Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2016-30

PDF version

References: 2015-86 and 2015-323

Ottawa, 28 January 2016

Call for comments on amendments to the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987, the Pay Television Regulations, 1990, and the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990, relating to target audience markers

The Commission calls for comments on amendments to the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987, the Pay Television Regulations, 1990, and the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990, to implement a measure relating to how licensees report on the amount of television programming available for various target audiences. The Commission will accept interventions that it receives by 29 February 2016.

Introduction

1. In Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2015-86, the Commission set out its intention to track children’s and youth programming more closely. Its approach for achieving this was clarified in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2015-323. As part of this approach, and in order to ensure consistency in the reporting of the amount of television programming available for various age demographics, the Commission announced new target audience markers to be used by licensees in the completion of their logs.

2. This measure requires regulatory amendment in order to be fully implemented. The Commission announced in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2015-323 that it would initiate a proceeding to call for comments on amendments to the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987, the Pay Television Regulations, 1990 and the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990 in order to institute the new target audience markers.

3. The proposed amendments would update the “key figures” (Item 5 of Schedule I) in each set of regulations. Specifically, they would incorporate in those regulations a uniform description of “target audience” that would include the following four mutually exclusive age groupings:

   Preschool children (0-5 years of age);
   Children (6-12 years of age);
   Teenagers (13-17 years of age); and
   Adults (18 years of age and over).

4. The alphanumeric characters associated with this description, which represent the coding numbers to be used by licensees of television broadcasting services, pay television services and specialty services in the completion of their program logs, would also be changed.

5. As a result of the proposed amendments, the target audience markers would be standardized across the listed regulations and the existing overlaps in demographics would be eliminated. As stated by the Commission in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2015-323, the proposed amendments would allow for the collection of more detailed and accurate data to monitor effectively the amount of Canadian children’s and youth television programming in the Canadian broadcasting system.

Call for comments

6. The proposed amendments to the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987, the Pay Television Regulations, 1990, and the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990 are appended to this notice. The Commission invites comments on the proposed amendments. The Commission will accept interventions that it receives by 29 February 2016.

Procedure

7. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules of Procedure) apply to the present proceeding. The Rules of Procedure set out, among other things, the rules for content, format, filing and service of interventions, answers, replies and requests for information; the procedure for filing confidential information and requesting its disclosure; and the conduct of public hearings. Accordingly, the procedure set out below must be read in conjunction with the Rules of Procedure and related documents, which can be found on the Commission’s website under “Statutes and Regulations.” The guidelines set out in Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin 2010-959 provide information to help interested persons and parties understand the Rules of Procedure so that they can more effectively participate in Commission proceedings.

8. The Commission encourages interested persons and parties to monitor the record of the proceeding, available on the Commission’s website, for additional information that they may find useful when preparing their submissions.

9. Submissions longer than five pages should include a summary. Each paragraph of all submissions should be numbered, and the line ***End of document*** should follow the last paragraph. This will help the Commission verify that the document has not been damaged during electronic transmission.

10. Pursuant to Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin 2015-242, the Commission expects incorporated entities and associations, and encourages all Canadians, to file submissions for Commission proceedings in accessible formats (for example, text-based file formats that allow text to be enlarged or modified, or read by screen readers). To provide assistance in this regard, the Commission has posted on its website guidelines for preparing documents in accessible formats.

11. Submissions must be filed by sending them to the Secretary General of the Commission using only one of the following means:

by completing the
[Intervention/comment/answer form]

or

by mail to
CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2

or

by fax at
819-994-0218

12. Parties who send documents electronically must ensure that they will be able to prove, upon Commission request, that service/filing of a particular document was completed. Accordingly, parties must keep proof of the sending and receipt of each document for 180 days after the date on which the document is filed. The Commission advises parties who file and serve documents by electronic means to exercise caution when using email for the service of documents, as it may be difficult to establish that service has occurred.

13. In accordance with the Rules of Procedure, a document must be received by the Commission and all relevant parties by 5 p.m. Vancouver time (8 p.m. Ottawa time) on the date it is due. Parties are responsible for ensuring the timely delivery of their submissions and will not be notified if their submissions are received after the deadline. Late submissions, including those due to postal delays, will not be considered by the Commission and will not be made part of the public record.

