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Decision
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Ottawa, 6 April 1989
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Decision CRTC 89-139
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Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
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Ottawa, Ontario; Chapeau, Rapides-des-Joachims and Notre-Dame-du-Laus, Quebec - 881319800
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Following a Public Hearing in the National Capital Region on 22 November 1988, the Commission renews the broadcasting licences of CBOFT Ottawa and its rebroadcasting undertakings serving the communities noted above from 1 September 1989 to 31 August 1994, subject to the conditions specified in the appendix to this decision and in the licences to be issued.
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As a regional station of the CBC's French-language television network, the owned and operated station serves the National Capital Region. In addition to the large metropolitan area consisting of Ottawa, Hull, Gatineau and Aylmer, CBOFT also provides service to such communities as Cornwall, Hawkesbury and Pembroke, Ontario, and Wakefield, Fort-Coulonge and Montebello, Quebec.
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The Corporation emphasized in its application that CBOFT has a unique responsibility to reflect the duality of its viewing audience because some reside in the province of Quebec while others reside in Ontario. In terms of its network role, CBOFT is primarily responsible for providing coverage of major political events in the nation's capital. The CBC also mentioned CBOFT's involvement with the communities it serves, noting that it sometimes takes the initiative by organizing and broadcasting public debates on major issues of the day.
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The CBC stated that given the resources at its disposal, CBOFT places priority on news and information in its regional programming through its weekday newsmagazine program "Ce Soir" which is broadcast between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. and the 20-minute late night news program which is also broadcast weekdays. The CBC emphasized that CBOFT's program "Ce Soir" was judged against programs of all CBC English-and French-language stations and was awarded the Anik Prize in 1987 for excellence in daily news coverage. The Corporation also mentioned the CBOFT program "Génies en herbe", a regional series comprised of 21 half-hours of quiz programs for high school students. In 1987, CBOFT, in co-operation with TVOntario, produced a series of 13 children's programs entitled "Alexandre, Magalie et Compagnie", and the licensee indicated at the hearing that it intends to undertake a similar venture in 1989.
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The Commission notes that CBOFT and CBLFT, the CBC's French-language television station in Toronto, exchange program segments on a regular basis notably the "Ontarioscope" series, a weekly review of regional news which is produced by CBLFT and broadcast by both stations. The stations also exchange news items on a daily basis for use in each other's newscasts and most of the specials produced by one or the other station are broadcast by both to the benefit of their respective viewers. The Commission expects that this collaboration between CBOFT and CBLFT will continue thoughout the new licence term.
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The CBC also pointed out that, as CBOFT is located within the National Capital Region, the station is responsible for providing network coverage of celebrations and activities of national significance, and it collaborates with the network to cover important political events on Parliament Hill. In 1987 CBOFT produced a series of network programs entitled "Paysages politiques", which examined the regional impact of various national policies, and the station contributes on a regular basis to other network programs such as "Reflets d'un pays", "Le Jour du Seigneur", "Au jour le jour", "Le Point" and "Le Téléjournal".
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The CBC went on to describe CBOFT's contribution to the promotion and development of the country's francophone artists. In particular, over the last few years, as part of the Hull International Bicycle Festival, the station has organized several outdoor concerts featuring well-known performers for broadcast on the network program "Les Beaux Dimanches". Further, in the summer of 1988, as part of the Franco-Ontarian Festival, the station produced and broadcast a major concert in celebration of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day. With regard to new artists, the Corporation identified a concert featuring promising francophone artists from across Canada which the station produced in 1987 as a joint venture with the Fédération culturelle des canadiens-français, as well as the "Ontario-Pop" talent competition for Franco-Ontarian singers and songwriters. The competition is sponsored by CBOFT and CBOF, the CBC's French-language radio station in Ottawa, and involves CBLFT Toronto as well as the CBC's other Ontario-based French-language radio stations in Windsor, Sudbury and Toronto. The Commission encourages the CBC to continue its efforts to promote francophone talent in Ontario and the Outaouais area and to seek the collaboration of its television and radio facilities for this purpose.
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During CBOFT's new licence term, the CBC has committed to broadcast 7 hours 15 minutes per week of original local programming. The Commission expects CBOFT to broadcast during the new licence term, at a minimum, the level of local programming set out in its Promise of Performance.
