ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Procedural Letter addressed to Various parties

Ottawa, 13 July 2016

VIA EMAIL

Mrs. Susan Wheeler
Vice-President, Regulatory, Media
Rogers Media Inc.
susan.wheeler@rci.rogers.com

Mrs. Sylvie Courtemanche
Vice-President, Government Relations and Compliance
Corus Entertainment Inc.
sylvie.courtemanche@corusent.com

Mr. Kevin Goldstein
Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs, Content and Distribution
Bell Media Inc.
Kevin.goldstein@bellmedia.ca

Mrs. Peggy Tabet
Senior Director Regulatory Affairs – Broadcasting
Québecor Média inc.
Tabet.Peggy@Quebecor.com

Mr. Aldo Di Felice
Chairman
Telelatino Network Inc.
aldo@tlntv.com

Dear Sir / Madam,

Re: Renewal of television licences held by large English- and French-language ownership groups-Disclosure of information designated as confidential (Applications 2016-0020-6, 2016-0022-1, 2016-0017-2, 2016-0019-8, 2016-0012-2, 2016-0015-6, 2016-0009-9, 2016-0405-9 and 2016-0018-0)

Pursuant to Section 34(1) of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules), the Commission hereby requires the disclosure of the information listed below, and reported for each group in Appendix A, so that this information be placed on the public record of the proceeding initiated by Broadcasting Notice of consultation CRTC 2016-225.

Historical Information

• Total Canadian programming expenditures (CPE) (category 1 to 15) for the broadcast years (hereinafter “BY”) 2011-2012 to 2014-2015:
  • On an aggregate basis for television stations; and
  • On an individual basis for each individual discretionary service.
• Expenditures on original first-run and newly commissioned programming, broken down by CPE and expenditures on Programs of national interest (PNI), for BY 2011-2012 to 2014-2015:
  • On an aggregate basis for television stations; and
  • On an individual basis for each individual discretionary service.
• Expenditures on PNI programming, broken down by language and by region, for BY 2011-2012 to 2014-2015:
  • On an aggregate basis for all services being renewed.

Financial projections

• Total projected CPE (category 1 to 15) for BY 2015-2016 to 2020-2021:
  • On an aggregate basis for television stations; and
  • On an individual basis for each individual discretionary service.
• Financial over-the air (OTA) projections for BY 2015-2016 to 2020-2021:
  • On an aggregate basis for all of the stations part of the group.
• Financial discretionary services’ projections for BY 2015-2016 to 2020-2021:
  • For each individual discretionary service (except for the number of subscribers, which may remain confidential).
• Financial projections for each On-Demand service.

Other Information

• Children and Youth CPE spending, by age group, for BY 2014-2015 and projected spending for BY 2015-2016:
  • On an aggregate basis for television stations; and
  • On an individual basis for each individual discretionary service (to the extent that such information has already been provided on a confidential basis).
• List of VOD content offered (including most popular content).

The Commission considers that it is in the public interest to require the disclosure of this information for the following reasons:

• Historical financial statements and projections in the prospective licence term are generally treated by the Commission as public, as set out in the Appendix to Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin 2010-961 (the Bulletin). It is part of the Commission’s usual practice to have this information disclosed on the public record at licence renewals and the Commission has previously done so for smaller players;
• This information related to historical CPE and PNI expenditures has already been disclosed in another format, such as financial summaries and annual reports filed by the licensees;
• The fact that information concerning original first-run and newly-commissioned programming has never been filed with the Commission before does not justify treating it as confidential in the present proceeding;
• There is no valid reason why VOD content information, information that is already available on the groups’ VOD platforms, should not be disclosed on the public record;
• Other applicants in this process have disclosed the requested information and therefore do not consider that its disclosure would result in direct harm to them; and
• The importance of the requested information for the public outweighs the direct harm that its disclosure might cause to the licensees.

