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Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2006-278
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Ottawa, 6 July 2006
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Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc., on behalf of its subsidiaries Food Network Canada Inc., Showcase Television Inc., HGTV Canada Inc., History Television Inc., Life Network Inc. and NGC Channel Inc.
Across Canada
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Applications 2006-0308-6, 2006-0309-4, 2006-0310-2,
2006-0311-9, 2006-0312-7 and 2006-0335-9
Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2006-52
25 April 2006
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Food Network Canada, Showcase, Home and Garden Television Canada, History Television, Life Network and National Geographic Channel - Licence amendments
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1.
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The Commission approves the applications by Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. (Alliance Atlantis), on behalf of its subsidiaries Food Network Canada Inc., Showcase Television Inc., HGTV Canada Inc., History Television Inc., Life Network Inc. and NGC Channel Inc., to amend the broadcasting licences for the national, specialty programming undertakings Food Network Canada, Showcase, Home and Garden Television Canada, History Television and Life Network, and for the national, Category 2 specialty programming undertaking National Geographic Channel, in order to allow each service to be available for distribution in the high definition (HD) format. The programming will be the same as that offered on the analog or standard definition (SD) version of the service.
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2.
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The Commission did not receive any interventions in connection with these applications.
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3.
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In The regulatory framework for the distribution of digital television signals, Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2003-61 , 11 November 2003 (Public Notice 2003-61 ), the Commission stated that it would authorize the licensee of a Canadian pay or specialty service to make available an upgraded version of its service, by means of an amendment to the licence of the existing service. This authority would be in effect for a term of three years, pending the development of a licensing and distribution framework for Canadian pay and specialty services in HD format.
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4.
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The Commission published its new framework in Regulatory framework for the licensing and distribution of high definition pay and specialty services, Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2006-74 , 15 June 2006 (Public Notice 2006-74 ). In that public notice, the Commission stated:
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Those services that are authorized to offer HD programming by way of licence amendment will remain subject to the requirement initially imposed in Public Notice 2003-61 that the programming on the analog or SD service and on the upgraded service be comparable, that is, not less than 95% of the video and audio components must be the same. Further, the Commission will require that all of the programming making up the 5% allowance be provided in HD.
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5.
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Given that the present applications were filed and published prior to the release of Public Notice 2006-74 , the Commission is approving the conditions of licence proposed by Alliance Atlantis, on behalf of its subsidiaries, which reflect the previous approach established in Public Notice 2003-61 , and does not contain the additional requirement that all of the 5% allowance be provided in HD.
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Food Network Canada, Showcase, Home and Garden Television Canada, History Television and Life Network.
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6.
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By condition of each licence, each licensee is authorized to make available for distribution, for a period of three years from the date of this decision, a version of its service in high definition format, provided that not less than 95% of the video and audio components of the upgraded and analog versions of the service are the same, exclusive of the commercial messages and of any part of the service carried on a subsidiary signal.
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National Geographic Channel
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7.
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By condition of licence, the licensee is authorized to make available for distribution, for a period of three years from the date of this decision, a version of its service in high definition format, provided that not less than 95% of the video and audio components of the upgraded and standard definition versions of the service are the same, exclusive of the commercial messages and of any part of the service carried on a subsidiary signal.
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Secretary General
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This decision is to be appended to each licence. It is available in alternative format upon request, and may also be examined in PDF format or in HTML at the following Internet site: www.crtc.gc.ca
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Date Modified: 2006-07-06
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