14. The Commission will not formally acknowledge submissions. It will, however, fully consider all submissions, which will form part of the public record of the proceeding, provided that the procedure for filing set out above has been followed.

Important notice

15. All information that parties provide as part of this public process, except information designated confidential, whether sent by postal mail, facsimile, email or through the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca, becomes part of a publicly accessible file and will be posted on the Commission’s website. This information includes personal information, such as full names, email addresses, postal/street addresses, telephone and facsimile numbers, etc.

16. The personal information that parties provide will be used and may be disclosed for the purpose for which the information was obtained or compiled by the Commission, or for a use consistent with that purpose.

17. Documents received electronically or otherwise will be put on the Commission’s website in their entirety exactly as received, including any personal information contained therein, in the official language and format in which they are received. Documents not received electronically will be available in PDF format.

18. The information that parties provide to the Commission as part of this public process is entered into an unsearchable database dedicated to this specific public process. This database is accessible only from the web page of this particular public process. As a result, a general search of the Commission’s website with the help of either its own search engine or a third-party search engine will not provide access to the information that was provided as part of this public process.

Availability of documents

19. Electronic versions of the interventions and of other documents referred to in this notice, are available on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca by visiting the “Participate” section, selecting “Submit Ideas and Comments,” and then selecting “our open processes.” Documents can then be accessed by clicking on the links in the “Subject” and “Related Documents” columns associated with this particular notice.

20. Documents are also available from Commission offices, upon request, during normal business hours.

Location of Commission offices

Toll-free telephone: 1-877-249-2782
Toll-free TDD: 1-877-909-2782

Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
Central Building
1 Promenade du Portage, Room 206
Gatineau, Quebec
J8X 4B1
Tel.: 819-997-2429
Fax: 819-994-0218

Regional offices

Nova Scotia

Metropolitan Place
99 Wyse Road
Suite 1410
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
B3A 4S5
Tel.: 902-426-7997
Fax: 902-426-2721

Quebec

505 de Maisonneuve Boulevard West
Suite 205
Montréal, Quebec
H3A 3C2
Tel.: 514-283-6607

Ontario

55 St. Clair Avenue East
Suite 624
Toronto, Ontario
M4T 1M2
Tel.: 416-952-9096

Manitoba

360 Main Street
Suite 970
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3C 3Z3
Tel.: 204-983-6306
Fax: 204-983-6317

Saskatchewan

403 - 1975 Scarth Street
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4P 2H1
Tel.: 306-780-3422
Fax: 306-780-3319

Alberta

200 - 4^th Avenue South-East
Suite 574
Calgary, Alberta
T2G 4X3
Tel.: 403-292-6660
Fax: 403-292-6686

British Columbia

858 Beatty Street
Suite 290
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6B 1C1
Tel.: 604-666-2111
Fax: 604-666-8322

Secretary General

Related documents

• New methods to monitor the amount of Canadian children’s and youth television programming and the expenditures on such programming in the Canadian broadcasting system, Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-323, 21 July 2015
• Filing submissions for Commission proceedings in accessible formats, Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2015-242, 8 June 2015
• Let’s Talk TV: The way forward - Creating compelling and diverse Canadian programming, Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-86, 12 March 2015
• Guidelines on the CRTC Rules of Practice and Procedure, Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2010-959, 23 December 2010

Appendix to Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2016-30

Proposed amendments to the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987, the Pay Television Regulations, 1990, and the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990

TELEVISION BROADCASTING REGULATIONS, 1987

1. Item 5 of Schedule I to the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987^{Retour à la référence de la note de bas de page}

¹ is replaced by the following:

PAY TELEVISION REGULATIONS, 1990

2. Item 5 of Schedule I to the Pay Television Regulations, 1990^{Retour à la référence de la note de bas de page 2} is replaced by the following:

SPECIALTY SERVICES REGULATIONS, 1990

3. Item 5 of Schedule I to the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990^{Retour à la référence de la note de bas de page 3} is replaced by the following:

COMING INTO FORCE

4. These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

Date modified:

2016-01-28