ARCHIVED -  Decision CRTC 97-120

Decision

Ottawa, 27 March 1997

Decision CRTC 97-120

Halton Cable Systems Inc.

Georgetown, Acton, Milton and surrounding area, Ontario- 199611067 - 199701016

Licence renewal and amendments

Following Public Notice CRTC 1997-21 dated 21 February 1997, the Commission renews the Class 1 licence held by Halton Cable Systems Inc., for the cable distribution undertaking serving the above-noted localities, from 1 April 1997 to 31 August 2003.

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 Commission notes that, as approved in Decision CRTC 96-182 dated 31 May 1996, this undertaking is interconnected, via optical fibre, to the cable distribution undertaking serving part of Hamilton, Dundas, part of Ancaster and surrounding area, owned by Western Co-Axial Limited, which controls the licensee.

In addition to the services required or authorized to be distributed pursuant to the applicable sections of the regulations, the licensee is authorized to continue to distribute WNEQ-TV Buffalo, New York, a duplicate PBS signal, received via optical fibre, as part of the basic service.

The Commission approves the licensee's request to be relieved, by condition of licence, from the requirement of paragraph 16(2)(a) of the regulations to distribute the local services of CJMR Mississauga and CIAM Cambridge, in view of the poor reception quality of these signals.

Consistent with Decision CRTC 94-124 dated 31 March 1994, the licensee is relieved, by condition of licence, of the requirement of section 12 of the regulations to distribute the signals of CKCO-TV Kitchener and CBLT Toronto on unrestricted channels. Should the quality of any of the signals deteriorate significantly, the Commission expects the licensee to undertake immediate corrective action including, if necessary, the distribution of the service on another channel.

Consistent with Decision CRTC 96-182 dated 31 May 1996, 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.

Also consistent with Decision CRTC 96-182, 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.

It is a condition of licence that, for community programming and any other programming of a service that it originates, the licensee adhere to the guidelines on the depiction of violence in television programming set out in the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' "Voluntary Code Regarding Violence in Television Programming", as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission.

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 "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.

The Department of Industry has advised the Commission that it is prepared to renew the Broadcasting Certificate for a limited period only, expiring 31 August 1997. With respect to the operation of this undertaking beyond this period, the Commission draws the licensee's attention to subsection 22(1) of the Broadcasting Act pertaining to the technical certification of broadcasting undertakings and to subsection 22(4) which provides that any broadcasting licence issued, amended or renewed in contravention of section 22 is of no force or effect.

This decision is to be appended to the licence.

Allan J. Darling
Secretary General