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Public Notice
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Ottawa, 30 November 1987
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Public Notice CRTC 1987-261
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Distribution and Linkage Requirements
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This public notice sets out the rules governing the distribution of programming services as part of the basic service of a cable licensee holding a class 1 or 2 licence, or as discretionary services.
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In additional, the notice outlines requirements concerning the linkage of programming services distributed as discretionary services. It also indicates which non-Canadian satellite services will be authorized, both for licensees holding a class 1 or 2 licence as for Part III licensees. The provisions set forth in this public notice replace those set out in Public Notice CRTC 1984-81 dated 2 April 1984, entitled Specialty Programming Services.
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A. Rules Regarding the Distribution of Programming Services
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The rules set out below indicate which programming services must be distributed as part of the basic service, unless otherwise provided pursuant to a condition of licence; which programming services must be distributed as discretionary services, unless otherwise provided pursuant to a condition of licence; and which programming services must be distributed as part of the basic service, unless the originator of the programming service consents to its distribution as a discretionary service.
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Licensees are first reminded that section 11 of the Cable Television Regulations, 1986 required a licensee, except as otherwise provided pursuant to a condition of its licence, to devote a greater number of the video channels of its undertaking to the distribution of Canadian programming services than to the distribution of non-Canadian programming services. Licensees are also reminded of the Commission's statement in Public Notice CRTC 1986-182 to the effect that spectrum priority must be given to the distribution of programming services over non-programming services.
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Finally, licensees are reminded of the statement in Public Notice CRTC 1987-260 to the effect that, subject only to technical feasibility, licensees are expected to place Canadian specialty services distributed as part of their basic service together on cable dial positions below channel 31.
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In light of a proposed amendment to subsection 10(2) of the Cable Television Regulations, 1986, which is the subject of Public Notice CRTC 1987-262, the following provisions govern distribution by licensees holding class 1 or class 2 licences of the following programming services on the basic service and/or as discretionary services:
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a) any pay television service, the originator of which is licensed to provide the service to all or any part of the licensed area of the licensee's undertaking
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b) any specialty service, the originator of which is licensed to provide the service to all or any part of the licensed area of the licensee's undertaking
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c) any Part II eligible satellite service as set out in the list of "Part II Eligible Satellite Services", and
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d) the programming service of any distant television station that is not a "Part II Eligible Satellite Service".
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1. For the purposes of the following sections 2 to 9, a licensee will be considered to be operating in a francophone market where the population of French mother tongue represents more than fifty percent of the total population of all cities, towns or municipalities, encompassed in whole or in part by the licensed area of the licensee, according to the most recent population figures published by Statistics Canada.
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2. Except as otherwise provided pursuant to a condition of its licence, where a licensee operating in a francophone market elects to distribute any of the following programming services, the licensee is required to distribute that service as part of the basic service:
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(a) Canal Famille
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(b) MétéoMédia - Météo Instant
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(c) MusiquePlus
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(d) Réseau des Sports
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(e) TV5.
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3. Except as otherwise provided pursuant to a condition of its licence, where a class 1 licensee operating in a francophone market elects to distribute any of the following programming services, the licensee is required to distribute all of the following programming services as part of the basic service:
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(a) Canal Famille
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(b) MétéoMédia - Météo Instant
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(c) MusiquePlus
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(d) Réseau des Sports
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(e) TV5.
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4. Section 3 ceases to have effect on 31 August 1991.
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5. Except as otherwise provided pursuant to a condition of its licence, where a licensee operating in a francophone market elects to distribute any of the following programming services, the licensee is required to distribute that service as a discretionary service:
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(a) any pay television service, the originator of which is licensed to provide the service to all or any part of the licensed area of the licensee's undertaking.
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(b) a Part II eligible satellite service
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(c) the programming service of any distant television station that is not a Part II eligible satellite service
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(d) Chinavision
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(e) The Life Channel
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(f) MuchMusic
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(g) Telelatino
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(h) TSN.
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6. Where a licensee operating in a francophone market elects to distribute any of the following programming services, the licensee is required to distribute that service as part of the basic service, unless the originator of that service consents in writing to its distribution as a discretionary service:
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(a) CBC News and Information
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(b)MeteoMedia - Weather Now
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(c)Vision
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(d) YTV.
