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Ottawa, 18 February 1991
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Decision CRTC 91-102
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Saskwest Television Inc.
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Saskatoon, Regina and Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan - 900857400 - 900856600
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Following a Public Hearing in Regina beginning on 23 October 1990, the Commission renews the broadcasting licences for CFSK-TV Saskatoon and for CFRE-TV Regina and its rebroadcasting undertaking CFRE-TV-2 Fort Qu'Appelle, from 1 September 1991 to 31 August 1996, subject to the conditions specified in this decision and in the licences to be issued.
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Saskwest Television Inc. (Saskwest), is a wholly owned subsidiary of CanWest Broadcasting Ltd. (CanWest), licensee of CKND-TV Winnipeg and its rebroadcaster CKND-TV-2 Minnedosa. CanWest also owns 100% of CanWest Pacific Television Inc., the licensee of CKVU Vancouver. CanWest is effectively owned and controlled by CanWest Global Communications Corp. (CanWest Global), with approximately 64% of the issued voting shares. CanWest Global also owns 100% of Global Communications Limited, the licensee of the Ontario independent station CIII-TV-41 Toronto and its nine rebroadcasting undertakings serving southern and eastern Ontario. CanWest Global is ultimately controlled by Mr. Israel Asper. At the Public Hearing, the Commission discussed with the applicant the status of its Commission- approved plan to incorporate a holding company with a public offering of shares therein to act as the immediate parent company of Saskwest. Notwithstanding the non-implementation of the corporate restructuring and the suspension of the public offering, the Commission wishes to, once again, emphasize that it continues to view favourably the proposal to invite equity participation in the ownership of Saskwest.
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The Commission is satisfied that, during their first licence term, the Saskwest stations CFRE-TV and CFSK-TV have generally met the conditions of licence set out in the original licensing decision (Decision CRTC 85-756).
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The Commission notes that these stations exceeded the condition of licence that required them to produce a half-hour children's program on a co-operative basis with CKND-TV Winnipeg. These three stations are actually producing two children's series, "Size Small Island" and the "Great Spelling Bee", and in co-operation with CKVU-TV Vancouver and CKKX-TV Calgary, are also involved in the production of "Kidstreet". At the hearing, Saskwest indicated that it is currently pursuing additional opportunities for children's programming.
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In the Commission's view, Saskwest has also achieved a high standard in the production of local programming. Currently, CFRE-TV and CFSK-TV are each committed to broadcast 23 hours 30 minutes per week of regularly-scheduled local programming, of which 15 hours are stand-alone productions by each of the stations and the remaining 8 hours 30 minutes are co-operative productions.
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News accounts for 8 hours 30 minutes per week of local production. At the hearing, Saskwest indicated that its late evening local newscasts aired at 10:30 p.m. have achieved a significant increase in audience share. Saskwest committed to increase weekly news programming by 45 minutes to 9 hours 15 minutes on each station. Accordingly, the Commission expects CFRE-TV and CFSK-TV to broadcast, at a minimum, 9 hours 15 minutes of news per week during the new licence term.
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Saskwest indicated that its commitment to the production of specials, which are in addition to its regularly scheduled local programming, has proven to be an effective way of enhancing its service to the Regina and Saskatoon areas. CFSK-TV and CFRE-TV each produce an average of eight specials per year and have exceeded the required minimum expenditure for such programming. Saskwest confirmed at the hearing, that "the technique of specials will continue to play an important role in reflecting our communities".
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With respect to its plans for the new licence term, Saskwest indicated that the introduction of the Commission's proposed policy on local programming would not affect its focus or commitment to news, and that it planned to continue to take advantage of opportunities for co-operative production ventures. In this regard, Saskwest stated its intention to develop, in co-operation with CKND-TV Winnipeg and CKVU-TV Vancouver, a pilot series featuring high school bands. Saskwest noted that there "may be changes to the breakdown of the categories of programs" and that some current productions may be discontinued "but these would be offset by other new ones that we would pick up in the process". It further indicated that it would build on the areas in which it had developed expertise, for example, in the area of children's programming. It emphasized that "there, of course, would be no reduction in our total Canadian spending; instead, a pooling of dollars [by the CanWest Global group of stations will] give us bigger budgets per project to create that better quality".
