ARCHIVED -  Decision CRTC 99-114

Decision

Ottawa, 28 May 1999

Decision CRTC 99-114

TELUS Communications Inc. (TELUS)

Applications processed by
Public Notice CRTC 1999-53
dated 30 March 1999

One-year renewal

1. The Commission renews the licences for the broadcasting distribution undertakings authorized to conduct market and technical trials in the above-noted communities, from 1 June 1999 to 31 May 2000, subject to the conditions specified in this decision and in the licences to be issued.

2. As part of its applications, Telus proposed conditions of licence that will ensure that programming decisions are made within Telus Multimedia, at the appropriate management level and are properly documented. These conditions of licence are set out as condition 20 in the appendix to this decision.

3. The Commission futher notes that the applicant has obtained Board of Directors resolutions to ensure that there is no exercise of control or influence over any programming decisions of TELUS Multimedia by the parent corporation or its directors.

4. The Commission acknowledges the intervention submitted by the Specialty and Premium Television Association as well as the licensee's reply.

This decision is to be appended to each licence. It is available in alternative format upon request, and may also be viewed at the following Internet site:

www.crtc.gc.ca

Secretary General

Appendix to Decision CRTC 99-114

Conditions of licence in respect of the broadcasting distribution undertakings carried on by TELUS at Calgary and Edmonton

1. a) Except as provided below, for the purposes of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations (the regulations), as amended from time to time, the licensee is deemed to be a Class 1 licensee;

b) If and when the licensee has distributed digital set top boxes to all trial participants, section 20 and Part 5 of the regulations shall no longer apply to the licensee; and

c) sections 8 and 28 of the regulations shall apply, with the necessary modifications, in respect of any programs distributed by the licensee that the licensee originates.

2. The licensee shall adhere to the Access Rules for Broadcasting Distribution Undertakings stipulated in Public Notice CRTC 1996-60.

3. The technical and market trials shall provide service to no more than 2,000 individual subscribers in Calgary and 1,400 individual subscribers in Edmonton.

4. The licensee shall contribute, during the term of its licence, a minimum of $100,000 to an independently-administered production fund in support of Canadian programming (such contribution being the total amount for Calgary and Edmonton combined).

5. The licensee shall contribute, during the term of its licence, a minimum of $100,000 for the production of community programming (such contribution being the total amount for Calgary and Edmonton combined).

6. The licensee shall file with the Commission, on 31 December 1999 and on 30 April 2000, a report containing the following information:

a) the price of each service (including telecommunications services) and of each service package offered;

b) the number of subscribers to date for each service, and for each package of services;

c) the take-up rate for the various options and packages by subscribers;

d) the response by subscribers to changes in prices and in service/package offerings;

e) an analysis of the effectiveness of the navigator, programming guide, special promotional channels and any other initiative or activity in terms of promoting Canadian programming and influencing subscribers' programming choices;

f) feedback from subscribers and trial participants, including multimedia content providers and programming undertaking licensees; and

g) any other relevant information obtained by the licensee relating to the contribution made by the licensee to the Canadian broadcasting system.

7. The licensee shall file for the public record the information referred to in condition of licence 6, with the exception of information in respect of which a claim of confidentiality is made by the licensee and approved by the Commission.

8. The licensee shall advise all potential subscribers in all promotional material, and each subscriber prior to providing service, that the broadcasting service is being offered on an experimental basis only and for a limited period of time.

9. If and when the licensee has distributed digital set top boxes to all trial participants, it shall not deliver a broadcasting service to a participant unless that participant first subscribes to a broadcasting service delivered in a digital transmission format.

10. The licensee is authorized to distribute, as a special programming service, pay television promotional material, subject to the terms and conditions specified in Public Notice CRTC 1995-172, as amended from time to time.

11. The licensee is authorized to distribute, at its option, the signals of KOMO-TV (ABC), KING-TV (NBC), KCTS-TV (PBS) AND KCPQ (FOX) Seattle, Washington, and KSTW (CBS) Tacoma, Washington, received via satellite, as part of the basic service.

12. The licensee shall ensure that a majority of the video and audio channels received by a subscriber are devoted to the distribution of Canadian programming services, other than multiplexed programming or the programming distributed on program repeat channels.

13. The licensee is authorized 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.

14. The licensee is authorized to distribute an electronic program guide and interactive navigation system.

15. The licensee is authorized to distribute interactive transactional services of an entertaining or informative nature, including, user-selectable images and graphics, moving graphics and access to video clips, and that consist of:

a) images and sounds accompanied by alphanumeric material; or

b) predominantly alphanumeric material that is available in conjunction with a program distributed by the licensee.

16. The licensee is authorized to distribute to a maximum of 400 subscribers of each undertaking video-on-demand (VOD) programming in accordance with the criteria set out in Public Notice CRTC 1994-118, with the exception of criterion No. 4 which shall not apply to the licensee.

17. The licensee is authorized to distribute, on the community channel, the audio programming service of the National Broadcast Reading Service Incorporated or the service of any other similar licensed audio programming undertaking, when the licensee is not distributing community programming on its community channel, or is distributing on that channel, community programming having no audio component.

18. The written approval of the Commission is required prior to the distribution of any service not authorized in the regulations or in this licensing decision or in any subsequent written approvals granted during the term of this licence.

19. For community programming and any other programming of a service that it originates, the licensee shall 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.

20. With respect to the conduct of the trial, the following conditions of licence will be subject to normal and reasonable oversight by the Board of Directors of TELUS Communications Inc. in accordance with its fiduciary obligations.

a) All programming decisions related to TELUS Multimedia shall be made by the management of TELUS Multimedia, excluding any directors and officers of TELUS Communications Inc., who are also directors or officers of TELUS Corporation;

b) The Vice-President of TELUS Multimedia shall ensure that all programming decisions are made within TELUS Multimedia;

c) The Vice-President of TELUS Multimedia shall have final authority for all multimedia programming decisions and will establish the proper processes to ensure programming decisions are made at the appropriate management level and adequately documented;

d) All information provided by the management of TELUS Multimedia to TELUS Corporation or to the board of directors or officers of TELUS Corporation or TELUS Communications Inc. or any individual director thereof, shall not include information with respect to TELUS Multimedia programming decisions without the consent of the Vice-President of TELUS Multimedia and until after such decisions have been properly made, documented and implemented; and,

e) The Vice-President of TELUS Multimedia and management associated with programming shall be Canadian citizens as defined in the Direction to the CRTC (Ineligibility of Non-Canadians) P.C. 1997-486, as modified by P.C. 1998-1268.