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Public Notice
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Ottawa, 3 August 1984
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Public Notice CRTC 1984-204
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Sharing the Community Channel
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The Cable Television Regulations require that all cable television licensees reserve a channel for community programming on the basic service, and that, subject to the conditions of its licence, no licensee distribute on its community channel any programming, other than community programming, as defined in those regulations.
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In its 1979 document "A Review of Certain Cable Television Programming Issues" the Commission confirmed that only in exceptional circumstances would it allow licensees to distribute non-community programming on the community channel. At that time, the Commission considered that the need for licensees to share the community channel with other services would diminish with the development of augmented channel capacity and increased converter penetration.
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The Commission has since received representations recommending that, in view of the growing number of services now available for cable distribution, it allow licensees to carry compatible programming of a non commercial nature, such as public service programming, special events, Broadcast News, children's, ethnic, and educational programming, on the community channel, as long as community programming retains priority status. It has been argued that, especially in the case of smaller systems, the community channel is not usually programmed throughout the entire day. The Commission's position has been that this additional capacity should be available for further use by the community, in the form of either more local programs or community announcements.
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On 12 June 1984, the Commission issued Circular No. 297, "Community Channel Policy Review," to all licensees of broadcasting receiving undertakings. With regard to sharing the community channel, the Commission stated in that document:
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In addition to raising several major policy issues, an amendment to the regulations may be required to permit the sharing of the community channel. The Commission considers that the pressures to share the community channel are felt most with the smaller systems, and there fore will shortly be issuing a public notice calling for comments on the desirability of cable licensees of class B systems being permitted to share the community channel.
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The Commission now calls for comments with regard to sharing the community channel on class B systems (those with fewer than 3000 subscribers), for non-commercial purposes only.
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In order to assess fully the implications of this proposal, and without wishing to limit the scope of the submissions, the Commission invites comments on the following questions:
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1. What would be the effect of allowing the community channel to be shared on class B systems?
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2. To what extent would sharing the community channel limit or impede the further development and expansion of local community self-expression?
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3. With what types of programs should licensees be permitted to share the community channel? Should alpha-numeric services such as Broadcast News be considered?
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4. How can community programming be assured of scheduling priority if the channel is shared?
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5. Should a specified (daily or weekly) time period be reserved for community programming? Should non-community programming that is sharing the community channel be limited to a specific percentage of the schedule?
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6. Should licensees be required to produce a minimum amount of community programming before being permitted to distribute other types of programs on the same channel?
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7. Should the sharing of the community channel be permitted by condition of licence under special circumstances, or should the regulations be changed with regard to class B systems?
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Comments in response to this notice should be received not later than 14 September, 1984 and should be addressed to: the Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, K1A 0N2.
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Fernand Bélisle Secretary General
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