ARCHIVED -  Decision CRTC 96-78

Decision

Ottawa, 7 March 1996

Decision CRTC 96-78

Fundy Cable Ltd./Ltée

Nasonworth, Charters Settlement, Rusagonis, Waasis and Old Camp Road; Tracy, Tracy Back Road and Fredericton Junction; Patterson and Hoyt, New Brunswick - 951040500 - 951041300 - 951042100

Deletion of local head ends and interconnections to the Fredericton undertaking; licence amendments

Following Public Notice CRTC 1995-223 dated 21 December 1995, the Commission approves the applications by Fundy Cable Ltd./Ltée (Fundy) for authority to delete the local head ends at Nasonworth, Tracy and Patterson, to add a distant head end at Fredericton for each of the above undertakings and to interconnect these undertakings, by optical fibre, with the undertaking serving Fredericton.

The Commission notes that the Fredericton undertaking is a Class 1 system (6,000 or more subscribers) and that the undertakings serving the above-noted localities are regulated pursuant to Parts I, III and IV of the Cable Television Regulations, 1986 (the regulations). The proposed change will increase the number of programming channels provided as part of the basic service in these smaller cable systems from 14 to 22 channels.

The Commission also approves the licensee's request with respect to section 23 of the regulations. Accordingly, it is a condition of each licence that the licensee be relieved of the requirement that it distribute at least four television programming services as provided for in section 23 of the regulations, so long as it distributes only those U.S. television services listed in the current application or as may be authorized by the Commission.

In the context of the authority granted above, the Commission notes that the licensee will cease distribution of CHCH-TV Hamilton and CITV-TV Edmonton, as well as WDIV (NBC) Detroit, Michigan, received via satellite from CANCOM.

The licensee is authorized to distribute, at its option, WLBZ-TV (NBC) Bangor and WMEM-TV (PBS) Presque Isle, Maine, received via microwave, as part of the basic service of each undertaking.

In assessing these applications, the Commission has taken into consideration the fact that subscribers of the Part III undertaking will receive, at no additional cost, programming services similar to those received by subscribers of the Fredericton Class 1 undertaking. Subscribers will also benefit from the addition of the community programming service.

The Commission notes, however, that the programming service of MuchMusic, which was available to subscribers as part of the basic service of these undertakings, will now be available on a discretionary basis.

According to the information provided by Fundy, the cost of the signals currently delivered via CANCOM as part of the rate regulated basic service, plus the cost of the MuchMusic signal which will be moved from basic service to a discretionary tier, less the cost of new services provided to the subscribers as part of the basic service of each undertaking, would result in net savings equivalent to $3.07 per subscriber for the Nasonworth undertaking, $1.77 per subscriber for the Tracy undertaking and $3.13 for the Patterson undertaking. The Commission notes that the licensee has already proposed to decrease the monthly basic subscriber fee for each undertaking by these amounts.

The Commission notes, however, that the licensee has included, in its costs for existing and proposed service packages, an amount for the Program Guide of $0.10 per subscriber for the Nasonworth undertaking and an amount of $0.04 per subscriber for the Tracy and Patterson undertakings. The Commission reminds the licensee that Program Guide costs are not eligible costs for the purpose of basic service rate calculations for fee regulated cable distribution undertakings.

Consequently, the Commission expects the licensee to further reduce the basic monthly fee for each undertaking by these amounts, for a total reduction of $3.17 for subscribers of the Nasonworth undertaking, $1.81 for subscribers of the Tracy undertaking and $3.17 for subscribers of the Patterson undertaking.

The Commission requests that the licensee submit, within sixty days of the date of this decision, a report outlining how it has met the Commission's expectation.

In addition, the Commission points out that any costs relating to the interconnections approved herein should not be components of an application by the licensee for a fee increase under subsections 18(6) and 18(8) of the regulations with respect to its Fredericton undertaking.

This decision is to be appended to each licence.

Allan J. Darling
Secretary General