ARCHIVED - Letter
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Ottawa, 28 November 2012
Our reference: File # 1797759
Mrs. Susan Wheeler,
Vice President, Regulatory Affairs
ROGERS Communications Inc.
333 Bloor Street East
Toronto, Ontario, M4W 1G9
susan.wheeler@rci.rogers.com
Re: 8 Complaints regarding the loudness of TV commercial messages during the NFL Football Game program broadcasted on 9 September 2012 (from 1:00 PM to 6:30 PM) on City-TV channel (CRTC case ID # 590027, 590033, 590035, 590036, 590038, 590039, 590040 and 590306);
And the Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2012-273 (“the regulatory obligations”)
Dear Mrs. Wheeler:
As you are aware, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission received a number of complaints regarding inconsistent audio between programming and commercial messages on September 9th, 2012 as cited above. The CRTC acknowledges Rogers Media’s response of October 15th, 2012 to complainants in which it indicated that its programming was not compliant with the regulatory obligations related to loudness and described the corrective measures taken to address this issue.
Due to the lack of detail in Rogers Media’s response, the above noted file was transferred to the Compliance and Enforcement Sector on November 19th, 2012. The Compliance and Enforcement Sector is currently in the process of reviewing the above noted file.
We note that in your letter dated October 15th, 2012, Rogers Media undertook to implement certain corrective measures to address both the human and technology issues identified which you state is the cause of the non-compliance with Rogers’ regulatory obligations in the above noted instance of inconsistent audio levels between the programming and commercials messages.
Despite these assurances regarding the above complaints, the CRTC is now in receipt of new complaints about Rogers Media regarding similar loudness issues. The following CRTC cases ID: 594158 and 598670 have been forwarded to you for reply.
As such, it will be necessary for Rogers Media to confirm that it is in compliance with its’ regulatory obligations. Furthermore, in order to minimize the risk of future non-compliance, please provide the CRTC with:
1) A copy of the new operational procedures you have developed, their manner of conveyance to staff and implementation;
2) A description of steps taken to mitigate the risk of non-compliance with these new operational procedures by staff. Please include steps to address the verification and adjustment of the audio feed, or any other kinds of human error concerns that you may reasonably consider as a potential cause of non-compliance with your regulatory obligations;
3) A description of steps taken to improve the detection of equipment malfunction or software upgrade requirements, regarding equipment that automatically adjusts audio levels before leaving the broadcasting facility, or any other kinds of technology concerns that you may reasonably consider as a potential cause of non-compliance with your regulatory obligations.
I look forward to your response by 12:00pm, Wednesday, December 12th, 2012.
Yours sincerely,
Lynne M. Perrault
Acting for the Chief Compliance & Enforcement Officer
Compliance & Enforcement Sector
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