ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2002-20

Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2002-20

Ottawa, 26 April 2002

Review of exemption orders for Experimental Video-on-Demand Programming Undertakings, Video Games Programming Service Undertakings and Teleshopping Programming Service Undertakings

1.

The Commission issues exemption orders pursuant to Section 9(4) of the Broadcasting Act (the Act), which provides as follows:

The Commission shall, by order, on such terms and conditions as it deems appropriate, exempt persons who carry on broadcasting undertakings of any class specified in the order from any or all of the requirements of this Part or of a regulation made under this Part where the Commission is satisfied that compliance with those requirements will not contribute in a material manner to the implementation of the broadcasting policy set out in subsection 3(1).

2.

In Policy Regarding The Use Of Exemption Orders, Public Notice CRTC 1996-59, 26 April 1996, the Commission stated that it would conduct a periodic review of exemption orders between five and seven years following the date of their issuance. Appended to this notice are the three exemption orders (collectively "the orders") that are now due for such a review. The orders are:

• Exemption Order Respecting Experimental Video-on-Demand programming undertakings, as set out in the Appendix to Exemption Order Respecting Experimental Video-on-Demand Programming Undertakings, Public Notice CRTC 1994-118, 16 September 1994;

• Exemption Order Respecting Video Games Programming Service Undertakings, as set out in the Appendix to Policy Governing the Distribution of Video Games Programming Service Undertakings, Public Notice CRTC 1995-5, 13 January 1995; and

• Exemption Order Respecting Teleshopping Programming Service Undertakings, as set out in the Appendix to Exemption Order Respecting Teleshopping Programming Service Undertakings,Public Notice CRTC 1995-14, 26 January 1995.

3.

To ensure that all interested parties have an adequate opportunity to participate in the review, including those operating undertakings affected by the orders, the Commission hereby initiates a process consisting of two rounds of written comments. In the first round, interested parties are requested to provide comments on the orders, including their views on whether the orders should continue in effect. Parties wishing to respond to comments filed in the first round will have an opportunity to do so during the second round as set out below.

Procedures for filing comments

4.

The deadline for the submission of written comments in the first round is 25 June 2002. These initial comments will be made available for examination by the public as soon as possible following the deadline.

5.

Interested parties, regardless of whether or not they have participated in the first round, will then have an opportunity to reply to the comments filed during that round. These second-round replies must be submitted by no later than 26 August 2002.

The Commission will not formally acknowledge comments. It will, however, fully consider all comments and they will form part of the public record of the proceeding, provided that the procedures for filing set out below have been followed.

Interested parties can file their comments on paper, on diskette or by email. Submissions longer than five pages should include a summary. Parties wishing to file their comments on paper or on diskette should send them to the Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, K1A 0N2. Parties wishing to file their comments by email can do so by sending them to procedure@crtc.gc.ca

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.

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.

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. Comments filed on paper will be available in the public examination file.

The Commission also encourages interested parties to monitor the public examination file (and/or the Commission's web site) for additional information that they may find useful when preparing their comments.

Examination of public comments and related documents at the following Commission offices during normal business hours

Central Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
1 Promenade du Portage, Room G-5
Hull, Quebec K1A 0N2
Tel: (819) 997-2429 - TDD: 994-0423
Fax: (819) 994-0218

Bank of Commerce Building
1809 Barrington Street
Suite 1007
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3K8
Tel: (902) 426-7997 - TDD: 426-6997
Fax: (902) 426-2721

405 de Maisonneuve Blvd. East
2^nd Floor, Suite B2300
Montréal, Quebec H2L 4J5
Tel: (514) 283-6607 - TDD: 283-8316
Fax: (514) 283-3689

55 St. Clair Avenue East
Suite 624
Toronto, Ontario M4T 1M2
Tel: (416) 952-9096
Fax: (416) 954-6343

Kensington Building
275 Portage Avenue
Suite 1810
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2B3
Tel: (204) 983-6306 - TDD: 983-8274
Fax: (204) 983-6317

Cornwall Professional Building
2125 - 11^th Avenue
Room 103
Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 3X3
Tel: (306) 780-3422
Fax: (306) 780-3319

10405 Jasper Avenue
Suite 520
Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3N4
Tel: (780) 495-3224
Fax: (780) 495-3214

530-580 Hornby Street
Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3B6
Tel: (604) 666-2111 - TDD: 666-0778
Fax: (604) 666-8322

Secretary General

Appendix 1

Exemption Order Respecting Experimental Video-on-Demand Programming Undertakings^{1(This Order was originally set out in the Appendix to Exemption Order Respecting Experimental Video-on-Demand Programming Undertakings, Public Notice CRTC 1994-118, 16 September 1994.)}

The Commission, pursuant to subsection 9(4) of the Broadcasting Act (the Act), by this order, exempts from the requirements of Part II of the Act and any regulation made thereunder, those persons carrying on broadcasting undertakings of the class defined by the following criteria:

For the purpose of this Exemption Order, a Video-on-Demand (VOD) service is a service that provides programs, as defined by the Act, transmitted by means of telecommunications, where individual consumers select specific programs to be received by means of broadcasting receiving apparatus at any time of their choosing.

Purpose

The purpose of the programming undertaking is to conduct a limited field trial or experiment in order to test and develop the technology for providing a VOD programming service and to determine the technical feasibility of delivering such a service.

Description

1) The Commission would not be prohibited from licensing the undertaking by virtue of any Act of Parliament, of the Direction to the Commission (Eligible Canadian Corporations) or of any other direction to the Commission by the Governor in Council.

2) The undertaking meets all technical requirements of the Department of Industry, Science and Technology and has acquired all authorizations or certificates prescribed by the Department.

