ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2010-911

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Additional reference: Broadcasting Public Notice 2004-92

Ottawa, 6 December 2010

Call for comments on an amendment to the Exemption order for low-power radio programming undertakings providing information about traffic, weather conditions, highway construction and closures, conditions on bridges and in mountain passes, and information, broadcast without consideration, relating to attractions of interest to tourists

The Commission calls for comments on an amendment to the Exemption order for low-power radio programming undertakings providing information about traffic, weather conditions, highway construction and closures, conditions on bridges and in mountain passes, and information, broadcast without consideration, relating to attractions of interest to tourists (the Exemption order). Specifically, the Commission proposes to modify criterion 3 of the Exemption order in order to allow provincial and municipal governments to operate an undertaking subject to the Exemption order.

The Commission will accept comments from interested parties that it received on or before 13 January 2011.

Background

1.      Section 9(4) of the Broadcasting Act (the Act) specifies that the Commission shall exempt persons who carry on broadcasting undertakings of any class from any or all of the requirements of Part II of the Act or of a regulation made thereunder where it is satisfied that compliance with those requirements will not contribute in a material manner to the implementation of the broadcasting policy for Canada set out in the Act.

2.      In the appendix to Broadcasting Public Notice 2004-92, the Commission set out the Exemption order for low-power radio programming undertakings providing information about traffic, weather conditions, highway construction and closures, conditions on bridges and in mountain passes, and information, broadcast without consideration, relating to attractions of interest to tourists (the Exemption order). As specified in the Exemption order, the undertakings that are exempt are those low-power radio programming undertakings that provide live or pre-recorded messages containing the above-noted information and that meet certain other criteria set out in the Exemption order. Among those criteria is the following:

3. 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 direction to the Commission by the Governor in Council.

3.      As a result of that criterion, the Exemption order does not apply to undertakings that the Commission would be prohibited from licensing pursuant to an Act of Parliament or a direction to the Commission by the Governor in Council. The Commission further notes that, pursuant to Direction to the CRTC (Ineligibility to Hold Broadcasting Licences), the Commission is prohibited from licensing broadcasting undertakings operated by a provincial government, an agent of a provincial government, and municipal governments, subject to certain exceptions. As a result, provincial and municipal governments are not permitted to operate the type of undertakings covered by the Exemption order, although they may have an interest in providing the public with the type of information broadcast by such undertakings.

4.      In Public Notice 1996-59, the Commission stated that it would conduct a periodic review of exemption orders at intervals of between five and seven years. Noting that the Exemption order was last reviewed in 2004, the Commission considers that it may be appropriate to revise the Exemption order so that it allows provincial and municipal governments to operate low-power radio programming undertakings that provide live or pre-recorded messages about traffic, weather conditions, highway construction and closures, conditions on bridges and in mountain passes, and information, broadcast without consideration, relating to attractions of interest to tourists.

5.      The Commission notes that it is not its intention for the Exemption order to cover any undertaking that the Commission would be prohibited from licensing pursuant to Direction to the CRTC (Ineligibility of Non-Canadians).

Call for comments

6.      In light of the above, the Commission proposes to replace criterion 3 of the Exemption order with the following (change in bold):

3. The Commission would not be prohibited from licensing the undertaking by virtue of the Direction to the CRTC (Ineligibility of Non-Canadians).

7.      The Commission calls for comments on the amendment to the Exemption order (the full text of the revised Exemption order, including the amendment, is set out in the appendix to the present notice of consultation). It will accept comments that it receives on or before 13 January 2011. The Commission cannot be held responsible for postal delays and will not notify a party whose comment is received after the deadline date. The comment will not be considered by the Commission and will not be part of the public file.

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

Procedures for filing comments

9.      Interested parties can file their comments to the Secretary General of the Commission:

by using the
[Broadcasting interventions/comments form]

OR

by mail to
CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2

OR

by fax at
(819) 994-0218

10.  Submissions longer than five pages should include a summary. 

11.  Each paragraph of the submission should be numbered. In addition, where the comment is filed by electronic means, the line ***End of document*** should be entered following the last paragraph of the document, as an indication that the document has not been damaged during electronic transmission. 

Important notice

12.  All information that parties provide as part of this public process, except information granted confidentiality, whether sent by postal mail, facsimile, e-mail or through the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca, becomes part of a publicly accessible file and will be posted on the Commission’s website. This information includes personal information, such as full names, e-mail addresses, postal/street addresses, telephone and facsimile numbers, and any other personal information parties provide.

13.  The personal information that parties provide will be used and may be disclosed for the purpose for which the information was obtained or compiled by the Commission, or for a use consistent with that purpose.

14.  Documents received electronically or otherwise will be put on the Commission’s website in their entirety exactly as received, including any personal information contained therein, in the official language and format in which they are received. Documents not received electronically will be available in PDF format.

15.  The information that parties provide to the Commission as part of this public process is entered into an unsearchable database dedicated to this specific public process. This database is accessible only from the web page of this particular public process. As a result, a general search of the Commission’s website with the help of either its own search engine or a third-party search engine will not provide access to the information that was provided as part of this public process.

16.  The Commission encourages interested parties to monitor the public examination file and the Commission’s website for additional information that they may find useful when preparing their comments.

Examination of documents

17.  A list of all comments will also be available on the Commission’s website. An electronic version of all comments submitted will be accessible from this list. To access the list, select “Lists of interventions/comments” under “Public Proceedings” from the Commission’s website.

18.  The public may examine public comments and related documents at the following Commission offices during normal business hours.

Location of Commission offices

Toll-free telephone: 1-877-249-2782
Toll-free TDD: 1-877-909-2782

Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
Central Building
1 Promenade du Portage, Room 206
Gatineau, Quebec
J8X 4B1
Tel.: 819-997-2429
Fax: 819-994-0218

Regional offices

Metropolitan Place
99 Wyse Road
Suite 1410
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
B3A 4S5
Tel.: 902-426-7997
Fax: 902-426-2721

205 Viger Avenue West
Suite 504
Montréal, Quebec
H2Z 1G2
Tel.: 514-283-6607

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

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

2220 – 12^th Avenue
Suite 620
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4P 0M8
Tel.: 306-780-3422

10405 Jasper Avenue
Suite 520
Edmonton, Alberta
T5J 3N4
Tel.: 780-495-3224

858 Beatty Street
Suite 290
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6B 1C1
Tel.: 604-666-2111
Fax: 604-666-8322

Secretary General

Related documents

• Exemption order respecting a class of low-power radio programming undertakings, Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2004-92, 26 November 2004

• Policy regarding the use of exemption orders, Public Notice CRTC 1996-59, 26 April 1996