ARCHIVED -  Public Notice CRTC 1995-216

Public Notice

Ottawa, 15 December 1995

Public Notice CRTC 1995-216

Kugluktuk Co-operative Limited

Requests to Amend the Distribution and Linkage Requirements and Part II List of Eligible Satellite Services - Public Notice 1995-163

In Public Notice CRTC 1995-163 dated 29 September 1995, the Commission called for comments on requests it had received from Shaw Communications Inc. (Shaw) and Rogers Cablesystems Limited (Rogers) for amendments to the Commission's existing Distribution and Linkage Requirements.

The proposed amendments would permit the new Canadian specialty services (i.e. those provided by specialty services programming undertakings licensed on or after 6 June 1994) to be packaged with the services of Black Entertainment Television (BET) and any one of the six U.S. superstations contained in Section B of the Part II List of Eligible Satellite Services. This would be in addition to any of the services with which they may be packaged under the existing Distribution and Linkage Requirements. Shaw and Rogers also requested that the restriction on the service known as Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) be removed when this service is packaged in a tier that includes any of the new Canadian specialty services; currently, cable systems are authorized to include this service as part of a discretionary package, subject to the restriction that they only distribute that portion of the service falling between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. on weekdays.

The Commission also invited public comment on a request from Access Cable Television Limited (Access) to have BET moved from Section B and added to Section A of the Part II List of Eligible Satellite Services.

The Commission received a total of 71 comments in response to its public notice. All of the opposing comments expressed concern with respect to the impact that carriage of the proposed U.S. services would have on existing Canadian services. For example, conventional broadcasters commented on the fact that the U.S. superstations carry first-run network programming for which Canadian broadcasters have already acquired the Canadian broadcast rights. Therefore, according to these comments, approval of the applications would seriously damage conventional television services in Canada. Representatives of the pay television industry were of the opinion that to allow certain services, which are currently available only when packaged with a Canadian pay service, to now be included in a tier with specialty services would result in a decline in pay television subscriber levels. Existing Canadian specialty services and potential specialty applicants pointed out that portions of the programming formats of both BET and CNBC are in direct competition with services they currently offer or are proposing to offer.

On the matter of the timing of the cable licensees' requests, those expressing opposition stated that it would be inappropriate to approve these requests at a time when the Commission is examining the issue of access, as well as considering submissions for new Canadian pay and specialty services. According to these comments, increased cable distribution of these non-Canadian services at this time would prejudice Canadian applicants who may apply for similar formats.

Most opposing comments also expressed concern with respect to cable channel capacity limitations. According to these comments, the Commission's approval of these requests could exhaust all remaining analog channel capacity. They added that, before making any further decisions in this area, the Commission should undertake to determine exactly how much channel capacity is available on Canada's cable systems. In this regard, the Commission notes that cable systems across Canada with over 20,000 subscribers have recently filed information on their channel capacities, and that the Commission is assessing this information for the purposes of the upcoming public hearings dealing with access and the licensing of new pay and specialty services.

In light of the concerns raised in the comments received, the Commission has decided to deny these requests at this time. However, in recognition of the argument that linkage of popular, non-Canadian services with Canadian pay and specialty services contributes to the successful marketing of these Canadian services, including such new services as may be licensed shortly, the Commission intends to initiate a public process to consider revisions to its List of Eligible Satellite Services. This process, which will begin immediately following publication of the Commission's decisions regarding the licensing of new Canadian specialty and pay television services, will permit distributors and service providers to effectively plan for the marketing of the new services once the process is concluded.

The Commission wishes to thank all those who submitted comments with respect to this notice.

Allan J. Darling
Secretary General