ARCHIVED - Letter
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Ottawa, 13 February 2013
By E-mail: steve.grisim@miraclechannel.ca
Miracle Channel Association
CJIL-TV Lethbridge
450 – 31 Street North
Lethbridge, AB
T1H 3Z3
Attn: Steve Grisim, General Manager CJIL-TV
This letter is to inform you that the Commission has denied CJIL-TV’s request for an exception in the application of the formula for calculating its share of the Small Market Local Programming Fund (SMLPF).
With a view to providing some background to this issue, the following details are provided regarding CJIL-TV’s request and the Commission’s decision in this matter.
Background
As you are aware, the SMLPF is administered by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) and is disbursed as follows to Small Market Independent Television Stations (SMITS):
- 1/3 of the total amount disbursed is divided equally among the stations;
- 1/3 is distributed in proportion to each station’s percentage of total local programming expenditures calculated over the last five years; and
- 1/3 is calculated on the basis of a DTH impact analysis, which measures the impact of distant signals using BBM data (“DTH Impact”).
In May 2012, CJIL-TV was added to the list of stations eligible to receive support from the SMLPF (Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2012-285). In August 2012, Commission staff was made aware of issues CJIL-TV, the CAB and the Coalition of SMITS were having with respect to including CJIL-TV as a SMLPF recipient and, in particular, in the calculation of its share of the third part of the SMLPF relating to DTH Impact.
The above-noted parties attempted to resolve the issues themselves, but ultimately wrote to the Commission, in separate filings on 21 November 2012, indicating that they had been unable to resolve the issue. At that time, CJIL-TV requested that the Commission make an exception in the calculation of the component of the SMLPF relating to DTH impact. Specifically, in its request, CJIL-TV proposed the following three options: 1) use DTH penetration to allocate the portion of CJIL-TV’s share relating to DTH impact (rather than BBM data); 2) have the SMLPF pay CJIL-TV’s BBM fees, while applying the existing formula for DTH impact; or 3) allocate a fixed portion to CJIL-TV for this component of the SMLPF.
Comments on CJIL-TV’s request were submitted by the Coalition of SMITS on 14 December 2012 and reply comments by CJIL-TV on 21 December 2012.
Commission decision
After having considered CJIL-TV’s request and the various comments received, the Commission finds that an exception to the long-standing distribution formula for the SMLPF is not warranted.
The Commission considers CJIL-TV’s request to be inconsistent with the purpose of, and underlying rationale for the SMLPF. That is, the third component of the SMLPF was established to compensate local stations for the impact of loss of viewership to duplicated programming on distant signals distributed by DTH. This component of the distribution formula relies on BBM measurement, which is an industry standard for providing objective, reliable third party data on viewership. The Commission considers that, absent adequate evidence that this standard should not be applied, BBM measurement is an appropriate basis for determining DTH impact for the purposes of the SMLPF.
The Commission is also of the view that it would not be appropriate for SMLPF money to be used to pay some or all of the fees associated with BBM measurement.
Pursuant to this decision, CJIL-TV may therefore elect either to pay the fees necessary for BBM membership itself, in order to be eligible to receive a share of the DTH impact component of the SMLPF, or forgo this component altogether. In the event that CJIL-TV chooses not to become a BBM member and forgoes the DTH Impact component of the fund, CJIL-TV will still benefit from the first two components of the SMLPF, which will provide substantial new support for this service.
Sincerely,
original signed by
John Traversy
Secretary General
cc. Sylvie Bissonnette, Vice President, CAB, by email : SBissonnette@cab-acr.ca,
Rick Arnish, Chair, The Coalition of SMITS, by email: rarnish@jpbg.com.
Jeff Thiessen, Consultant for Miracle Channel, by email: jeff@sunburstproductions.ca
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