ARCHIVED -  Public Notice CRTC 1995-54

Public Notice

Ottawa, 6 April 1995

Public Notice CRTC 1995-54

ISSUE NO. 1

CALL FOR COMMENTS - PROVISION OF CABLE SERVICES TO THE ROOMS OF TEMPORARY RESIDENTS OF PREMISES ALSO SERVED BY A CLOSED CIRCUIT VIDEO PROGRAMMING UNDERTAKING

Background

The Commission is seeking comment on an issue of public concern, which has come to its attention as a result of complaints that it has received from five parties, namely: Hospitality Network Canada Inc. (Hospitality), Chelton Inn, Super 8 Motel - Regina, Landmark Inn and Seven Oaks Motor Inn (Seven Oaks), against the Regina Cablevision Co-operative (Cable Regina).

Hospitality describes itself as a corporation providing pay-per-view movie services to the guest rooms of hotels and motels in Saskatchewan in accordance with the Exemption Order Respecting Closed Circuit Video Programming Undertakings (Public Notice CRTC 1993-50 of 30 April 1993, as corrected by Public Notice CRTC 1993-50-1 of 14 January 1994). The other four complainants are hotels or motels operating in Regina, Saskatchewan. These complainants are subscribers of the licensee, Cable Regina. All have been at one time, or are currently, customers of Hospitality.

The complainants allege that Cable Regina threatened to disconnect the cable service of the hotels unless they co-operated in the disconnec- tion of Hospitality's service from the wire by which Cable Regina's programming services are delivered to the guest rooms in the hotels.

Cable Regina does not deny these allegations, but states that the operation of the Hospitality service "notches out" three cable channels, so as to prevent the distribution to hotel guests of the CBC French-language television service, Saskatchewan Legislature/Home Shopping and Vision TV, and distributes pay-per-view movies in their place. Cable Regina states that pay-per-view movies have also displaced the CBC English-language television service from a basic band channel to a higher channel without Cable Regina's consent. Cable Regina submits that these actions put it in jeopardy of operating in contravention of its licence and thereby warranted its actions.

Hospitality does not deny Cable Regina's allegations as set out above. Hospitality states that it is prepared to restore the CBC French-language television service to the channel line-up and secondly, that it understands that the removal of a number of cable services is standard practice in the hotel pay-per-view movie industry.

The Issues

The Commission invites public input regarding these complaints and the Commission's role with respect to the deletion of cable services provided to the temporary residents of hotels, motels and hospitals and to the inmates of prisons. In particular, the Commission requests comment on the extent to which the deletion of cable programming services that are required or authorized for distribution pursuant to a cable undertaking's licence or the Cable Television Regulations, 1986 (the regulations) is consistent with those regulations. Is a cable licensee meeting its obligations under the regulations when it permits a customer to "notch out" one or more services that are required or authorized by the regulations in order for that customer to provide a closed circuit video programming service to temporary residents of hotels, motels and hospitals or to inmates of prisons? As described above, "notching out" is the deletion of cable services required or authorized by the regulations and the replacement of closed circuit video programming services in their place. Parties are invited to comment in the broadest possible terms with respect to this issue and may wish to recommend changes to the regulations if they believe they are needed or desirable.

The Commission wishes to take public comment into account in its determination of the complaints and, therefore, will not rule on these complaints until after the record of this proceeding is complete.

Procedure

Comments are welcome from all members of the public, including the parties to the complaints discussed above, should they wish to supple- ment their submissions already on file. In order that comments may be considered by the Commission, they must be addressed to Allan J.
Darling, Secretary General, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2, and must be received by the Commission on or before Tuesday, 9 May 1995. While receipt of submissions will not be acknowledged, they will be considered by the Commission and will form part of the public record of the proceeding.

Correspondence related to the complaints is available in the Commission's public files. Public files may be viewed at the following Commission offices during normal business hours:

Commission HeadquartersCentral Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
1 Promenade du Portage, Room 201
Hull, Quebec K1A 0N2
Tel: (819) 997-2429 - TDD 994-0423
Telecopier: (819) 994-0218

Atlantic Regional officeBank of Commerce Building
Suite 1007
1809 Barrington Street
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3K8
Tel: (902) 426-7997 - TDD 426-6997
Telecopier: (902) 426-2721

Quebec Regional officePlace Montréal Trust
1800 McGill College Avenue
Suite 1920
Montréal, Quebec H3A 3J6
Tel: (514) 283-6607 - TDD 283-8316
Telecopier: (514) 283-3689

Ontario Regional officeStandard Life Centre
121 King Street West
Suite 820
Toronto, Ontario M5H 3T9
Tel: (4l6) 954-6273 - TDD 954-8420
Telecopier: (416) 954-6343

Prairie Regional officeKensington Building
Suite 1810
275 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2B3
Tel: (204) 983-6306 - TDD 983-8274
Telecopier: (204) 983-6317

Western Reginal officeSuite 1380
800 Burrard Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6Z 2G7
Tel: (604) 666-2111 - TDD 666-0778
Telecopier: (604) 666-8322

Allan J. Darling
Secretary General