ARCHIVED - Decision CRTC 95-267
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Ottawa, 31 May 1995
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Decision CRTC 95-267
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Vidéotron Ltée
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Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec - 940802200
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Licence renewal
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Following a Public Hearing in Montréal beginning on 11 October 1994, the Commission renews the Class 1 licence issued to Vidéotron Ltée (Vidéotron) for the cable distribution undertaking serving Cap-de-la-Madeleine, from 1 September 1995 to 31 August 2001. Although the licence term granted herein is less than the maximum of seven years permitted by the Broadcasting Act, this is for the purpose of enabling the Commission to consider the next licence renewal of this undertaking in accordance with the Commission's regional plan and to better distribute the workload within the Commission.
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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 in effect under the current licence, as well as to those conditions specified in this decision and in the licence to be issued.
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The licensee is authorized to continue to distribute, at its option, WVNY (ABC) and WCAX-TV (CBS) Burlington, Vermont, and WPTZ (NBC) and WCFE-TV (PBS) Plattsburgh, New York, received via microwave, on the basic service.
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The licensee is also authorized, by condition of licence, to continue to distribute, at its option, the special programming services known as "Arts et Spectacles" and "Événement"; these services, by definition, must contain no advertising messages. The Commission reminds the licensee that programs on the "Arts et Spectacles" service are generally to draw from categories 7, 8 and 9, as well as category 6 for some sports programs, as defined in Schedule I to the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987.
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The Commission notes that, since 1990, Vidéotron has been distributing interactive programming on an experimental basis, as a supplement to selected programs distributed on regular channels. The Commission, in correspondence following the 11 October 1994 hearing, asked the licensee to describe the nature of its interactive programming; this was for the purpose of assisting the Commission in developing regulatory requirements for programming distributed in interactive mode.
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Based on the information gathered in this process, the licensee is authorized to continue to distribute accessory programming in interactive mode, on an experimental basis, to subscribers equipped with a Videoway terminal. The interactive programming, and the programming on the regular service that it is intended to complement, must be distributed at the same time and have the same theme; any advertising material contained in the accessory programming shall be distributed at the same time as that contained in the programming on the regular service; and the accessory programming shall comply with the same requirements for Canadian content and advertising material as programming on the regular service. The Commission reminds the licensee that services consisting of such accessory programming do not have priority over other programming services. In addition, the Commission expects the licensee to submit an application if it wishes to distribute any interactive programming that does not conform to the type of programming described above.
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The Commission reaffirms the particular importance it attaches to the development of community programming and has taken note of the annual budgets that will be allocated for this purpose during the new licence term. The Commission encourages the licensee to continue its efforts to develop community programs that reflect subscriber interests and concerns.
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In this regard, the Commission expects Vidéotron to increase its training activities by establishing a professional training program for volunteer workers and specialist employees, thereby to expand the pool of trained volunteers and provide a better operational structure for them. The Commission also requests the licensee to encourage the public to use its community facilities, in fulfilment of its existing access policy.
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With regard to television violence, Vidéotron stated that it had taken measures to give parents some control over the channels their children can watch using the Videoway terminal. The licensee said it would continue working with other industry members to incorporate an electronic device that would allow parents to control program access based on a program classification system. The Commission encourages the licensee to continue its work in this area.
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The Commission further notes the statements by the licensee at the hearing regarding its practices designed to ensure that basic service subscribers are not penalized by the company's proposed substantial investments in new technologies and the implementation of new discretionary multimedia services.
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In Public Notice CRTC 1992-59 dated 1 September 1992 and entitled "Implementation of an Employment Equity Policy", the Commission announced that the employment equity practices of broadcasters would be subject to examination by the Commission. In this regard, the Commission encourages the licensee to consider employment equity issues in its hiring practices and in all other aspects of its management of human resources.
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Allan J. Darling
Secretary General |
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- Date modified: