Search

ARCHIVED -  Circular No. 429

This page has been archived on the Web

Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. Archived Decisions, Notices and Orders (DNOs) remain in effect except to the extent they are amended or reversed by the Commission, a court, or the government. The text of archived information has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Changes to DNOs are published as “dashes” to the original DNO number. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats by contacting us.

Archived

This page has been archived on the Web.

 

Circular No. 429
  Ottawa, 19 August 1998
  To the Licensees of Broadcasting Undertakings and Prospective Applicants
  Guidelines respecting the confidential treatment of annual returns and material or information filed in support of a broadcasting application before the Commission
  BACKGROUND
  1. Section 20 of the CRTC Rules of Procedure (the Rules) sets out a mechanism by which applicants may request that specific types of material or information submitted in an application be treated by the Commission as confidential where the public interest will best be served by doing so.
  2. Specifically, section 20 of the Rules states that:
  The Commission may, at the request of an applicant, if in the opinion of the Commission the public interest will best be served by so doing, treat as confidential the following material or information, if such material or information can be separated from the application and is marked "Confidential", namely:
  a) financial statements of an applicant who holds a licence;
  b) evidence of the financial capacity of any person participating in an application; and
  c) the names of prospective employees of an applicant.
  3. An applicant may also request confidentiality with respect to any information submitted in, or as part of, an application, that does not fall within the scope of Section 20.
  4. Each request for confidentiality is considered on a case by case basis. The Commission, however, has had informal guidelines in place for a number of years that it has used to ensure the uniform and consistent treatment of requests for confidentiality under section 20 of the Rules. The guidelines as applied by the Commission, are intended to ensure that as much information as possible is available on the public file. The purpose of this Circular is to inform licensees and applicants about these guidelines, and to explain how the Commission will generally treat information for which confidentiality is requested.
  5. Appendix A to this circular lists the items for which confidentiality is most often requested by applicants and how the Commission generally treats them.
  Confidentiality of Annual Returns
  6. All broadcasting undertakings are required to file annual returns (as set out in Circular No. 404 dated 23 August 1994), including financial statements, on or before 30 November of each year for the broadcast year ending on the previous 31 August.
  7. Consistent with current practice, the Commission will generally continue to treat the annual returns and financial statements for individual radio and conventional television programming undertakings on a confidential basis. Only aggregate industry statistics will continue to be released.
  8. The annual returns and financial statements for an individual broadcasting distribution undertaking whose basic monthly subscriber fee is not regulated under the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations will be treated as confidential (see Public Notice CRTC 1998-89 of today's date). Consistent with past practice, however, the annual returns and financial statements for a broadcasting distribution undertaking whose basic monthly subscriber fee is regulated will continue to be made available on the public file and will only be treated as confidential commencing with the broadcast year during which the undertaking's basic monthly subscriber fee is no longer regulated. As in the past, aggregate industry statistics will continue to be released.
  9. In cases where the annual return and financial statements include both rate regulated and non-rate regulated broadcasting undertakings (eg: multi-system operators), the financial statements and only that portion of the annual return that relates to the non-rate regulated undertaking will be kept confidential.
  10. Consistent with current Commission practice, the annual returns and financial statements for those specialty services that have a monthly subscriber fee set by the Commission or that are carried as part of the basic service package will continue to be placed on the public file. For all other specialty services, only that portion of the annual return and financial statements, down to and including profit before interest and taxes (PBIT), will be placed on the public file. Any portion of the annual return or financial statements that would lead to the disclosure of an undertaking's net income or loss, such as information below PBIT, or detailed information on shareholders' equity, will be treated on a confidential basis.
  11. Consistent with current Commission practice, that portion of the annual return and financial statements of pay television undertakings, down to and including PBIT, will continue to be placed on the public file. As in the case of specialty services, any portion of the annual return or financial statements that would lead to the disclosure of an undertaking's net income or loss will be treated as confidential.
  12. Notwithstanding the above, for a licensee that is a public company or whose financial statements are otherwise publicly available, the Commission will continue to place these statements on the licensee's public file.
  13. As confidentiality of the annual returns and financial statements will be accorded upon their receipt in the Commission, no further action in this regard will be required by licensees.
  Information Filed in an Application
  14. Section 20 of the Rules will continue to be the principal regulatory mechanism for treating confidentiality requests. The public interest is best served by maintaining an open and transparent application process. Therefore, treating information filed in broadcasting applications as confidential will continue to be the exception rather than the rule.
  15. For the purpose of these guidelines, the following definitions shall apply:
  a) Financial statements means the balance sheet, income statement, statement of retained earnings, statement of changes in financial position and any other formal accounting statement, supporting documentation, notes and assumptions, either historical, projected, budgeted or forecast;
  b) Evidence of financial capacity means, without limitation, any document or information relating to the ability of an individual, partnership, association, body corporate, estate, trustee, executor, administrator, or legal representative to make a stated investment. This would include, but would not be limited to, net worth statements, letters of commitment or support of a financial nature, financial statements and loan agreements, and;
  c) Prospective employees means the names of all prospective employees who will have an "employer-employee" relationship with the applicant. It would exclude the names of directors who will not also be employees.
  16. Where an applicant requests that material or information be treated as confidential, such material or information must be separated from the application and marked "CONFIDENTIAL". An abridged version of the information must be submitted at the time of the request and shall be placed on the public file. For example, in the case of a request that a personal net worth statement be kept confidential, the applicant would have to submit, for the public file, either abridged extracts from the net worth statement or other evidence, such as a letter from a credit granting institution, sufficient to attest to the financial capacity of the individual in question, including the availability of the financing. In the alternative, the applicant must provide reasons for being unable to abridge the information or for objecting to it being placed on the public file. An example attestation is contained in Appendix B.
  17. Should the Commission deny a request for confidentiality, it will so advise the applicant and provide it with an opportunity to withdraw the information. The Commission will also advise the applicant, at that time, whether such withdrawal will result in the application being deemed to be incomplete.
  18. The onus is on the applicant to request confidentiality for the information or material and to clearly demonstrate that the public interest will best be served by treating the information as confidential.
  19. The onus is also on the applicant to inform the Commission of any material or information in the application under consideration that has been granted confidentiality by the Commission in any other broadcasting application or telecommunications proceeding. Otherwise, such information or material may be placed on the public file. Further, the onus is on the applicant to demonstrate clearly that the public interest will best be served by treating the information or material as confidential in the context of the application under consideration.
  20. With respect to requests for confidentiality concerning information not specifically listed in section 20 of the Rules, these requests will be assessed on a case by case basis. The onus will be on the applicant, however, to demonstrate clearly that the public interest will best be served by treating the information or material as confidential in the context of the application under consideration.
  Laura M. Talbot-Allan Secretary General
  This document is available in alternative format upon request.
 

Appendix A
 

CONFIDENTIALITY GUIDELINES
 
BDUs Radio &  Television Pay & Specialty Services
Annual Returns Public File (1) Confidential Public File (2)
Financial Statements:
- Historical financial statements of other than public companies (3)
       - personal holding companies Confidential Confidential Confidential
       - licensee companies Public File (1) Confidential Public File (2)
       - other operating companies Confidential Confidential Confidential
- Historical financial statements of public companies Public File Public File Public File
- Projected financial statements and assumptions (4):
   i) for projection years remaining in the current licence term: (3)
      - for operations which are the subject of the application:
      - renewals Public File (1) Confidential Public File (2)
      - amendments Public File Public File Public File
      - asset/share transfers Public File (1) Confidential Public File (2)
      - for related licensed operations
        (eg: sister AM station)		 Confidential Confidential Confidential
      - for combined operations of licensed undertakings Confidential Confidential Confidential
   ii) for projection years in the prospective licence term: (5)
      - for operations which are the subject of the application:
           - new Public File Public File Public File
           - renewals Public File (6) Public File (6) Public File
           - amendments Public File Public File Public File
           - asset/share transfers Public File Public File Public File
      - for related licensed operations
        (eg: sister AM station)		 Confidential Confidential Confidential
      - for combined operations of licensed undertakings Confidential Confidential Confidential
Evidence of Financial Capacity:
Personal net worth statements  Confidential Confidential Confidential
Annual reports and historical financial statements of public companies Public File Public File Public File
Letters from bankers & other credit granting institutions Public File Public File Public File
Bank loan & other financing agreements Public File Public File Public File
Letters from auditors and/or investment dealers Public File Public File Public File
Letters of commitment to purchase debt and/or equity securities Public File Public File Public File
Employee information:
- names of prospective employees and/or individual salaries Confidential Confidential Confidential
- number of employees and/or grouped salary information Public File Public File Public File
Other information:
Ownership information, ie: identification of shareholders, shares held, classes of shares, shares issued, capitalization, ownership structure, etc. Public File Public File Public File
Share/asset transfer purchase price, agreements and schedules Public File Public File Public File
Calculations and assumptions related to business plans, purchase agreements and schedules, and business valuations Public File Public File Public File
Technical service information Public File Public File Public File
Proposed service area information Public File Public File Public File
Proposed services to be distributed/carried Public File Public File Public File
Programming costs for individual programs or series Confidential Confidential Confidential
Canadian and foreign programming expenditures (aggregates) Public File Public File Public File
Responses to deficiency questions on public file information Public File Public File Public File
Responses to deficiency questions on confidential file information Confidential Confidential Confidential

  Notes:

1. the annual returns and financial statements for a broadcasting distribution undertaking whose basic monthly subscriber fee is regulated under the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations will be placed on the public file. However, where the basic monthly subscriber fee of a broadcasting distribution undertaking is not regulated, the annual return and financial statements of the undertaking will be treated as confidential commencing with the broadcast year during which the undertaking's basic monthly subscriber fee is no longer regulated. Where the annual return and financial statements include both rate regulated and non-rate regulated undertakings (eg: multi-system operators), the financial statements and only that portion of the annual return that contains information related to the non-rate regulated undertaking(s) will be kept confidential.

2. for Pay TV services and those specialty services that do not have a Commission approved monthly fee and are not carried as part of the basic service package, that portion of the annual return and financial statements below "Profit before interest and taxes" (PBIT), and such other portion that may lead to the disclosure of a licensee's net income or loss, will be treated as confidential.

3. the broadcast year in which an application is filed, and prior years, are considered to be "historical" years. Subsequent broadcast years are considered "projected" years.

4. includes balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in financial position and statement of retained earnings.

5. the first year of the projected licence term begins on the day immediately after the expiry date of the current licence term.

6. all information will be placed on the public file with the exception of (i) the breakdown of revenues and operating expenses for radio and, (ii) the breakdown of revenues for television and non-rate regulated BDUs, all of which, when requested, may be treated as confidential.
 

Appendix B
 

ATTESTATION
  C.R.T.C. Application No._______________
  "I/We, (name of attesting individual/firm), have knowledge of the financial affairs of (name of person/company to whom the confidentiality request pertains) and have examined the (specify the information examined, e.g: net worth statement, financial statements, etc.) of (name of person/company to whom the confidentiality request pertains) dated (date). Based on my/our examination it is my/our opinion that (name of person/company to whom the confidentiality request pertains) has the financial capacity to invest (amount of the proposed investment) in the proposed undertaking, namely: (name of undertaking). I/We understand that, if the Commission accords confidentiality to the subject material, this letter will form part of the application and will be made available for public inspection.
  Signature:___________________
  Position:_____________________
  Firm:________________________
  Date:__________
  (Note: this attestation is to be completed by an accredited accountant (i.e: C.A., C.M.A., or C.G.A., an authorized officer of a financial institution or Investment Dealer)

Date Modified: 1998-08-19
Date modified: