ARCHIVED - Letter
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Via facsimile ((404) 827-1542) and post
Ottawa, 4 October 2007
Mr. Richard Warren
V.P. and Assistant General Counsel
Turner Network Sales, Inc.
101 Marietta Street NW, 21st Floor
Atlanta, Georgia
30303-2720
Re: Commission's Revised Lists of Eligible Satellite Services
Renaming of WTBS Atlanta as WPCH
Dear Mr. Warren:
The Commission has received your letter dated 21 September 2007 with regard to the change of the call sign for Turner Broadcasting's WTBS Atlanta station to WPCH-TV Atlanta, subject to regulatory approval by the FCC.
In your letter, you state that the change involves a “mere renaming of the existing television station that will not have any impact on the nature of the service, or the technical characteristics of the WTBS signal.” You further state that “the renaming of the station will be complete later this year,” and “that the Commission may wish at such time as it next revises its various lists of eligible satellite services, to note the change in the call sign of WTBS Atlanta to WPCH.” Finally, you note that Turner Broadcasting “will of course advise the Commission as soon as this change has officially occurred.”
Under the Commission's approach to the lists of eligible satellite services, the call letters of an over-the-air television station are integral to the signal's authorization for distribution in Canada (as opposed, for example, to its network affiliation).
When the Commission is satisfied that a service on the lists has undergone a change in name only, the Commission has typically issued a public notice to announce the change and update the eligible lists accordingly. However, given that the call letters are integral to the authorization, it would not be appropriate to do so until the change is definite, and the Commission is informed of the specific effective date.
Would you therefore please advise the Commission as soon as possible once regulatory approval is received, and inform it of the effective date of the change. The Commission will then consider your request to change the station's call letters. Once a revised list is issued, it would of course be open to parties to challenge Turner Broadcasting's assertion that the change is, in fact, a change of name only.
Sincerely,
Cynthia Stockley
Director
Distribution Policy
Broadcasting
c.c.: Mr. Robert Buchan
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Barristers & Solicitors
Suite 1300
55 Metcalfe Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 6L5
Facsimile (613) 230-6423
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