ARCHIVED -  Letter

Sent by E-Mail: bell.regulatory@bell.ca

Mr. Mirko Bibic
Chief Legal & Regulatory Officer
and Executive Vice President
Bell Canada
160 Elgin Street, Floor 19
Ottawa, ON K2P 2C4

Dear sir,

Subject: Request for Information further to your intervention submitted in response to Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2013-19 - Applications for mandatory distribution on cable and satellite distribution systems pursuant to section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act and applications for the licence renewal of independent conventional, pay and specialty television services

Further to the intervention you have submitted to the Commission in response to Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2013-19, please respond to the following question and file your response with the Commission by no later than 7 May 2013.

1. Please have reference to paragraphs 7675-7692 of the hearing transcript of 29 April 2013 from the above-noted proceeding (copy attached). In particular, please take note of the commitment made by Shaw Communications Inc. to distribute the service operated by the Legislative Assemblies of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories (without a fee) on a direct-to-home basis.

Is Bell ExpressVu similarly willing to commit to the distribution of the service operated by the Legislative Assemblies of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories (without a fee) on a direct-to-home basis in these two territories?

Please repeat the above question in your reply.

Please note also that this letter and all information that you provide, except information which has been designated as confidential, will be added to the publicly accessible record of the public hearing.

Best regards,

Original signed by

Pierre-Marc Perreault
Public Hearing Manager – 23 April 2013 Public Hearing

c.c John Quirke jquirke@assembly.nu.ca
Brian Thagard brian_thagard@gov.nt.ca

Attachment

Transcript of Proceeding
Volume 5, 29 April 2013
TRANSCRIPTION OF PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE CANADIAN RADIO-TELEVISION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
SUBJECT:
Applications for mandatory distribution on cable and satellite distribution systems pursuant to section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act and applications for the licence renewal of independent conventional, pay and specialty television services
HELD AT:
Outaouais Room
Conference Centre
140 Promenade du Portage
Gatineau, Quebec
29 April 2013

Transcription
In order to meet the requirements of the Official Languages Act, transcripts of proceedings before the Commission will be bilingual as to their covers, the listing of the CRTC members and staff attending the public hearings, and the Table of Contents.
However, the aforementioned publication is the recorded verbatim transcript and, as such, is taped and transcribed in either of the official languages, depending on the language spoken by the participant at the public hearing.

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
Transcription
Applications for mandatory distribution on cable and satellite distribution systems pursuant to section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act and applications for the licence renewal of independent conventional, pay and specialty television services

Excerpt

7675 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: I have a question.
7676 THE CHAIRPERSON: Oh, sorry. Sorry. Commissioner Molnar has a question for you.
7677 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Thank you. Good morning. I just have actually a quick question. I want to clarify something you said in your statement here.
7678 Speaking of the request by the Legislatures of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, you say on page 4 that:
"Given the capacity that will be made available on Anik G1, Shaw Direct is open to working with the applicant to discuss distribution."
7679 Tell me exactly what you mean by that?
7680 MR. MEHR: Certainly we have a strong view that Legislative services, in general terms, are not required as an 9(1)(h) service or basic carriage, and there are lots available and communications means either the Internet and others that keep the electorate fully-informed.
7681 We are quite open that the service in those communities is always different, for a number of reasons, one is Internet service is different and there is all kinds of cultural pieces. So we think, as a service made available on Shaw Direct, that it may well make business sense for us to do so, and so I think with the capacity that we have on Anik G1, we will certainly reach out and try and carry that service on Shaw Direct.
7682 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Okay. I want to understand better what you just said.
7683 MR. MEHR: Okay.
7684 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: You will reach out and try and carry that service. So, we would leave here with no commitment that you will carry this service, you will reach out and try.
7685 I mean, they were here and said that they sent you a letter in 2011 and they have had no response. So, absent us mandating this, what kind of assurance would we have that you would reach out and more than try, that you would reach a solution to carry this service?
7686 MR. MEHR: Sure. That's an excellent question. Give me 12 seconds.

Pause

7687 MR. MEHR: Based on our understanding of the business model, which is without a network fee, we are prepared to launch the service on our direct-to-home basis.
7688 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Thank you very much.
7689 MR. BRAZEAU: We will be responding to their letters.
7690 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: And you will cc us where it says, "We will carry your service"?
Undertaking
7691 MR. BRAZEAU: cc for sure.
7692 COMMISSIONER MOLNAR: Thank you very much. Those are my questions.

End of Document

Date modified:

2013-05-03