ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2013-602

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Ottawa, 12 November 2013

Notice of hearing

22 November 2013
Various locations

Deadline for submission of interventions/comments/answers: 18 November 2013
Deadline for submission of replies: 19 November 2013

[Submit an intervention/comment/answer or view related documents]

The Commission will hold a hearing on 22 November 2013 at 12:30 p.m., at the Commission Headquarters, 1 Promenade du Portage, Gatineau, Quebec. The Commission intends to consider the following applications, subject to interventions, without the appearance of the parties:

Applicant/Licensee and Locality

1. Rogers Communications Inc., on behalf of Mountain Cablevision Limited and Fido Solutions Inc., to be partners in a general partnership carrying on business as Rogers Communications Partnership
Across Canada
Application 2013-1479-9

2. Cogeco Diffusion inc.
Lévis, Saint-Jérôme, Val-Morin, Mont-Tremblant, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke and Gatineau, Quebec
Application 2013-1417-9

1. Rogers Communications Inc., on behalf of Mountain Cablevision Limited and Fido Solutions Inc., to be partners in a general partnership carrying on business as Rogers Communications Partnership
Across Canada
Application 2013-1479-9

Application by Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI), on behalf of Mountain Cablevision Limited (Mountain) and Fido Solutions Inc. (Fido), to be partners in a general partnership carrying on business as Rogers Communications Partnership (collectively, the applicant), for authority to effect a corporate reorganization within the partnership.

The applicant is also requesting new broadcasting licences to continue the operation of the broadcasting undertakings set out below under the same terms and conditions as those in effect under the current licences.

RCI and Fido, partners in a general partnership carrying on business as Rogers Communications Partnership (RCP), are the current licensees of the terrestrial broadcasting distribution undertakings operated by RCP under regional licences serving various locations in Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador, of the national video-on-demand programming undertaking known as Rogers On Demand, and of both the national terrestrial and direct-to-home pay-per-view services known as Rogers Sportsnet.

Mountain is currently wholly owned by RCI.

The Commission notes that this corporate reorganization involves a change at the partner level of RCP, which consists of replacing RCI by Mountain as one of the licensed partners. Mountain and Fido will continue to be wholly owned by RCI.

For the purpose of compliance with the Direction to the CRTC (Ineligibility of Non-Canadians), the applicant has proposed the establishment of an Independent Programming Committee at the licensees’ level.

Applicant’s address:

333 Bloor Street East
Toronto, Ontario
M4W 1G9
Fax: 416-935-4818
Email: cable.regulatory@rci.rogers.com
Email to request electronic version of application: cable.regulatory@rci.rogers.com

2. Cogeco Diffusion inc.
Lévis, Saint-Jérôme, Val-Morin, Mont-Tremblant, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke and Gatineau, Quebec
Application 2013-1417-9

Application by Cogeco Diffusion inc., for authority to acquire, as part of a corporate reorganization, the assets of the radio stations CFOM-FM Lévis, CKOY-FM Sherbrooke, CKOB-FM Trois-Rivieres, CKOF-FM Gatineau, and CIME-FM Saint-Jérôme and its transmitters CIME-FM-1 Val-Morin and CIME-FM-2 Mont-Tremblant, from Cogeco Diffusion Acquisitions inc.

The applicant is also requesting new broadcasting licences to continue the operation of the stations under the same terms and conditions as those in effect under the current licences.

Cogeco Diffusion inc. is wholly owned by Cogeco Diffusion Acquisitions inc. which in turn is wholly owned by Cogeco inc.

Following the closing of the proposed transaction, Cogeco Diffusion inc. would become the licensee of the above-mentioned radio stations.

Applicant’s address:

800 de la Gauchetière Street West
Suite 1100
Montréal, Quebec
H5A 1M1
Fax: 514-874-0776
Email: mtl-telecom@cogeco.com
Email to request electronic version of application: mtl-telecom@cogeco.com

Procedure

Deadline for interventions, comments or answers

18 November 2013

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure, SOR/2010-277 (the Rules of Procedure), set out, among other things, the rules for content, format, filing and service of interventions and answers of respondents, the procedure for filing confidential information and requesting its disclosure, and the conduct of the public hearing. Accordingly, the procedure set out below must be read in conjunction with the Rules of Procedure and its accompanying documents, which can be found on the Commission’s website under “CRTC Rules of Practice and Procedure.”

