services specified in Section A of the list of Part 2 eligible satellite services or the non-Canadian-originated services referred to in paragraph 10 of this notice;

(ii) a licensee may designate one of the U.S. superstations specified in Section B of the list of Part 2 eligible satellite services, and distribute the signal of that superstation within a given discretionary tier that may include one or more Canadian specialty and/or pay television services, provided that the superstation is included in a tier that is distributed on a digital basis only;

(iii) a licensee is not permitted to link services on the list of Part 2 eligible satellite services with a Canadian specialty service distributed on the basic service; and

c) a licensee is not permitted to offer a tier containing only non-Canadian services.

Linkage requirements with respect to single or limited point of view religious services distributed as discretionary services

Each Canadian single or limited point of view religious pay or specialty service may be offered in a package only with other Canadian single or limited point of view religious pay or specialty services, and with any non-Canadian religious satellite services, and all such services must be distributed as discretionary services, subject to the following linkage requirements:

a) each Canadian single or limited point of view religious pay service may be linked in a single discretionary tier with no more than five channels containing eligible non-Canadian religious satellite services, but in no case can a single discretionary tier, whose Canadian component consists only of single or limited point of view religious pay services, contain more than five channels containing eligible non-Canadian religious satellite services, regardless of the number of Canadian single or limited point of view religious pay services included in that tier;

b) each Canadian single or limited point of view religious specialty service may be linked, within a discretionary tier that may include one or more Canadian single or limited point of view religious services, with no more than one channel containing any of the eligible non-Canadian religious satellite services; and

c) a licensee is not permitted to offer a tier containing only non-Canadian religious satellite services.

PART II

Rules regarding the distribution of programming services on a digital basis

Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, where a licensee distributes any of the following programming services, the licensee is required to distribute that service exclusively as a discretionary service on a digital basis:

· Sport/Specials Pay-Per-View; and,
· any other pay television, pay-per-view or specialty programming service that may be designated by the Commission for carriage exclusively as a discretionary service on a digital basis.

Where a licensee distributes any of the Category 1 specialty programming services, the licensee will not be permitted to distribute any of these services on a stand-alone basis unless the Category 1 service is also distributed as part of a package.

A licensee is not permitted to package an Adult Category 2 programming service in such a way that subscribers are obligated to purchase the service in order to purchase any other programming service. Licensees are required to take measures to fully block the reception of both the audio and video portions of any Adult Category 2 programming service to subscribers who request that it not be receivable in their home (in either unscrambled or scrambled mode).

Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, where a licensee distributes any of the following programming services, the licensee is required to distribute that service exclusively as a discretionary service:

a) any pay television service or any television pay-per-view service offered by a pay television undertaking;

b) any satellite service as set out in the new list of Part 2, Part 3 and DTH Eligible Satellite Services for digital distribution as well as any non-Canadian religious satellite services.

Linkage requirements with respect to programming services, other than single or limited point of view religious services, distributed as digital discretionary services.

Any Canadian television service that is included on the list of Part 3 eligible satellite services and that a licensee is authorized to distribute may be linked with a second set of 4+1 U.S. network signals that the licensee is authorized to distribute provided that these signals are offered on a discretionary digital basis only.

Linkage requirements with respect to single or limited point of view religious services distributed as digital discretionary services.

Any Canadian single or limited point of view religious programming service, and any non-Canadian religious satellite service set out in the List of Part 2, Part 3 and DTH eligible satellite services for digital distribution, may be offered on a "stand-alone" digital discretionary basis. Such services may also be offered in a package with other Canadian single or limited point of view religious services or with non-Canadian religious satellite services. Distributors are not permitted to offer such services in packages with any other type of Canadian or non-Canadian programming service.

Secretary General

This document is available in alternate format upon request and may also be examined at the following Internet site: http://www.crtc.gc.ca