3) The undertaking uses the facilities of a Canadian carrier, as defined by the Telecommunications Act or a distribution undertaking licensed or exempted by the Commission.

4) The programming service of the undertaking is not generally available on the facilities of the Canadian carrier or on those of the distribution undertaking licensed or exempted by the Commission. The selected portion of those facilities on which it is available is limited,

a) in the case of a carrier, to not more than either 400 terminals, 95 per cent of which are located in the same local calling area, or to 5 per cent of the terminals in a single calling area, whichever is the lesser or,

b) in the case of a distribution undertaking licensed or exempted by the Commission, to not more than either 400 subscribers or 5 per cent of its subscribers, whichever is the lesser.

5) The experiment is less than two years in duration.

6) Unless the experiment involves only the distribution of course materials by educational institutions, or unless the equipment used is substantially different from that used in any other similar experiment previously or simultaneously carried on by the undertaking, or by another non-arm's-length undertaking, the experiment is conducted only once, using any part of the facilities of a Canadian carrier or a distribution undertaking licensed or exempted by the Commission.

7) The undertaking obtains the right to distribute its programming exclusively:

a) from a pay-per-view programming undertaking licensed by the Commission to operate in the territory in which the experiment is conducted, in respect of any feature motion picture film;

b) from the educational institutions or others who hold the appropriate rights, in respect of programming consisting of course materials; and

c) from a programming undertaking licensed by the Commission, in respect of any other programming originally intended for broadcast by conventional television stations.

8) The undertaking is conducted on a not-for-profit basis.

9) The undertaking distributes no advertising material as defined in the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987, as amended from time to time.

Appendix 2

Exemption Order Respecting Video Games Programming Service Undertakings^{2(This Order was originally set out in the Appendix to Policy Governing the Distribution of Video Games Programming Undertakings, Public Notice CRTC 1995-5, 13 January 1995.)}

The Commission, pursuant to subsection 9(4) of the Broadcasting Act (the Act), by this order, exempts from the requirements of Part II of the Act and any regulations made thereunder, those persons carrying on broadcasting undertakings of the class defined by the following criteria:

I. Purpose

The purpose of these programming undertakings is to provide the subscribers of cable distribution undertakings with programming consisting of software and related information distributed through the facilities of those distribution undertakings, to enable the subscribers to select and play video games using facilities located at their premises.

II. Description

1) The Commission would not be prohibited from licensing the undertaking by virtue of any Act of Parliament, of the Direction to the CRTC (Eligible Canadian Corporations) or of any other direction to the Commission by the Governor in Council.

2) The undertaking meets all technical requirements of the Department of Industry, Science and Technology and has acquired all authorizations or certificates prescribed by that Department.

3) The undertaking does not broadcast programming that is religious or political in nature.

4) The undertaking provides a programming service consisting only of:

a) software and related information which will enable a person to select and play video games using broadcasting receiving apparatus located at the subscriber's premises and

b) ancillary programming consisting of promotional information concerning only the programming service and video games offered by that video games supplier, except for such games that are rated or found to be unsuitable for the cable service, provided such programming is broadcast in conjunction with programming set out in a) above and not on a separate channel.

5) The undertaking's programming must originate in Canada and the undertaking must make the greatest practicable use of Canadian creative and other resources in the creation and presentation of programming.

6) The undertaking's programming complies with the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' Sex-Role Portrayal Code for Television and Radio Programming, Voluntary Code Regarding Violence in Television Programming and Broadcast Code for Advertising to Children, as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission.

7) The video games offered via the undertaking's programming service are categorized and information is provided to subscribers indicating, at a minimum, the suitability of individual games for use by children and adolescents.

Appendix 3

Exemption Order Respecting Teleshopping Programming Service Undertakings^{3(This Order was originally set out in the Appendix to Exemption Order Respecting Teleshopping Programming Service Undertakings, Public Notice CRTC 1995-14, 26 January 1995.)}

The Commission, pursuant to subsection 9(4) of the Broadcasting Act (the Act), by this order, exempts from the requirements of Part II of the Act and any regulations, those persons carrying on broadcasting undertakings of the class defined by the following criteria:

Purpose

The purpose of these programming undertakings is to provide distribution undertakings with programming that is intended to sell or promote goods and services.

Description

1) The Commission would not be prohibited from licensing the undertaking by virtue of any Act of Parliament, of the Direction to the CRTC (Eligible Canadian Corporations) or of any other direction to the Commission by the Governor in Council.

2) The undertaking meets all technical requirements of the Department of Industry, Science and Technology and has acquired all authorizations or certificates prescribed by the Department.

3) The undertaking does not broadcast programming that is religious or political in nature.

4) The undertaking provides a programming service consisting exclusively of programming intended to sell or promote goods and services. No part of the undertaking's programming includes programming as described under item 6 of Schedule 1 of the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990.

5) The undertaking's programming complies with the guidelines on gender portrayal set out in the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' (CAB) "Sex-Role Portrayal Code for Television and Radio Programming", the provisions of the CAB's "Broadcast Code for Advertising to Children" and the guidelines on the depiction of violence in television programming set out in the CAB's "Voluntary Code Regarding Violence in Television Programming", as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission.

6) The undertaking provides its programming without charge to any distribution undertaking receiving the service.

7) The undertaking's programming originates in Canada, and the undertaking makes predominant use of Canadian creative and other resources in the creation and presentation of its programming.

8) The undertaking's programming complies with sections 3, 3.1, 4 and 5 of the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990, as amended from time to time.

9) The undertaking identifies its programming by including, once every 30 minutes, a clear and prominent written and oral announcement that the programming is intended to sell or promote goods and services.