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At the public hearing, the CBC submitted new financial forecasts for the next five years, which included programming expenditure projections different than those originally contained in its licence renewal application. The CBC intends to allocate $10.2 million for Canadian programming in the first year of the new licence term, increasing to $11.7 million in year five. The Commission notes that these amounts include the cost of productions made for network distribution and that when these costs are deducted, CBOFT's local programming expenditures will range from $5.3 million to $6.1 million, when calculated in accordance with the percentage allocation set out in the application submitted by the Corporation.
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CBOFT intends to continue to give priority to its news programming, in particular to its major news and information program which is broadcast at 6:00 p.m. on weekdays, and to the contributions it makes to programs for the national network. The CBC also indicated that the station's financial situation has not allowed it to broadcast local newscasts on weekends despite its commitment to do so, as noted in Decision CRTC 83-528 dated 7 July 1983; it stated nevertheless that this remains an important objective. The Commission encourages the CBC to commence broadcasting local weekend newscasts as soon as possible.
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The Commmission has also noted the CBC's proposals for improving the services offered by its regional stations in the context of implementing its action plan for francophone communities outside the province of Quebec, as described in Public Notice CRTC 1988-143 dated 2 September 1988. In this respect, the CBC has committed to protect from inflation the programming budgets of its regional television stations. It also stressed that because it has already implemented some of the recommendations contained in its action plan, there have been noticeable improvements to the service provided by its regional stations in the 1988/89 broadcast year. The Commission encourages the CBC to implement its proposals to have each regional station produce short clips featuring portraits of the neighbouring communities in order to assist these regional stations in better identifying with the communities they serve and to produce a weekly 30-minute program directed to young people. It also notes the CBC's plans to ensure a better regional presence in entertainment programming and, the production of a continuing dramatic series depicting life outside the province of Quebec.
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The Commission also notes that the CBC proposes to undertake capital expenditures amounting to $1.2 million during the new licence term, primarily to modernize CBOFT's studio equipment and to replace its transmitter.
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In renewing this licence, the Commission also authorizes the Corporation to make use of the Vertical Blanking Interval. The Commission expects the CBC to adhere to the guidelines set out in Appendix A to Public Notice CRTC 1989-23 dated 23 March 1989 entitled "Services Using the Vertical Blanking Interval (Television) or Subsidiary Communications Multiplex Operation (FM)".
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The Commission also expects CBOFT to acquire as soon as possible the necessary equipment to caption, at a minimum, headlines and appropriate scripted portions of its early evening newscasts during the new licence term. The Commission also expects CBOFT, during the first year of the new licence term, to acquire a telephone device for the deaf (TDD) and install it wherever is most appropriate, such as in the master control room, to ensure access to the station by deaf and hearing-impaired viewers over the entire broadcast day.
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The Commission acknowledges the eleven interventions from individuals and organizations in the Ottawa area that expressed support for the renewal of CBOFT's licence. Further, at the public hearing, the Mayor of Hull, Mr. Michel Légère, expressed a desire to have the CBC enhance its presence in the Outaouais region, by establishing an office and assigning a reporter to cover events in Hull. The Commission notes the CBC's response in which it stated that although it does not have sufficient resources with the number of reporters available, to allow it to maintain a physical presence in each of the municipalities it serves, the Corporation strives to provide balanced coverage of the events that take place on both sides of the Ottawa River.
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Fernand Bélisle
Secretary General
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APPENDIX
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Conditions of licence for CBOFT Ottawa and its rebroadcasting undertakings CBOFT-1 Chapeau, CBOFT-2 Rapides-des-Joachims and CBOFT-3 Notre-Dame-du-Laus, Quebec
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1. The licensee shall adhere to the CBC guidelines on sex-role stereotyping, as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission. Until such time as the Commission has approved the revised CBC guidelines, the CBC shall adhere to its current guidelines on sex-role stereotyping (as set out in Part C of Appendix A to Public Notice CRTC 1986-351 dated 22 December 1986) and, as a minimum, to the CAB's guidelines on sex-role stereotyping, as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission.
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2. The licensee shall adhere to the standards for children's advertising set out in the Corporation's Advertising Standards Policy C-5 dated 4 June 1986 and entitled "Advertising Directed to Children Under 12 Years of Age", as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission, provided that the policy meets as a minimum the standards set out in the CAB's The Broadcast Code for Advertising to Children revised in January 1988, as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission.
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Further, the licensee shall not broadcast any commercial message during any child-directed programming or any child-directed commercial message between programs directed to children of pre-school age. For the purpose of this condition, programs directed to children and scheduled before 12:00 noon during school-day morning hours will be deemed to be programs directed to children of pre-school age.
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