ARCHIVED -  Decision CRTC 96-399

Decision

Ottawa, 13 August 1996

Decision CRTC 96-399

Western Co-Axial Limited

Grimsby, Beamsville, Jordan and Vineland, Ontario - 951074400

Licence renewal

Following Public Notice CRTC 1996-46 dated 27 March 1996, the Commission renews the Class 1 licence held by Western Co-Axial Limited, for the cable distribution undertaking serving the above-noted communities, from 1 September 1996 to 31 August 2002.

The licence term granted herein, while less than the maximum of seven years permitted by the Broadcasting Act, will enable 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. This term is not reflective of any Commission concern regarding the licensee's performance.

The operation of this undertaking is regulated pursuant to Parts I, II and IV 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.

The licensee is relieved, by condition of licence, of the requirement of paragraph 9(1)(b) of the regulations that it distribute CFTO-TV (CTV) Toronto, on the basic band, so long as the service is distributed as part of the basic service.

The licensee is relieved, by condition of licence, of the requirement of section 12 of the regulations to distribute the signal of CHCH-TV (IND) Hamilton, on an unrestricted channel. Should the quality of the signal deteriorate significantly, the Commission expects the licensee to undertake immediate corrective action including, if necessary, the distribution of this service on another channel.

Consistent with Decision CRTC 92-455 dated 9 July 1992, the licensee is authorized, by condition of licence, pursuant to paragraph 10(1)(l) of the regulations, to continue to distribute the programming service of WNEQ-TV (PBS) Buffalo, New York, received over the air, so long as it does not distribute the signals of WICU-TV (NBC) and WSEE-TV (CBS) Erie, Pennsylvania.

Consistent with Decision CRTC 95-893 dated 12 December 1995, the licensee is authorized, by condition of licence, to insert, at its option, certain promotional material as a substitute for the "local availabilities" (i.e. non-Canadian advertising material) of non-Canadian satellite services. At least 75% of these local availabilities must be made available for use by licensed Canadian programming services for the promotion of their respective services, for the promotion of the community channel and for unpaid Canadian public service
announcements. A maximum of 25% of the local availabilities may be made available for the promotion of discretionary programming services and packages, customer service information, channel realignments, cable FM service and additional cable outlets.

Consistent with Decision CRTC 95-591 dated 24 August 1995, the licensee is authorized to originate a video games service as a special programming service, offered on a discretionary basis, subject to the conditions listed in that decision.

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 programs that reflect community interests and concerns.

In Public Notice CRTC 1992-59 dated 1 September 1992 and entitled "Imple-mentation 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.

This decision is to be appended to the licence.

Allan J. Darling
Secretary General