ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2011-754

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Route reference: Part 1 application posted on 26 September 2011

Ottawa, 7 December 2011

Soundview Entertainment Inc.
Across Canada

Application 2011-1294-5

Addition of Dawn News (Urdu) to the list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution

The Commission approves an application to add Dawn News (Urdu) to the list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution and amends the list accordingly. The revised list is available on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca under “Broadcasting Sector.”

Introduction

1.      The Commission received an application dated 19 September 2011 from Soundview Entertainment Inc. (Soundview) to add Dawn News (Urdu) to the list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution (the list).[1] The Commission did not receive any interventions in response to the present application.

2.      Soundview described Dawn News (Urdu) as a 24-hour Urdu-language news service based in Karachi, Pakistan.

3.      In Broadcasting Public Notice 2004-96, the Commission stated that requests to add non-Canadian general interest third-language services to the list would generally be approved, subject to any requirement it deemed appropriate. In the case of non-Canadian third-language services that provide narrowly targeted or “niche” programming, the Commission stated that it would continue to apply a case-by-case assessment to determine whether such services are partially or totally competitive with Canadian pay or specialty services.

4.      In regard to non-Canadian news services, however, the Commission considers a more open-entry approach to be consistent with the importance it places on a diversity of editorial points of view. In this regard, in paragraph 246 of Broadcasting Public Notice 2008-100, the Commission stated that “absent clear evidence, as determined by the Commission, that a non-Canadian news service will violate Canadian regulations, such as those regarding abusive comment, the Commission will be predisposed to authorize non-Canadian news services for distribution in Canada.”

Commission’s analysis and decision

5.      The Commission relies primarily on the interventions filed to identify the Canadian pay and specialty services with which the service proposed to be added to the list might be totally or partially competitive and that therefore should be included in the assessment of the competitiveness of the service.

6.      In the absence of opposing interventions and any evidence that the service would violate Canadian regulations, the Commission approves the application to add Dawn News (Urdu) to the list and amends the list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution accordingly. The list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution is available on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca under “Broadcasting Sector” and may be obtained in hard copy on request.

Secretary General

Related documents

Footnote

[1] In Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2011-399, the Commission announced that, as of 1 September 2011, the lists of eligible satellite services available for distribution on a digital basis would be replaced with a consolidated list to be known as the List of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution.

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