ARCHIVED - Public Notice CRTC 2001-84
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Public Notice CRTC 2001-84 |
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Ottawa, 18 July 2001 |
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Call for comments - Proposed regulatory amendments regarding implementation of certain recommendations of the CRTC's Report on French-language broadcasting services in a minority environment |
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This public notice is further to Public Notice CRTC 2001-25, entitled Achieving a better balance: Report on French-language broadcasting services in a minority environment, and to Public Notice CRTC 2001-26, entitled A policy to increase the availability to cable subscribers of specialty services in the minority official language. Proposed regulatory amendments to implement the Commission's new policy set out in Public Notice 2001-26 are appended to this public notice. |
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In Public Notice CRTC 2000-38 dated 10 March 2000, the Commission called for comments on a proposed policy with respect to the specialty services available to cable subscribers across Canada. On 5 April 2000, following the initiative undertaken by the CRTC, the Governor in Council, in Order in Council P.C. 2000-511, requested the Commission to report on the availability of French-language broadcasting services in French linguistic minority communities in Canada. |
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Because the objectives of the policy proposal concerning the availability to cable subscribers of specialty services in the official language of the minority complement the issues raised by the government's Order in Council, the Commission decided it would be appropriate to combine the two processes. Further to Public Notice CRTC 2000-74 dated 31 May 2000 and Public Notice CRTC 2000-115 dated 9 August 2000, therefore, the Commission initiated a broad public consultative process on these two subjects. The Commission's decision in light of the comments received was set out in Public Notice CRTC 2001-26 dated 12 February 2001, in the form of a statement of policy to broaden the availability of Canadian cable specialty services for official language minorities in Canada. |
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The Commission now seeks public input on the proposed amendments to the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations that are attached to this public notice. The amendments are intended to implement the Commission's new policy, and to implement as well, certain of the measures and recommendations related to distribution issues and put forward in the report to the Governor in Council released in Public Notice CRTC 2001-25. The amendments concern primarily cable undertakings distributing specialty services in digital mode and are intended to ensure increased distribution of Canadian specialty services in the official language of the minority, while taking into account the technical capacity of each distributor. |
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Call for comments |
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The Commission, in this proceeding, seeks comments on the proposed regulatory amendments, and not on any of the questions that have already been considered in the above-noted proceedings. The Commission will accept comments that it receives on or before 17 August 2001. |
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Procedures for filing comments |
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Interested parties can file their comments on paper or electronically. Submissions longer than five pages should include a summary. |
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Parties wishing to file their comments on paper should send them to the Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, K1A 0N2. |
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Parties wishing to file electronic versions of their comments can do so by email or on diskette. The Commission email address is procedure@crtc.gc.ca |
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Electronic submissions should be in the HTML format. As an alternative, those making submissions may use "Microsoft Word" for text and "Microsoft Excel" for spreadsheets. |
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Please number each paragraph of your submission. In addition, please enter the line ***End of document*** following the last paragraph. This will help the Commission verify that the document has not been damaged during transmission. |
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The Commission will make comments filed in electronic form available on its web site at www.crtc.gc.ca in the official language and format in which they are submitted. This will make it easier for members of the public to consult the documents. |
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Examination of public comments and related documents at the following Commission offices during normal business hours |
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Central Building |
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Bank of Commerce Building |
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405 de Maisonneuve Blvd. East |
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55 St. Clair Avenue East |
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Kensington Building |
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Cornwall Professional Building |
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10405 Jasper Avenue |
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530-580 Hornby Street |
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Secretary General |
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This document is available in alternate format upon request and may also be examined at the following Internet site: http://www.crtc.gc.ca |
JUS-602699
(CG-I/GC-I)
REGULATIONS AMENDING THE BROADCASTING DISTRIBUTION REGULATIONS
amendments
1. Subsection 6(2) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations1 is replaced by the following:
(2) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, a licensee shall ensure, in respect of each of analog and digital technology, that a majority of the video and audio channels received by a subscriber are devoted to the distribution of Canadian programming services, other than the programming distributed on program repeat channels.
2. The Regulations are amended by adding the following after section 16:
Continued Distribution of French-language Canadian Programming Services in Anglophone Markets
16.1 A licensee that is operating in a market that is an anglophone market within the meaning of paragraph 18(4)(b) shall distribute on an analog basis at least the same number of French-language Canadian programming services as it distributed on an analog basis on March 10, 2000.
3. (1) Subsection 18(3) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:
(3) For the purposes of this section, other than subsections (11) to (11.4), a licensee makes use of digital technology for the delivery of programming to subscribers when at least 15% of its subscribers receive one or more programming services on a digital basis.
(2) Section 18 of the Regulations is amended by adding the following after subsection (11):
(11.1) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, a licensee that has a nominal capacity of at least 750 MHz and that makes use of digital technology for the delivery of any programming service shall distribute
(a) at least one pay television service in each official language; and
(b) all French-language and English-language Canadian specialty services, other than Category 2 services distributed on a digital basis.
(11.2) Subject to subsection (11.3) and except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, a licensee that has a nominal capacity that is less than that referred to in subsection (11.1) and that makes use of digital technology for the delivery of any programming service shall distribute
(a) at least one French-language Canadian specialty service for every 10 English-language programming services that it distributes, if the licensee is operating in an anglophone market; and
(b) at least one English-language Canadian specialty service for every 10 French-language programming services that it distributes, if the licensee is operating in a francophone market.
(11.3) The requirements of subsection (11.2) do not apply to multipoint distribution system distribution undertakings.
(11.4) For the purposes of subsection (11.2), the following are considered to be French-language Canadian specialty services:
(a) the TVA television programming service, if it is distributed on a discretionary basis; and
(b) any educational television programming service, if it is distributed outside of the province that designated the educational authority responsible for its operation.
4. Subsection 32(1) of the Regulations is amended by striking out the word "and" at the end of paragraph (a), by adding the word "and" at the end of paragraph (b) and by adding the following after paragraph (b):
(c) if not included in the programming services distributed under paragraph (a) or (b), a programming service in each of English and French of at least one television station owned and operated by the Corporation, if the Corporation makes its signals for the service available to the licensee and pays the costs associated with the carriage and reception of the signals at the licensee's local head end.
5. The Regulations are amended by adding the following after section 33.2:
Licensee Using Television Programming Services Using Digital Technology
33.3 (1) A licensee that has a nominal capacity of at least 550 MHz and that delivers any programming service on a digital basis shall distribute in the market
(a) at least one French-language Canadian specialty service for every 10 English-language programming services distributed by the licensee, if the licensee is operating in a market that is an anglophone market within the meaning of paragraph 18(4)(b); and
(b) at least one English-language Canadian specialty service for every 10 French-language programming services distributed by the licensee, if the licensee is operating in a market that is a francophone market within the meaning of paragraph 18(4)(a).
(2) A licensee whose distribution system is totally interconnected with another system shall distribute the same number of programming services in the language of the official language minority as are distributed by the system with which it is interconnected, unless the licensee does not have the technological capacity to do so.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), the following are considered to be French-language Canadian specialty services:
(a) the TVA television programming service, if it is distributed on a discretionary basis; and
(b) any educational television programming service, if it is distributed outside of the province that designated the educational authority responsible for its operation.
coming into force
6. These Regulations come into force on September 1, 2001.
1 SOR/97-555
Date Modified: 2001-07-18
- Date modified: