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Ottawa, 1 March 2013
Our reference: Files # 598934, 599373 and 604420
Mr. Paul Robertson
President
Shaw Media
121 Bloor St. E.,
Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3M5
paul.robertson@sjrb.ca
Re: 3 Complaints regarding the loudness of TV commercial messages;
And the Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2012-273
Mr. Robertson:
This letter is regarding your company’s regulatory obligations relative to the loudness of commercial messages.
As you are aware, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission received a number of complaints regarding inconsistent audio between programming and commercial messages, as detailed in the Appendix herein.
Prior to the Commission receiving these complaints, Shaw Media, pursuant to Broadcasting Information Bulletin CRTC 2012-471, filed a report with the Commission demonstrating its compliance with Shaw Media’s regulatory obligations regarding the loudness of commercials. However, despite assurance in its report that it performs real-time correction of commercials before content leaves Shaw Media’s broadcast facility, the Commission has continued to receive a number of complaints related to this issue.
In response to viewer complaints, Shaw Media acknowledged that programming acquired before the new regulations came into force (i.e. legacy content) was the cause of non-compliance in relation to these complaints. Further, in response to the complaints and in its compliance report dated 15 October 2012, Shaw Media states that it is in the process of analysing and modifying legacy content in its servers, and that Shaw Media expects this process to be completed within the coming months.
Consequently, the above noted files were transferred to the Compliance and Enforcement Sector on February 8th, 2013. After review of these files, the Compliance and Enforcement Sector considers that your company’s report and responses to complainants are unsatisfactory. Also, the Compliance and Enforcement Sector requests that Shaw Media provide the Commission with a description of the steps taken to ensure making all its legacy content compliant with the Regulations. The description must include details on the quantity of legacy content that requires adjustment, the time frame at which the legacy content will be processed to regulatory standards, and the date at which all legacy content will be compliant with ATSC A/85.
I look forward to your response by 12:00pm, Monday, March 18, 2013.
Address all communication, including any questions you may have with respect to the above, to Lynne M. Perrault by e-mail at lynne.m.perrault@crtc.gc.ca.
Sincerely,
Andrea Rosen
Chief Compliance and Enforcement Officer
Appendix- Details of the complaints involving Shaw Media
regarding the loudness of TV commercial messages
The complaints discussed in the letter above are the following:
1) Complaint submitted to the CRTC November 16, 2012 (CRTC case ID # 598934)
Loudness of TV commercial messages during the program “Cops”, broadcast on November 16, 2012 (12:00 AM) on Action;
2) Complaint submitted to the CRTC November 22, 2012 (CRTC case ID # 599373)
Loudness of TV commercial messages during “Entertainment Tonight” and “ET Canada”, broadcast on November 22, 2012 (7:00 PM) on CHAN-TV;
3) Complaint submitted to the CRTC January 7, 2013 (CRTC case ID # 604420)
Loudness of TV commercial messages during the program “Drug Inc.” and “Museum Secrets”, broadcast on January 7, 2013 (from 10:00 PM to 11:22 PM) on the National Geographic Channel.
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