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Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2008-28 |
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Ottawa, 9 April 2008 |
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Regulatory policy |
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Addition of France 24 (English) and France 24 (French) to the lists of eligible satellite services for distribution on a digital basis |
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The Commission approves a request to add France 24 (English) and France 24 (French) to the Revised list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution for distribution on a digital basis and amends the lists of eligible satellite services accordingly. The revised lists are available on the Commission's website at www.crtc.gc.ca under "Industries at a Glance." |
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Introduction |
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The Commission received a request dated 22 October 2007 from Videotron Ltd. (Videotron) for the addition of France 24 (English), a non-Canadian English-language satellite service, and France 24 (French), a non-Canadian French-language satellite service, to the lists of eligible satellite services for distribution on a digital basis (the digital lists). |
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Videotron described the services as news channels that operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and that report on international news with a specifically French perspective. Both services offer identical programming schedules and make use of the same news, images, subjects and reports. According to France 24, the services' programming schedules, which are dedicated exclusively to world news, focus primarily on current affairs, economy, culture, sports and weather and broadcast news bulletins, news programs, current affairs reports and talk shows. |
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In Broadcasting Public Notice 2007-136, the Commission called for comments on the proposed addition of France 24 (English) and France 24 (French) to the digital lists. |
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The Commission received one comment in support of Videotron's request. |
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Commission's analysis and determinations |
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The Commission's approach to the addition of English- and French-language non-Canadian services is set out in Public Notice 2000-173. Under this approach, proposals for the inclusion of a non-Canadian service on the lists are assessed in the context of the Commission's policy, which generally precludes the addition of new non-Canadian satellite services if the Commission determines them to be either totally or partially competitive with Canadian specialty or pay television services, including all specialty and pay television programming undertakings whose licence applications have been approved by the Commission. |
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The Commission uses a case-by-case approach to determine whether or not a non-Canadian service proposed for addition to the lists would be competitive with an authorized Canadian service. Factors considered by the Commission in its assessment of the competitiveness of a non-Canadian service include the nature of the service, its language of operation, the genres of programming provided by the Canadian services with which it might compete, and the target audience. The Commission also considers relevant the extent to which a proposed non-Canadian service may be a program supplier for an authorized Canadian service. |
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The Commission assesses the factors noted above in order to determine the amount of overlap between the sponsored non-Canadian service and the relevant Canadian services and thus the extent to which the non-Canadian service might compete with the Canadian services. The more significant the overlap, the more likely it is that the non-Canadian service will be found to be competitive with the Canadian services. |
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In Broadcasting Public Notice 2007-136, the Commission stated that it would rely primarily on the comments filed to identify the Canadian pay and specialty services with which France 24 (English) and France 24 (French) might be totally or partially competitive and which therefore should be included in the assessment of the competitiveness of the service. The Commission asked that parties wishing to argue that France 24 (English) and France 24 (French) would be competitive name the specific Canadian pay or specialty service(s) with which they considered the service would compete and provide details on the nature and genre of the services, programming schedule, programming sources and supply, and target audience. |
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In the present case, the Commission notes that it has received only one comment and that this comment is in support of the addition of France 24 (English) and France 24 (French) to the digital lists. |
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In light of the above, the Commission approves the addition of France 24 (English) and France 24 (French) to the digital lists and amends the Revised list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution accordingly. The lists of eligible satellite services are available on the Commission's website at www.crtc.gc.ca under "Industries at a Glance" and may be obtained in hard copy on request. |
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Secretary General |
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Related documents |
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- Call for comments on the proposed addition of France 24 (English) and France 24 (French) to the lists of eligible satellite services for distribution on a digital basis, Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2007-136, 7 December 2007
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- Call for proposals to amend the lists of eligible satellite services through the inclusion of additional non-Canadian services eligible for distribution on a digital basis only, Public Notice CRTC 2000-173, 14 December 2000
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This document is available in alternative format upon request and may also be examined in PDF format or in HTML at the following Internet site: http://www.crtc.gc.ca. |