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Ottawa, 31 January 2014
John Meldrum
Vice-President
Corporate Counsel and Regulatory Affairs
SaskTel
13thFloor, 2121 Saskatchewan Drive
Regina, SK
S4P 3Y2
john.meldrum@sasktel.com
Dear Mr. Meldrum,
As you are aware, there are a number of misconceptions and a certain frustration among Canadian television viewers regarding simultaneous substitution. These are often expressed at this time of year—specifically, during the NFL playoffs and in the run up to the Super Bowl game.
The Broadcasting Distribution Regulations require that at the request of a rights holding local station, a distributor substitute the programming service of that local station over that of a non-Canadian television station.
Canadian broadcasters enjoy simultaneous substitution since it allows them to protect the rights of the programs they have acquired for broadcast in our country. Canadian distributors benefit by having a large quantity and diversity of content to distribute to their subscribers. In addition, simultaneous substitution contributes to the Canadian economy through the jobs created by broadcasters and advertisers, as well as the taxes paid by these companies and their employees.
As such, members of the broadcasting industry—both broadcasters and distributors—must share in the duty of ensuring that simultaneous substitution is done correctly. They must also share in the responsibility of explaining to Canadians the policy’s benefits and in correcting misinformation in the public sphere.
There is an important distinction to be made between authorizing broadcasters to substitute signals and forcing them to do so and the time has come for broadcasters and distributors to start speaking up on simultaneous substitution rather than simply passing blame onto the CRTC.
In an effort to ensure Canadians do not receive contradictory information from the CRTC and SaskTel it would be appreciated if you could remind your customer service representatives that broadcasters choose whether to substitute signals and that both the broadcaster and the distributor are responsible for the quality of the substitution.
I would also ask you to provide a report outlining the training your customer service representatives receive on this issue, as well as copies of fact sheets or other materials at their disposal.
This information will assist the CRTC in its ongoing monitoring of Canadians’ concerns regarding simultaneous substitution and other issues relating to their television system.
I thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
Original signed by
Scott Hutton
Executive Director, Broadcasting
CC: Robert Hersche
Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs
SaskTel
document.control@sasktel.com
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