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7. Except as otherwise provided pursuant to a condition of its licence, where a licensee other than a licensee operating in a francophone market elects to distribute any of the following programming services, the licensee is required to distribute that service as part of the basic service:
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(a) CBC News and Information
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(b) MeteoMedia - Weather Now
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(c) Vision
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(d) YTV
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8. Except as otherwise provided pursuant to a condition of its licence, where a licensee other than a licensee operating in a francophone market elects to distribute any of the following programming services, the licensee is required to distribute that service as a discretionary service:
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(a) any pay television service, the originator of which is licensed to provide the service to all or any part of the licensed area of the licensee's undertaking
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(b) a Part II eligible satellite service
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(c) the programming service of any distant television station that is not a Part II eligible satellite service
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(d) Chinavision
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(e) The Life Channel
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(f) Telelatino.
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9. Where a licensee other than a licensee operating in a francophone market elects to distribute any of the following programming services, the licensee is required to distribute that service as part of the basic service, unless the originator of that service consents in writing to its distribution as a discretionary service:
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(a) MuchMusic
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(b) TSN
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(c) Canal Famille
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(d) MétéoMédia - Météo Instant
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(e) MusiquePlus
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(f) Réseau des Sports
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(g) TV5.
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B. Linkage Requirements with Respect to Programming Services Distributed as Discretionary Services
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1. These rules apply to licensees holding class 1 or class 2 licences only;
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2. Subject to the requirements set out in section 4, a licensee may allocate up to a total of eight available channels for the distribution of non-Canadian satellite services as discretionary services. There is, however, subject to section 3, no limitation on the number of non-Canadian satellite services that may be distributed on these eight channels.
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3. Where a licensee is authorized pursuant to section 10 of the Cable Television Regulations, 1986 or a condition of its licence to distribute, as a discretionary service, U.S. independent or duplicate network television signals, each U.S. independent or duplicate nework television signal must be distributed alone on a separate channel.
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A licensee may carry U.S. independent and duplicate network television signals authorized for distribution as a discretionary service pursuant to the Cable Television Regulations, 1986 or to a condition of its licence, provided the core 3+1 U.S.-originated services remain as part of the basic service. If optional services are removed from the basic service, this should be reflected in the price charged to the subscriber of the basic service.
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4. The authorized non-Canadian satellite services may only be offered in a package with Canadian pay television and/or Canadian specialty services, and all must be distributed as discretionary services, subject to the following linkage requirements:
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(a) each Canadian pay television service may be offered in a package with up to five channels containing any of the U.S.-originated services on the list of "Part II Eligible Satellite Services";
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(b) each Canadian specialty service distributed on a discretionary basis may be offered in a package with up to two channels containing any of the U.S.-originated services specified in Section A of the list of "Part II Eligible Satellite Services";
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(c) a licensee may use any of the channels referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) for the distribution of U.S. independent or duplicate network television signals authorized for distribution pursuant to section 10 of the Cable Television Regulations, 1986 or to a condition of the cable licensee's licence;
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(d) a licensee is not permitted to offer a tier containing only non-Canadian services;
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(e) a licensee is not permitted to link services on the list of "Part II Eligible Satellite Services" with a Canadian specialty service distributed on the basic service.
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C. Authorized non-Canadian Satellite Services
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As part of its review of the linkage requirements originally set out in Public Notice CRTC 1984-81, the Commission has considered whether it should modify the list of U.S. satellite services authorized for distribution by cable licensees holding class 1 and 2 licences and by Part III licensees.
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The Commission maintains the position expressed in Public Notice CRTC 1984-81 that it would not be in the interest of the Canadian broadcasting system to allow the carriage, at this time, of non-Canadian specialty or pay television programming services which, in the Commission's opinion, could be considered either totally or partially competitive with Canadian specialty or pay services. In addition, the Commission's view expressed in that public notice, that non-Canadian superstations, premium pay and any other services that would be incompatible with stated Commission policies should be excluded, remains unchanged, with the one exception set out below in this Section as regards non-Canadian superstations.
