ARCHIVED -  Decision CRTC 94-76

Decision

Ottawa, 9 March 1994

Decision CRTC 94-76

Canadian Satellite Communications Inc. (CANCOM)

Toronto, Ontario - 920975000

Pursuant to Public Notice CRTC 1993-152 dated 5 November 1993, the Commission approves the application to amend the broadcasting licence to carry on a multiple channel television and radio broadcasting distribution undertaking, by adding the signals of WBZ-TV (NBC) and WGBH-TV (PBS) Boston, Massachusetts to the list of signals that CANCOM is authorized to distribute.

CANCOM stated that the intent of its application was to provide cable operators in Eastern Canada with an alternative to CANCOM's existing NBC and PBS signals originating in Detroit, Michigan.

As part of its application, CANCOM requested that the Boston signals be added to the list of "Part II Eligible Satellite Services" (Part II list) and the list of "Part III Eligible Satellite Services" (Part III list).

Accordingly, in addition to adding the above-noted Boston signals to those which CANCOM is authorized to distribute, the Part II list and the Part III list have been revised. The revisions are set out in Public Notice CRTC 1994-22 published today. The Commission wishes to highlight for licensees who wish to distribute the new services pursuant to subsections 10(1)(h) or 24(1)(g) of the Cable Television Regulations, 1986 that the revised lists permit them to distribute only one CANCOM signal of each U.S. network. In applying this limitation, the Commission has taken into account that it is presently conducting a public process to licence new Canadian programming services and that it considers it to be inappropriate at this time to increase the availability of non-Canadian signals.

Therefore, cable licensees may not distribute both Boston and Detroit signals of the same network, whether as part of the basic service or on a discretionary basis, unless they obtain prior Commission approval.

Interventions

Tee-Comm Electronics (Tee-Comm) and TVOntario (TVO) submitted interventions which, while not specifically opposing the application, expressed concerns with the proposal.

In its intervention, Tee-Comm expressed the concern that CANCOM has not committed to making these new services available to and compatible with the Canadian direct-to-home (DTH) market.

In response, CANCOM indicated that it is committed to achieving a compatible solution, and that any non-compatible equipment used by CANCOM will be upgraded when an industry standard is agreed upon.

The Commission is satisfied with the licensee's response to the concerns raised in the Tee-Comm intervention.

The intervention by TVO expressed concern that an additional PBS signal would erode its audience and impede its access to quality programming. TVO requested that WGBH-TV not be available for distribution in provinces where there is an English-language provincial educational broadcaster. In response to this intervention, CANCOM stated that it does not intend to actively market WGBH-TV in Ontario, but that if an Ontario client wished to substitute WGBH-TV for the Detroit PBS signal, it would not want to see this possibility precluded.

The Commission has carefully considered the views of TVO and CANCOM, and is of the opinion that, since cable licensees may distribute only one PBS signal received via CANCOM, no negative impact from the approval of this application is likely to accrue to TVO.

The Commission also acknowledges the numerous interventions submitted in support of this application.

Allan J. Darling
Secretary General