ARCHIVED -  Telecom Public Notice CRTC 97-22

Telecom Public Notice

Ottawa, 12 June 1997

Telecom Public Notice CRTC 97-22

TELESAT CANADA - APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF DIRECT BROADCAST SATELLITE (DBS) AGREEMENTS

1. Telesat Canada (Telesat) filed an application, dated 23 May 1997, pursuant to sections 25 and 27 of the Telecommunications Act, seeking expeditious approval with respect to two transponder purchase and operating services agreements. The agreements include the rates, terms and conditions for a proposed DBS service. Telesat proposed that the DBS service be treated by the Commission as distinct and separate from Telesat's existing Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) which provides tariffed RF Channel service.

2. Telesat has described certain matters in an overview covering letter which it has provided for the public record: its account of the evolution of Direct to Home (DTH) and DBS service in Canada, a summary of the Industry Canada 7 November 1996 call for DBS facilities, and what Telesat identifies as the key features of the satellite purchase and transponder purchase agreements. Telesat also provided for the public record: the 7 April 1997 letter from Industry Canada authorizing Telesat to develop and operate a DBS facility in the 91° West longitude DBS orbital location subject to the terms and conditions therein, an abridged DBS Economic Evaluation Study, and an abridged chronology of Telesat's DBS activities. The transponder purchase agreements and a satellite purchase agreement were provided in confidence with the application. Telesat described the harm that it alleged would result from disclosure of information filed in confidence and stated that because of the nature and structure of the transponder purchase and satellite purchase agreements no meaningful abridgement was possible for the public record.

PROCEDURE

3. The application may be examined at Telesat's business office, 1601 Telesat Court, Gloucester, Ontario, or at the offices of the CRTC in the following locations:

Room 201
Central Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
1 Promenade du Portage
Hull, Quebec

Suite 1007
Bank of Commerce Building
1809 Barrington Street
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Suite 1920
Place Montréal Trust
1800 McGill College Avenue
Montréal, Quebec

Suite 1810
275 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Suite 530
580 Hornby Street
Vancouver, British Columbia

4. A copy of the application may be obtained by any interested person upon request directed to Telesat at the address noted below.

5. The mailing addresses to be used in connection with this proceeding are:

Mr. Allan J. Darling
Secretary General
CRTC
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0N2
Fax: (819) 953-0795

Mr. Robert Power
Director, Regulatory Matters
Telesat Canada
1601 Telesat Court
Gloucester, Ontario
K1B 5P4
Fax: (613) 748-8825

6. Telesat is made party to this proceeding. Other parties wishing to participate in this proceeding must notify the Commission of their intention to do so by writing to Mr. Allan J. Darling, Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2, fax: (819) 953-0795, by 25 June 1997. Parties are to indicate in the notice their Internet email address, if available. If parties do not have access to the Internet, they are to indicate in their notice whether they wish to receive disk versions of hard copy filings. The Commission will issue a complete list of parties and their mailing addresses (including Internet email addresses if available), identifying those parties who wish to receive disk versions.

7. Interested parties may file comments with the Commission, serving a copy on Telesat, by 11 July 1997.

8. Telesat may file reply comments with the Commission, serving copies on interested parties, by 21 July 1997.

9. In addition to hard copy filings, parties are encouraged to file with the Commission electronic versions of their submissions in accordance with the Commission's Interim Telecom Guidelines for the Handling of Machine-Readable Files, dated 30 November 1995. The Commission's Internet email address for electronically filed documents is public.telecom@crtc.gc.ca. Electronically filed documents can be accessed at the Commission's Internet site at http://www.crtc.gc.ca.

10. Where a document is to be filed or served by a specific date, the document must be actually received, not merely mailed, by that date.

This document is available in alternative format upon request

Allan J. Darling
Secretary General

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