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Decision
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Ottawa, 28 September 1990
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Decision CRTC 90-1038
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CFCF Inc., Parts of Montréal and Laval, Quebec - 893664300
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Following a Public Hearing in Montréal beginning on 13 March 1990, the Commission renews the Class 1 licence of the broadcasting receiving undertaking serving parts of Montréal and Laval, held by CFCF Inc. and managed by its wholly-owned subsidiary CF Cable TV Inc. (CF Cable) from 1 October 1990 to 31 August 1995. The operation of this undertaking is regulated pursuant to Parts I and II of the Cable Television Regulations, 1986 (the regulations), and the licence will be subject to the conditions specified in this decision and in the licence to be issued.
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At the hearing, the Commission reviewed with the licensee the operation of this undertaking over the term of its current licence which was renewed in 1986 (Decision CRTC 86-974) and examined its plans for the next licence term.
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CF Cable stated that a major investment program to upgrade its facilities and increase its channel capacity has been underway since 1987-1988, and that the project should be completed in 1992. It stated that these investments will improve substantially the quality and reliability of its service, while allowing it to increase subscriber choice.
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CF Cable also emphasized the efforts made to improve customer relations. To this end, it has initiated a training program for employees and is taking steps to improve communications with subscribers, notably through the use of brochures, video clips on various technical aspects and services offered, as well as regular surveys. The Commission notes that, since the release of Public Notices CRTC 1988-13 and 1990-53, the Canadian Cable Television Association has been developing an industry code of service standards on behalf of Canadian cable companies, which should be submitted to the Commission for approval by 31 December 1990.
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The Commission reiterates the importance it places on the development of community programs, and it notes the licensee's achievements in this area and the human and financial resources allocated to community programming during the current licence term. In its licence renewal application, the licensee made a commitment to produce 12 hours of original community programming per week, including 2 hours 30 minutes of multicultural programming. Given the size of this undertaking, and the licensee's statements at the hearing that it would use more resources, sophisticated facilities as well as better work methods to significantly increase its weekly production of original community programming, the Commission expects the licensee to increase the number of hours of community programming planned over the course of the new licence term.
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With regard to the Laval sector of its authorized service area, the licensee stated that technical difficulties resulting from its network configuration have prevented it from decentralizing the distribution of community programs to Laval as it had mentioned at the time of the last renewal. It noted, however, that in the absence of studios in Laval, a production vehicle was often used there, and at least 2 hours 30 minutes of community programming is allocated to Laval residents each week. Along with the increase in the hours of community production referred to above, the Commission expects that the number of hours of community production allocated to the Laval sector will be proportionate to the number of subscribers in that sector. The Commission is also of the view that Laval should have some degree of priority for the use of the production vehicle in view of the distance between that community and the remainder of the authorized service area.
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The Commission notes CF Cable's commitment to increase its annual community programming budget from $1,340,000 in the first year of the new licence term to $1,704,000 in the fifth year. The Commission further notes that, following the issuance of Public Notice CRTC 1990-57 dated 5 June 1990, it initiated a review of its community channel policy and, in particular, the level of financial support for community programs. It encourages the licensee to increase its annual budgetary commitments to the community channel in proportion to the revenue derived from its basic service.
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In accordance with previous decisions, the Commission relieves the licensee, by condition of licence, of the requirement under paragraph 9(1)(c) of the regulations that it distribute the programming services of the priority television stations CFTU-TV Montréal and CJOH-TV-8 Cornwall, Ontario, on the basic band of its basic service if channels are available. The licensee is still required to distribute CFTU-TV and CJOH-TV-8 as part of the basic service. In addition, as recently approved in Decision CRTC 90-795 dated 23 August 1990, the licensee is authorized, by condition of licence, to continue to distribute, at its option, the two PBS stations WETK-TV Burlington, Vermont, and WCFE-TV Plattsburgh, New York.
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The Commission also relieves the licensee, by condition of licence, of the requirement of subsection 16(2) of the regulations that it distribute the audio programming services of CHAI-FM Châteauguay, CIBL-MF Montréal and CKHQ-FM Kanesatake. In addition, the licensee continues to be relieved, by condition of licence, from the general provisions of subsection 10(2) of the regulations requiring that the specialty programming services MuchMusic and The Sports Network must be offered as discretionary services. The Commission further notes that CF Cable and Vidéotron Ltée have been operating a special ethnic programming service on a joint basis since the fall of 1986. Television of Ethnic Quebec (TEQ), an organization which was established with this service in mind, has one representative from each of these cable systems as well as five representatives from the field of ethnic production on its board of directors.
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The Commission's analyses, in 1988 and 1989, of programs broadcast on the ethnic channel revealed that the content of some advertising messages did not conform to the type of restricted advertising authorized on an exceptional basis in Decision CRTC 86-347 and reiterated by condition of licence, in Decision CRTC 86-974. Following discussions on this issue, including a letter dated 16 October 1989 from the Commission to the two licensees clarifying the term "sponsorship message," the licensees prepared a reference document to define the parameters of authorized sponsorship entitled "Guide pour l'utilisation des messages publicitaires à l'usage des producteurs de TEQ" (the TEQ producer's guide to the use of advertising messages).
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As a result of the measures that have been taken and the statements made at the hearing by CF Cable and those by the TEQ during its intervention, it appears that the concerns regarding sponsorship messages broadcast on the ethnic channel have been addressed, and all parties involved are fully aware of their responsibilities in this area. The Commission intends to monitor the ethnic channel very closely during the new licence term, and it encourages the licensee to continue using the aforementioned reference material and any other available means to ensure full compliance with the condition of licence set out below.
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In view of the foregoing, the Commission authorizes the licensee to continue distributing its special ethnic programming service. It is a condition of licence that the licensee shall not distribute as part of this ethnic service any commercial message other than a sponsorship credit, included in the program credits, which combines no more than the logo, name, address and type of activity or profession of the sponsor. The sponsorship credit may contain sound and/or visual images, whether moving or fixed. The sponsorship credit shall have no purpose other than to acknowledge, in a concise and direct manner, the sponsor's contribution and shall at no time, constitute a detailed description or promotional device. The licensee is also authorized, on an exceptional basis, to add English- or French-language subtitles to feature films on the special multicultural programming service, provided that these subtitles are an integral part of the original production.
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With regard to complaints and interventions concerning access to the ethnic channel, CF Cable indicated that the number of hours that is allocated to the various ethnic groups is based on the demographic presence of each cultural community, according to the data received from Statistics Canada for the Montréal region. The Commission notes that the programs distributed on the ethnic channel are at the discretion of the licensee because the latter is fully accountable to the Commission for these programs, and because the Commission is not empowered to dictate what programs shall be distributed. Further, it considers that the involvement in the ethnic channel of 42 producers serving 34 ethnic communities in 30 different languages provides a good indication that the licensee practises a policy of broad access.
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With regard to the written intervention filed by TVOntario opposing the distribution of its satellite signal by the licensee, the licensee confirmed in a letter to the Commission dated 6 August 1990 that it receives the TVO signal over the air from the TVOntario rebroadcaster located at Hawkesbury, Ontario, and is, therefore, complying with the provisions of subsection 9(3) of the regulations.
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The Commission has also taken into account the views expressed in the other seven interventions filed with respect to this application, and is satisfied that the interveners' concerns have been adequately addressed, both by the licensee in its written and oral replies to the interventions, and by the Commission in the context of the present decision.
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Alain-F. Desfossés
Secretary General
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