An intervention or an answer from a respondent must be filed with the Commission and served on the applicant on or before the above-mentioned date. An answer from a respondent must also be served on any other respondent.

In accordance with the Rules of Procedure, a document must be filed with, not merely sent to, the Commission by 5 p.m. Vancouver time (8 p.m. Ottawa time) on the date it is due. The Commission takes no responsibility for postal delays and will not notify a party whose submission is received after the deadline date. Late submissions will not be considered by the Commission and will not be made part of the public file.

The applicant, respondents and interveners are permitted to coordinate, organize and file, in a single submission, interventions of other interested persons who share their position but do not wish to appear at the hearing as a “Joint Supporting Intervention.” More information on how to do so and a template for the covering letter to be filed by the parties can be found in Changes to certain practices for filing interventions – Expansion of filing practices to include the filing of joint supporting comments for broadcasting policy proceedings, Broadcasting Information Bulletin CRTC 2010-28-1, 10 December 2010.

Interventions and answers will be considered by the Commission and will form part of the public record of the proceeding without further notification to parties, provided the procedures set out in the Rules of Procedure and this notice have been followed. Parties will be contacted only if their submissions raise procedural questions.

Submissions must be filed by sending them to the Secretary General of the Commission by only one of the following means:

by using the
[Intervention/comment/answer form]

or

by mail to
CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2

or

by fax at
819-994-0218

A true copy of each intervention or answer from a respondent must be sent to the applicant and, in the case of a respondent to an application, to any other respondent.

The Commission advises those who file and serve by electronic mode to exercise caution when using e-mail for service of documents, as it may be difficult to establish that service has occurred.

Parties must ensure that, before initiating service through electronic mode, they will be able to satisfy the Commission, upon request, that service was completed. The sender must keep proof of the sending and the receipt of the document for 180 days after the day on which it is filed.

Submissions longer than five pages should include a summary.

Each paragraph of the submission should be numbered. In addition, where the intervention 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 altered during electronic transmission.

Interventions and answers must clearly identify the application referred to and indicate whether parties support or oppose the application, or, if they propose changes to it, include the facts and grounds for their proposal.

In the event that an application to be considered during the non-appearing phase of the hearing is brought to an oral phase of the hearing, and if parties wish to appear, they must provide reasons why their written interventions or answers are not sufficient and why an appearance is necessary. Parties requiring communication support must state their request on the first page of their intervention. Only those parties whose requests to appear have been granted will be contacted by the Commission and invited to appear at the public hearing.

Persons requiring communications support such as assistance listening devices and sign language interpretation are requested to inform the Commission at least twenty (20) days before the commencement of the public hearing so that the necessary arrangements can be made.

Important notice

All information that parties provide as part of this public process, except information designated confidential, 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.

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.

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.

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.

The Commission encourages parties and interested persons to monitor the record of the proceeding, available on the Commission’s website, for additional information that they may find useful when preparing their submissions.

Examination of documents

An electronic version of the applications is available on the Commission’s website by selecting the application number within this notice. It is also available from the applicants, either on their websites or upon request by contacting the applicants at their email addresses, provided above.

A list of all interventions and answers will also be available on the Commission’s website. The list is accessible by selecting “View all proceedings open for comment” from the “Public Proceedings” section of the Commission’s website and clicking on the “Interventions/Answers” link associated with this notice.

Documents are also available during normal office hours at the Commission offices and documentation centres directly involved with these applications, or, upon request, within two (2) working days, at any other Commission offices and documentation centres.

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

Nova Scotia

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

Quebec

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

Ontario

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

Manitoba

360 Main Street
Suite 970
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3C 3Z3
Tel.: 204-983-6306
Fax: 204-983-6317

Saskatchewan

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

Alberta

100 – 4^th Avenue South-West
Suite 403
Calgary, Alberta
T2P 3N2
Tel.: 403-292-6660
Fax: 403-292-6686

British Columbia

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

Secretary General

Date modified:

2013-11-12