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Public Notice
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Ottawa, 18 July 1985
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Public Notice CRTC 1985-150
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Cable Distribution of Non-Programming Services
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In Public Notice CRTC 1983-232 dated 3 October 1983, the Commission announced its intention to postpone until late 1985 a public hearing to assess the economic, technological and social impact of the cable distribution of non-programming services.
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Although a number of cable licensees have been granted authority to distribute these services on an experimental basis, industry representatives have advised the Commission that, for a number of economic and technical reasons, their experiments have either been delayed or considerably reduced in scope. Consequently, they were not yet in a position to provide sufficient data for the Commission to assess adequately the potential impact of such services. Many cable operators expressed the opinion that the costs associated with the provision of these services have been a significant impediment to their development and the method most frequently suggested to help recover these costs is the distribution of advertising on non-programming service channels.
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In its recent notice on the proposed new regulations respecting Cable and Subscription Television Undertakings (Notice of Public Hearing 1985-27 dated 4 April 1985), the Commission also reiterated its intention to hold a public hearing in the fall of 1985 to examine the role of cable in the provision of non-programming services and the overall question of advertising on cable.
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In light of this forthcoming review and the limited development to date of experiments with non-programming services, the Commission announces that it authorizes cable television licensees currently authorized for the distribution of non-programming services, to continue to distribute these services for the full term of their licences, subject to the same terms and conditions.
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Fernand Bélisle Secretary General
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