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Having assessed the accomplishments of CFSK-TV and CFRE-TV, the Commission is satisfied with the level and quality of local service that they have provided during the current licence term. The Commission considers that their membership in a larger CanWest Global corporate organization has clearly contributed to the stations' ability to achieve the current high standard of service. The Commission is confident that these stations will continue to benefit from the experience and resources of the CanWest Global organization to support the provision of attractive, viable and alternative programming services that reflect the communities that they serve.
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As stated in Public Notice CRTC 1989-27 dated 6 April 1989 and entitled "Overview, Local Television for the 1990's", as well as in several television renewal decisions issued at that time and subsequently, the Commission has expected licensees of television stations earning less than $10 million annually in total advertising revenue to adhere to their projected first-year expenditures on Canadian programming, at a minimum, and to adjust such expenditures in subsequent years in accordance with a formula linked to station advertising revenues. The Commission is satisfied that this approach continues to offer a reasonable and fair means of ensuring that the Canadian program expenditures of each television station keep pace with changes in its revenues. Consistent with this policy, and inasmuch as CFRE-TV's and CFSK-TV's annual advertising revenues are, in each case, less than $10 million, this expectation applies in respect of these stations. For the purposes of this expectation, the level of Canadian program expenditures forecast by Saskwest for each of CFRE-TV and CFSK-TV in the broadcast year 1991/92, shall be deemed to be the minimum expected levels of first year expenditures.
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In the renewal applications, Saskwest did not identify the stations' annual expenditure forecasts for program development during the new licence term. Saskwest maintained that, because of the small size of their operations, it is very difficult to separate development expenditures from on-going expenditures.
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In their interventions in support of these applications, The Saskatchewan Motion Picture Association (the Association) and Minds-Eye Pictures, a division of Regina Motion Picture, Video and Sound Ltd. acknowledged that Saskwest was actively supporting new television productions. The Association, however, stated, that specific funds should be allocated for the development and production of Canadian programs in Saskatchewan, while Minds-Eye Pictures encouraged increased involvement with the province's independent production industry.
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The Commission has taken note of Saskwest's assurances that although not all "developing concepts" proceed through to production, financial support is available and that there has been "no project that has not proceeded for lack of investment by the station[s]". It also notes the licensee's further statement that each of the stations have contributed to the CanWest development pool. Nevertheless, the Commission considers that Saskwest should clearly identify program development budgets for each station. Accordingly, the Commission expects Saskwest to establish, for each station, firm annual monetary commitments for the development of Canadian programming. The Commission requires Saskwest to file a report within three months of the date of this decision, identifying its program development commitments for each year of the new licence term.
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The Commission notes Saskwest's undertaking to acquire and install a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) at each station during the first year of the new licence term. The Commission expects Saskwest to install these devices wherever is most appropriate, such as in the master control rooms, to ensure access to the stations by deaf and hearing-impaired viewers over the entire broadcast day.
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As noted in Public Notice CRTC 1989-27, the Commission considers that all television licensees have an obligation to take steps to ensure that their local programming is made accessible to deaf and hearing-impaired viewers. Accordingly, the Commission expects the licensee, within the first year of the new licence term, to close caption, at a minimum, headlines and appropriate scripted portions of a local newscast broadcast during the evening hours.
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As discussed at the hearing, it is a condition of each licence that Saskwest adhere to the guidelines on sex-role stereotyping set out in the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' (CAB) Sex-Role Portrayal Code for Television and Radio Programming, as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission.
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Similarly, it is also a condition of licence that the licensee adhere to the provisions of the CAB's Broadcast Code for Advertising to Children, as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission.
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In addition to the interventions mentioned earlier in this decision, the Commission wishes to acknowledge the views expressed in the numerous other interventions with respect to these applications.
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Allan J. Darling
Secretary General
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