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Public Notice
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Ottawa, 28 January 1988
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Public Notice CRTC 1988-12
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PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE CABLE TELEVISION REGULATIONS, 1986
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Related Documents: Public Notices CRTC 1986-182 dated 1 August 1986 and CRTC 1987-177 dated 28 July 1987
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Pursuant to paragraph 16(1)(b) of the Broadcasting Act, the Commission proposes for public comment amendments to the Cable Television Regulations, 1986 (the regulations) as set out in the schedule to this notice.
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Five matters are addressed in these amendments: the definition of an alphanumeric service, the priority distribution of regional Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) affiliates pursuant to paragraph 9(1)(e) of the regulations, the distribution of alphanumeric services on the community channel, the manner in which notices of proposed rate increases are sent to subscribers, and the consistency of the French and English versions of the regulations.
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The proposed changes to the definition of "alphanumeric service" in section 2 would broaden the definition to permit the inclusion of a background Canadian AM or FM station or the service of Weather Radio Canada. This will ensure that an alphanumeric service which adds one of these services as background audio will retain its non-programming status. Commission approval will therefore no longer be required for the distribution of Canadian radio stations or Weather Radio Canada as background audio on otherwise alphanumeric video channels.
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In terms of CBC services, paragraph 9(1)(e) is intended to provide that a licensee is only required to distribute the programming service of a regional CBC affiliate where no other CBC service (affiliated or Corporation owned-and-operated station), in the same official language, is already being distributed as a mandatory service. Thus, the amendment would provide that a licensee will not be required to distribute a regional CBC affiliate in cases where there exists no local CBC affiliate in the same language, provided the licensee is already distributing a local or regional station owned-and-operated by the CBC.
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The amendment to subsection 13(1) would make it clear that distribution on the community channel of any service, programming or non-programming, other than those services specifically set out therein, is prohibited. The addition of paragraph 13(1)(h) would allow non-commercial, locally originated alphanumeric services to be distributed on the community channel.
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An amendment is also proposed to clarify the Commission's intent with respect to the sending to subscribers of written notices of proposed rate increases. The Commission notes that the subscriber notice is a key feature of the scheme of rate regulation for Class 1 and Class 2 licensees in the regulations and it wishes to ensure that subscriber notices are brought to the attention of subscribers in a form that will clearly identify them as coming from the cable company. The proposed subsection 18(10) would preclude licensees from publishing the subscriber notice in a local newspaper distributed to all residents of a licensed area or including the notice in a package of unrelated notices or coupons being delivered to residents of a licensed area.
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The other proposed amendments are intended to render the French version of the regulations consistent with the English version.
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Comments on these proposed amendments should be received by the Commission on or before 4 March 1988 and should be addressed in writing to the Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2.
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Fernand Bélisle Secretary General
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