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Decision
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Ottawa, 30 August 1988
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Decision CRTC 88-533
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CANAL, Corporation pour l'Avancement de Nouvelles Applications des Langages Ltée
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Montreal, Quebec -880386800 -880387600
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Following a Public Hearing in TroisRivières, Quebec on 5 July 1988, the Commission renews the broadcasting licences of CFTU-TV Montreal and of the television network for the purpose of distributing CFTU-TV programs via satellite to cable television undertakings, from 1 September 1988 to 31 August 1993, subject to the conditions specified in this decision and in the licences to be issued.
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In Decision CRTC 85-34 dated 18 January 1985, the Commission authorized CANAL to operate an educational television station serving the Montreal area as well as a television network to distribute via satellite some of CANAL's educational programming to cable companies in the province of Quebec. At the time, the Commission stated that the applicant's proposal was unique and innovative and would provide a programming service consisting mainly of credit courses, general interest educational courses and information about other programs being carried.
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CANAL is a non-profit company composed primarily of university-and college-level educational institutions; it has 13 member institutions at present, including the various campuses of the Université du Québec, the Université de Montréal, Quebec City's Université Laval, Université de Sherbrooke, Concordia University, Télé-Université, the École nationale d'administration publique (ÉNAP), and the École des hautes études commerciales in Montreal. At the public hearing, CANAL described itself as essentially an intermediary organization formed for the purpose of offering a distant learning service by linking broadcasters, educators and educational institutions, specifically those that are accredited and recognized by the Quebec Department of Education. CANAL has two types of members: accredited educational institutions which are voting members, and associate members, organizations such as Hydro-Québec and Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario that collaborate closely with CANAL.
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CANAL's primary role is to co-ordinate the programming and to provide technical liaison with the broadcasters. The courses that are broadcast originate with the member institutions who produce them. At the hearing, the licensee stated that in 1987/88 it had 9,756 registered students, thanks to its satellite distribution system, which was implemented in September 1987 and now allows 1,339,700 cable subscribers in the province of Quebec to be linked to CANAL through some 75 cable undertakings.
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With regard to programming, CANAL plans to broadcast the same type of programs for the next few years. Its programs deal with a variety of subjects, such as education, administration, computer science, religion, health, applied science and the social sciences.
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At the hearing, the licensee summarized its achievements over the current licence term as follows: it has facilitated the Quebec public's access to educational institutions, standardized its timetables and implemented satellite broadcasting. CANAL had also participated in the founding of the Réseau pancanadien francophone post-secondaire d'enseignement à distance (REPSAD), of which it is now a member. It was an active participant in the establishment of the Centre international francophone de formation à distance (CIFFAD) and of the Commonwealth network, and it participates in the Consortium d'éducation à distance des Amériques (CEDA) which is about to be established.
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The Commission noted that CANAL administers a joint project with ÉNAP to offer management courses in the Ivory Coast and Senegal, and takes part in other special projects designed to extend the satellite broadcasting of courses on a national and international scale.
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The Promise of Performance submitted with the renewal applications for CFTU-TV calls for the broadcast of 168 hours per week of programming, 95% of which will be Canadian. Sixty percent of CANAL's programming will be credit courses. Concordia University will broadcast five English-language programs, which represents 10% of the station's programming. The licensee stated that the number of repeats should be reduced in future and that at the present time, programs are broadcast on a rotating basis during the winter months. Credit courses may be repeated as many as five times, information programs four times and general interest programs three times.
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One of CANAL's objectives for the next two years is [TRANSLATION] "to make our personnel structure more permanent". This goal can be achieved, according to the licensee, if membership and revenues continue to grow.
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Over the next five years, the two services offered by CANAL, that is, program co-ordination and technical liaison with broadcasters, will be expanded according to the number of members and the links with other networks.
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Among the projects to be completed at a later date, CANAL mentioned a study program in commerce, which is being prepared jointly with Laurentian University. It added that another trend to watch for is the preparation of continuing education and professional development courses for its members.
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Further, the Commission notes that CANAL does not carry any advertising and has no plans to do so. Members who produce courses may, however, accept institutional advertising to help finance their programming. At the hearing, the licensee explained that satellite distribution costs [TRANSLATION] "are guaranteed by us and by the members", and that the members are prepared to underwrite the cost of distributing certain programs by satellite. Until recently, the distribution costs were shared equally by the member-institutions and Vidéotron Ltée. This year, the Société de radio-télévision du Québec (Radio-Québec) paid 50% of the cost in May and the entire cost in June.
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At the hearing, CANAL recounted its negotiations with Radio-Québec [TRANSLATION] "with a view to increasing our ties in the area of cable distribution". It added that "our discussions are very positive and should be concluded in the very near future". In its intervention in support of CANAL's renewal applications, Radio-Québec stated that it wished to [TRANSLATION] "strengthen our functional and institutional ties with CANAL". The Commission encourages these two parties to continue their discussions in order that they may reach an agreement that will be mutually satisfactory. The Commission has also taken note of the intervention by TVOntario in support of Radio-Québec's position.
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The Commission wishes to commend CANAL for its exceptional performance during the current licence application period and encourages it to follow up on all of the proposals mentioned in the context of its renewal applications.
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The Commission notes the interventions received from several associations of deaf and hearing-impaired persons requesting that CANAL broadcast one hour per week of closed-captioned programming, to be increased by an additional hour each subsequent year. The Commission encourages the licensee to discuss with its member institutions the possibility of subtitling some of the programs that they provide to it.
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It is a condition of the CFTU-TV licence that the applicant adhere to the CAB self-regulatory guidelines on sex-role stereotyping, as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission.
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Fernand Bélisle
Secretary General
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