ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Procedural Letter Addressed to Dean Shaikh (Shaw Media)
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Ottawa, 11 September 2015
By email
Dean.shaikh@sjrb.ca
Dear Mr. Shaikh,
Re: Application 2015-1061-0 to amend the nature of service conditions of licence for BC News 1
On 1 September 2015, Shaw Media (Shaw) applied to amend the nature of service conditions of licence relating to 19 of its services, including those of BC News 1.
Currently, the nature of service for BC News 1 states that:
The licensee shall provide a regional, English-language specialty Category B service that will offer a mix of local and regional news, traffic, weather, business, sports and entertainment information devoted to serving residents of British Columbia, with a special focus on the Vancouver/Victoria Extended Market, as defined by the Broadcast Bureau of Measurement (BBM).
Shaw has proposed the following revised description of service for BC News 1 in its application:
The licensee shall provide a national English-language service primarily focused on News programming. (bold added for emphasis)
Paragraph 252 of Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2015-86 (The Create Policy) stated that “As an exception to the general elimination of genre protections, the Commission will retain the conditions of licence relating to nature of service for those services that benefit from a mandatory distribution order under section 9(1)(h) of the Act, including national news services, which are discussed in more detail below”.
The proposed revised description of BC News 1 appears to suggest that the service’s focus will be on national news rather than local and regional programming. Given these proposed changes, please explain why BC News 1 should not be reclassified as a Category C national news service and therefore be subject to the regulatory requirements that apply to that class of licence.
Please provide your response by no later than 18 September 2015 by using the secured service “My CRTC Account” (Partner Log In or GCKey) and send me a copy of your response at the following e-mail: tina-louise.latourelle@crtc.gc.ca
Please note that the present letter and Shaw’s response will become part of this application’s public file and, as a result, will be made available for public examination.
Should you need further information concerning this procedural letter, please do not hesitate to contact me at 819-997-9392 or by e-mail at the above noted address.
Sincerely,
Original signed by
Tina Louise Latourelle
Senior Analyst
English and third-language television
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