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Moreover, should the Commission license, in the future, a Canadian service in a format competitive to an authorized non-Canadian specialty service, the authority for the cable carriage of the non-Canadian service could be terminated. If a non-Canadian service becomes competitive, by virtue of a change in its own format or by a change in format of a Canadian specialty or pay service, the authority for the cable carriage of the non-Canadian service could be terminated.
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The Commission has decided, taking into account the need to enhance the marketing of the Canadian pay television services, to expand the number of services on the list of "Part II Eligible Satellite Services" by adding the following five U.S. services: WTBS-TV, WGN-TV, WOR-TV, WPIX-TV, and USA Network. These five services may only be packaged with Canadian pay services in the manner detailed above, in section B. Therefore, the Commission issues a list dated 30 November 1987 to replace the list dated 1 August 1986. This list, which is attached as Appendix 1 to this public notice, will be subject to periodic review in light of the criteria outlined above in this section.
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The Commission has also decided to expand the number of services on the list of "Part III Eligible Non-Canadian Satellite Services" by adding USA network. Therefore, the Commission issues a list dated 30 November 1987 to replace the list dated 1 August 1986. This list, which is attached as Appendix 2 to this public notice, will be subject to periodic review in light of the criteria outlined above in this section.
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Fernand Bélisle
Secretary General
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APPENDIX 1
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LIST OF PART II ELIGIBLE SATELLITE SERVICES (Cable Television Regulations, 1986 section 10) A)Access Alberta Radio Québec TVOntario Knowledge Network Atlantic Television System Ltd. (ASN) CBC English Language Television Service/Service de télévision de langue anglaise de la SRC CBC French Language Television Service/Service de télévision de langue française de la SRC La Sette CANCOM - CHCH-TV Hamilton Ind - TCTV Montréal TVA - CITV-TV Edmonton Ind - CHAN-TV Vancouver CTV - WDIV-TV Detroit NBC - WTVS-TV Detroit PBS - WJBK-TV Detroit CBS - WXYZ-TV Detroit ABC - KOMO-TV Seattle ABC - KING-TV Seattle NBC Cable News Network (CNN) CNN Headline News (CNN-2) The Nashville Network (TNN) The Arts and Entertainment Network (A&E) Financial News Network (FNN) (Note 1) The Weather Channel (TWC) Biznet Country Music Television Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-Span) The Silent Network AP Newscable Dow Jones Cable News Reuters News View UPI Data Cable
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B) WTBS-TV Atlanta
WGN-TV Chicago
WOR-TV New York City
WPIX-TV New York
City USA Network
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Authorization of the above-noted services is subject to the following:
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- when this list of Part II eligible satellite services is replaced by another list of Part II eligible satellite services, the only authorized services will be those contained in the most recent list; accordingly, this list supersedes the list dated 1 August 1986.
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- in the case of CANCOM signals, ASN, La Sette and U.S. satellite services, licensees are required to enter into the necessary contractual arrangements for such carriage
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Date of issue: 30 November 1987
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APPENDIX 2
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LIST OF PART III ELIGIBLE NON-CANADIAN SATELLITE SERVICES
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(Cable Television Regulations, 1986 section 24)
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WTBS-TV Atlanta WGN-TV Chicago WOR-TV New York City WPIX-TV New York City Cable News Network (CNN) CNN Headline News (CNN-2) The Nashville Network (TNN) The Arts and Entertainment Network (A&E) Financial News Network (FNN) (Note 1) The Weather Channel (TWC) The Learning Channel (TLC) Biznet Country Music Television Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network (A&E) The Silent Network AP Newscable Dow Jones Cable News Reuters News View UPI Data Cable Black Entertainment Television (BET) Satellite Program Network (SPN) Modern Satellite Network (MSN) Genesis Storytime USA Network
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Authorization of the above-noted services is subject to the following:
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- when this list of Part III eligible non-Canadian satellite services is replaced by another list of Part III eligible non-Canadian satellite services, the only authorized services will be those contained in the most recent list; accordingly, this list supersedes the list dated 1 August 1986.
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Date of Issue: 30 November 1987
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Note 1 - in the case of the Financial News Network (FNN) service, the authorization to distribute the service does not include the programming of SCORE.
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