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Sent by email : gofarrell@tfo.org

Please acknowledge receipt of this letter by return e-mail.

Ottawa, 26 June 2012

Mr. Glenn O’Farrell
President and Chief Operation Officer
Ontario French Language Educational Communications Authority
21 College Street – CP 3005 succ. F
ON, MA4 2M5

Re: Request of Ontario French Language Educational Communications Authority with respect to decommissioning of the analog television rebroadcasting transmitters in the province of Ontario (application 2012-0739-0)

Dear Mr. O’Farrell,

In order to process the application for the decommissioning of analog rebroadcasting transmitters owned or used by Ontario French Language Educational Communications Authority (known as TFO), the Commission requires the following information:

In its application for a modification of licence, item 1.5, TFO requests the removal of the following call signs: CHLF-TV-1, CHLF-TV-2, CHLF-TV-6 and CHLF-TV-13 presently used to broadcast, in whole or in part TFO signal.

1. Please provide a list of the communities that will be impacted by this application with an estimate of the population and the number of households located within the regional service contour. Where applicable, please include the same information for the official language minority communities (OLMCs) that would be affected by the withdrawal of TFO’s analog signal.
2. Does TFO have estimates as to how many people in the areas currently served by the transmitters that would lose the signal due to the fact that they do not subscribe to a service provided by a broadcasting distribution undertaking (BDU)?
3. Please provide, for a 3-year horizon following the shutting down of the transmitters listed in the application, the forecasted annual impact on TFO’s revenues along with the underlying assumptions.
4. Please provide the annual operating or rental cost of each transmitter targeted for shutdown (such as maintenance/repair costs) and provide a breakdown of such costs. Please comment on the remaining life expectancy of the transmitters targeted for shutdown.
5. Please describe the potential impact to BDUs of the proposed change (e.g., increased signal transport costs), if approved. Further, please describe how exempt systems will receive the TFO signals, including associated costs.
6. Does TFO plan to undertake an information campaign for Canadians residing in the affected markets? If so, describe the campaign, including any portion to be undertaken in conjunction with OLMCs , and specify the start date and the duration. Has TFO consulted regarding an information campaign for OLMCs? Have consultations taken place with OLMCs? If so, what were the results of these consultations? If not, will consultations take place, and when?
7. Describe any alternative solutions that were considered and those that are being undertaken to maintain a similar television service in the areas currently served by the transmitters listed in schedule 1 of the application. For example, are there plans or discussions with Shaw Communications Inc. (Shaw) on the possibility of using the “local television satellite solution” (Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2010-782) to continue to serve affected communities, including OLMCs? If not, please comment on this alternative and indicate whether TFO intends to have discussions with Shaw regarding it.

Please take note that the new intervention and reply deadlines for this process are as follows:

Please submit your responses to the above questions by no later 3 July 2012 using the Access Key system with a copy to me at Frédéric.janelle@crtc.gc.ca. Please include the above questions in your response. Please note that this letter, along with TFO’s responses , will eventually be added to the public file.

Best regards,

Original signed by

Frédéric B. Janelle
Senior Analyst
French Programming

Date modified:

2012-06-26