ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Procedural Letter Addressed to Dean Shaikh (Shaw Communications Inc.)

Ottawa, 29 June 2016

By E-mail: dean.shaikh@sjrb.ca 

Re: Additional information in regard to the new Policy framework for local and community television (Application 2016-0018-0)

This is in reference to your application to renew the broadcasting licence for your conventional television station, which expire on 31 August 2017. These questions pertain to the Commission’s new policy on local and community television programming, as outlined in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2016-224, Policy framework for local and community television, issued on 15 June, 2016.

In order to complete your application, please provide the following information:

1. In light of the Commission’s new policy framework on local programming and community television outlined in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2016-224 (the new policy), please confirm that you will adhere to the standard conditions of licence that require stations to broadcast at least 7 hours of locally relevant programming per week in non-metropolitan markets and at least 14 hours per week in metropolitan markets.

2. Please report on historical expenditures and exhibition levels of local news programming for your station by completing Appendix 1. In addition, provide projections for local news programming for the 2015-2016 broadcasting year for your television station, and submit a revised final 2015-2016 broadcasting year report by 14 October 2016.

   1. In the new policy, the Commission stated that it considers it appropriate to require that a minimum level of local programming be devoted to local news. Specifically, all licensees will be required to broadcast a minimum level of local news and to allocate a minimum percentage of their previous year’s revenues to such programming, with the exhibition and expenditure levels to be determined at licence renewal based on historical levels. Please provide the levels of expenditures and exhibition on locally reflective news that would be imposed as conditions of licence based on the data requested in the appendix 1.

3. Please provide estimates on how much you expect to receive from associated or affiliated Broadcasting Distribution Undertakings (BDUs) for your station, as per the policy’s new spending flexibility over the next licence term, if the situation applies. Submit revised financial projections for the station.
   
   
4. In Broadcasting Decision 2011-448, the Commission imposed a condition of licence that the licensee shall broadcast no less than 30 minutes of original local programming in each broadcast week. This condition was imposed as an exception to the harmonized local requirements for local programming, since the Commission has approved Shaw’s justification that CJBN-TV Kenora, as a stand-alone station, did not have the resources to broadcast more than 30 minutes a week of local programming.

Given the new spending flexibility on local programming defined in the Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2016-224, please explain why this exception should be maintained.

If you are of the view that this exception should be maintained, or if you are of the view that a requirement other than the standard amounts outlined in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2016-224 should be imposed on your station, please provide a detailed rationale, including financial evidence and analysis, to support your proposal

You are required to provide the information/document(s) noted above on the public record by 8 July, 2016.

The Commission requires that you submit your documents electronically using the secured service “My CRTC Account” (Partner Log In or GCKey) and fill in the “Broadcasting and Telecom Cover page” located on this web page. On this web page, you will also find a link to information on the submission of applications to the Commission “Submitting applications and other documents to the CRTC using My CRTC Account.” 

A copy of this letter and all related correspondence will be added to the public record of the proceeding.

Yours sincerely,

Julie St-Pierre,
Policy Analyst, French-language Television Applications
Broadcasting
Julie.st-pierre@crtc.gc.ca

Pierre-Marc Perreault
Manager, English-language Television Applications
Broadcasting

Pierre-marc.perreault@crtc.gc.ca

Appendix 1

Historical expenditures and exhibition levels of locally reflective and relevant news^{Footnote 1}

Date modified:

2016-06-30