ARCHIVED - Letter

VIA EMAIL: sylvie.courtemanche@corusent.com

Sylvie Courtemanche
Vice President and Associate General Counsel
Corus Entertainment Inc.
25 Dockside Drive
Toronto, ON
M5A 0B5

Re:      Application 2014-0095-2 – TELETOON/TÉLÉTOON, TELETOON Retro, TÉLÉTOON Rétro and Cartoon Network – Change of effective control; TELETOON/TÉLÉTOON, TELETOON Retro and TÉLÉTOON Rétro – Licence renewal and amendment,Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2013-737, 20 December 2013: Licence amendments for various television programming undertakings – Approved

Mrs. Courtemanche:

In Broadcasting Decision 2013-737, the Commission conditionally approved the acquisition of certain television programming undertakings by Corus Entertainment Inc. (Corus). By virtue of condition of approval set out in paragraph 132 of that decision, Corus, on behalf of the licensees of all of its television programming undertakings (the undertakings), was to file an application with the Commission in order to add the conditions of licence and encouragement set out in Appendix 2 to that decision. That application was received 30 January 2014.

The Commission hereby approves the application to amend the broadcasting licences for the undertakings set out in the appendix to this letter in order to add the following conditions of licence and encouragement:

1. The licensee shall not:
2. require an unreasonable rate (e.g., not based on fair market value);
3. require a party that it is contracting to accept terms or conditions for the distribution of programming on a traditional or ancillary platform that are commercially unreasonable;
4. require an excessive activation fee or minimum subscription guarantee; or
5. impose, on an independent party, a most favoured nation clause or any other condition that imposes obligations on that independent party by virtue of a vertically integrated entity or an affiliate thereof entering into an agreement with any vertically integrated entity or any affiliate thereof, including its own.
6. When negotiating a wholesale rate for a programming service based on fair market value, the licensee shall take into consideration the following factors:
7. historical rates;
8. penetration levels and volume discounts;
9. the packaging of the service;
10. rates paid by unaffiliated broadcasting distribution undertakings for the programming service;
11. rates paid for programming services of similar value to consumers;
12. the number of subscribers that subscribe to a package in part or in whole due to the inclusion of the programming service in that package;
13. the retail rate charged for the service on a stand-alone basis; and
14. the retail rate for any packages in which the service is included.
15. The licensee shall file with the Commission all affiliation agreements to which it is a party with a television programming undertaking or broadcasting distribution undertaking within five days following the execution of the agreement by the parties.
16. If the licensee has not renewed an affiliation agreement to which it is a party with a licensed or exempt Canadian television programming undertaking or Canadian broadcasting distribution undertaking within the 120 days preceding the expiry date of the agreement, and if the other contracting party has confirmed its intention to renew the agreement, the licensee shall refer the matter to the Commission for dispute resolution under sections 12 to 15 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations.
17. The licensee shall not:
18. require minimum penetration or revenue levels that force distribution of a service on the basic tier or in a package that is inconsistent with the service’s theme or price point;
19. refuse to make programming services available on a stand-alone basis (i.e., requiring the acquisition of a program or service in order to obtain another program or service); or
20. impose terms that prevent an unrelated distributor from providing a differentiated offer to consumers
21. The licensee shall not refuse to make available or condition the availability of or carriage terms for any of its licensed programming services to any broadcast distribution undertaking (BDU) on whether that BDU agrees to carry any other separately licensed programming service, provided that this condition does not prevent or limit the right or ability of the licensee to offer BDUs multiservice or other discounts, promotions, rebates or similar programs.
22. The licensee shall not include or enforce any provision in or in connection with an affiliation agreement that is designed to prevent, or is designed to create incentives that would effectively prevent, another programming undertaking or broadcasting distribution undertaking from launching or distributing another licensed programming service.
23. The licensee shall negotiate with broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) for non-linear multiplatform rights to the content broadcast on the licensee’s programming service at the same time as linear rights for its programming service and provide those rights to BDUs on a timely basis and on commercially reasonable terms. For certainty, nothing in this condition of licence shall prevent or otherwise restrict the licensee from requesting compensation in exchange for making such non-linear rights available to BDUs.
24. The licensee shall provide a minimum of 90 days written notice of the impending launch of a new programming service to all broadcasting distribution undertakings. Such notice will be accompanied by an offer which sets out the general terms of carriage of the programming service to be launched.
25. The licensee shall adhere to a terms of trade agreement with the Canadian Media Production Association for English-language services.
26. For French-language services, the licensee shall enter into a terms of trade agreement with the Association québécoise de la production médiatique as soon as possible and in any event no later than 20 December 2014. Until the terms of trade agreement is concluded, the licensee must file with the Commission monthly detailed progress reports on the negotiations.
27. The licensee shall enter into good faith terms of trade negotiations with the Alliance des producteurs francophones du Canada and shall report regularly to the Commission on its progress in this regard.

All letters of approval issued by the Commission are made available upon request for public examination at the Commission's central and regional offices. The Commission also requires that this letter be appended to the broadcasting licences for the undertakings set out in the appendix to this letter.

Sincerely,

Original signed by John Traversy

Secretary General

  Appendix

List of television programming undertakings owned by Corus Entertainment Inc. that will be subject to the conditions of licence and encouragement set out in Appendix 2 to TELETOON/TÉLÉTOON, TELETOON Retro, TÉLÉTOON Rétro and Cartoon Network – Change of effective control; TELETOON/TÉLÉTOON, TELETOON Retro and TÉLÉTOON Rétro – Licence renewal and amendment,Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2013-737, 20 December 2013

1. ABC Spark
2. Cartoon Network
3. CKWS-TV (Kingston) and CHEX-TV (Peterborough)
4. CMT (Canada)
5. Cosmopolitan TV
6. Encore Avenue
7. Eur-Asian Television Network
8. EuroWorld SPORT
9. Mediaset Italia
10. Movie Central
11. Nickelodeon (Canada)
12. OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network (Canada)
13. Sky TG 24 Canada
14. Soccer Television
15. Sundance Channel (Canada)
16. Telebimbi
17. Telelatino (TLN)
18. TeleNiños
19. The Canadian Sportsmen Channel
20. Treehouse
21. Univision Canada
22. W Movies
23. W Network
24. YTV

Date modified:

2014-05-23