ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2010-450

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Route reference: 2010-72  

Ottawa, 2 July 2010 

Jay Switzer, on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated
Across Canada

Application 2009-1548-1, received 12 November 2009

Public Hearing in the National Capital Region
14 April 2010

Adventure – Category 2 specialty service

The Commission approves an application for a broadcasting licence to operate a new Category 2 specialty programming undertaking.

The application

1.      Jay Switzer (the applicant), on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated (Jay Switzer (OBCI)), filed an application for a broadcasting licence to provide Adventure, a national, English‑language Category 2 specialty service that would cover the entire genre of action and adventure, including selections from crime fiction, and epic and heroic drama. Programming would consist of contemporary action and adventure films and series, mini-series, made-for-television movies, classic films, and occasional magazine-style shows focusing on this genre and its stars. The programming would provided in high definition format.

2.      The applicant indicated that no more than 25% of all programming broadcast during the broadcast week would be based on science fiction or fantasy themes.

 

3.      Jay Switzer (OBCI) will be controlled by its majority shareholder, Mr. Jay Switzer.

Interventions

4.      The Commission received two interventions opposing this application; one from CTVglobemedia Inc. (CTVgm) and one from an individual. These interventions, as well as the applicant’s reply, are available on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca under “Public Proceedings.”

 

5.      CTVgm is the licensee of Space: The Imagination Station (Space), a national analog specialty television service providing programming related to science fiction, science fact, speculative science, technology and fantasy. CTVgm stated that it is not opposed in general to the licensing of an undertaking of the type proposed by the applicant. However, it opposed this particular application because the applicant has proposed programming with science fiction or fantasy themes. CTVgm submitted that such programming would go beyond Adventure’s proposed nature of service and would compete with Space, even though the applicant had proposed to limit the broadcast of programs based on science fiction or fantasy themes to 25% of the broadcast week.

 

6.      The individual opposed the application on the basis that the number of services devoted to men, women, action, adventure or romance offered in the market is sufficient to respond to the demand.

 

7.      In reply, Jay Switzer noted that the proposed nature of service is well-defined and based on a broad genre that is “action and adventure” of which science fiction and fantasy programming constitutes only a subset. As the vast predominance of the programming aired on Adventure would not fall within the science fiction or fantasy sub-genres, the applicant asserted that there was nothing inherent to the proposed service that would make it directly competitive with Space. The applicant added that it has no intention of devoting close to 25% of its weekly schedule to science fiction or fantasy programming.

 

8.      Jay Switzer considered that the intervention from the individual did not apply to this application and did not address the issue that the intervener raised.

Commission’s analysis and determinations

9.      After considering the positions of the applicant and the interveners, the Commission finds that the issue to be determined in its evaluation of this application relates to whether the proposed service would be directly competitive with existing Category 1 or analog pay or specialty services.

 

10.  The Commission is satisfied with the applicant’s reply to CTVgm’s intervention and finds that based on the proposed nature of service and the categories from which the programming will be drawn, the proposed service corresponds to the definition of niche programming linked to a specific genre, namely action and adventure. The Commission considers, as submitted by the applicant, that although science fiction and fantasy pertain to the genre of action and adventure, this genre is broad enough, in essence, to cover various other subsets. Given that the applicant proposed to devote no more than 25% of the broadcast week to programs based on the subset of science fiction and fantasy themes, and given that similar category 2 services with identical limitations on science fiction and fantasy have been approved in the past, the Commission is satisfied that the proposed service would not overlap with Space’s nature or service and would not directly compete with Space, nor with any other existing Category 1 or analog pay or specialty service.

 

11.  The Commission reminds the applicant that all programming aired by Adventure must be consistent with its nature of service as defined in its conditions of licence.

Conclusion 

12.  The Commission is satisfied that the application complies with the framework set out in Public Notice 2000-6, and with all applicable terms and conditions announced in Public Notice 2000-171-1. Accordingly, the Commission approves the application by Jay Switzer, on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated, for a broadcasting licence to operate the national, English-language Category 2 specialty programming undertaking Adventure. The terms and conditions of license are set out in the appendix to this decision.

Reminder

13.  The Commission reminds the applicant that the distribution of this service is subject to the applicable distribution rules set out in Broadcasting Public Notice 2008-100.

 

Secretary General

 

Related documents

 

• Regulatory frameworks for broadcasting distribution undertakings and discretionary programming services – Regulatory policy, Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2008-100, 30 October 2008
  
  
• Introductory statement – Licensing of new digital pay and specialty services – Corrected Appendix 2, Public Notice CRTC 2000-171-1, 6 March 2001

 

Licensing framework policy for new digital pay and specialty services, Public Notice CRTC 2000-6, 13 January 2000

*This decision is to be appended to the licence.