The Commission requires the disclosure of this information in relation to all the applications listed above^Footnote1 with the exception of application 2016-0018-0, since that application pertains to a stand-alone conventional television station and the Commission considers that the disclosure of information would reveal a level of disaggregated information that would likely result in direct harm to the applicant that is not outweighed by the public interest in disclosing the information.  

Please file a revised abridged version of the documents reflecting the determinations above by 25 July 2016. Alternatively, you may in accordance with subsection 33(4) of the Rules, file a reply with the Commission by 25 July 2016.Should you wish to confirm the designation, please note that the Commission will not require its disclosure. In this circumstance, the information will not be admissible in evidence and will not be considered by the Commission.

Yours sincerely,

Danielle May-Cuconato
Secretary General

Cc : dean.shaikh@sjrb.ca; serge.bellerose55@gmail.com

Appendix A

All applicants

• Children and Youth CPE spending, by age group, for BY 2014-2015 and projected spending for BY 2015-2016:
  • On an aggregate basis for television stations; and
  • On an individual basis for each individual discretionary service (to the extent that such information has already been provided on a confidential basis).

English-language applications

Bell

• Appendix 2:
  • Total CPE (i) for each discretionary service for BY 2011-2012 to 2015-2016; and
  • Total PNI (iv) for each discretionary service for BY 2011-2012 to 2015-2016.
• Appendix 4: Projected CPE for each discretionary service (including sport services) for BY 2015-2016 to 2020-2021.
• Appendix 5: Financial projections for BY 2015-2016 (aggregates).
• Appendix 6: Financial projections for each discretionary service (including sport services) for BY 2015-2016 (except the number of subscribers, which may remain confidential).

Corus

• Appendix 4: Total CPE (for Cat 1 to 15) for each discretionary service for BY 2015-2016.
• Appendix 5: Financial projections for BY 2015-2016 (aggregates).
• Appendix 6:
  • Financial projections by service for BY 2015-2016 (except for the number of subscribers, which may remain confidential); and
  • Total expenses by service for BY 2016-2017 to 2020-2021 (Programming and production; Other expenses).

Telelatino

• Appendix 1: Total CPE (for Cat 1 to 15) by service, for BY 2011-2012 to 2015-2016.
• Appendix 2: Total CPE (i) and Total PNI expenditures (iv) for BY 2011-2012 to 2015-2016.
• Appendix 3: Total PNI expenditures by region and by language (all information requested in the table).
  
• Appendix 4: Projected CPE by service for BY 2015-2016 to 2020-2021.
• Appendix 6: All financial projections, by service (except for the number of subscribers, which may remain confidential).

Rogers

• Appendix 1: Total CPE of OMNI stations (aggregates) for BY 2015-2016.
• Appendix 4:
  • Projected CPE for OMNI stations (aggregates) for BY 2015-2016; and
  • Projected CPE for BY 2015-2016 to 2020-2021 for sports services (Sportsnet and Sportsnet One) and network licence.
• Appendix 5: Requested information for BY 2015-2016 for City and OMNI stations (aggregates)
• Appendix 6: Financial projections for each discretionary service (including sport services) for BY 2015-2016 (except the number of subscribers, which may remain confidential).

French-language applications

Bell

• Appendix 2: Total CPE (i) for BY 2015-2016 and total PNI expenditures (iv) for each discretionary service for BY 2011-2012 to 2015-2016.
• Appendix 4: Projected CPE for each discretionary service (including sport services) for BY 2015-2016 to 2020-2021.
• Appendix 6: Financial projections for each discretionary service (including sport services) for BY 2015-2016 to 2020-2021 (except the number of subscribers, which may remain confidential).

Corus

• Appendix 4: Projected CPE for each discretionary service for BY 2015-2016.
• Appendix 6:
  • Financial projections by service for BY 2015-2016; and
  • Total expenses by service for BY 2016-2017 to 2020-2021 (Programming and production; Other expenses).

Quebecor (Groupe TVA)

• Appendix 1: Total CPE for each discretionary service for BY 2014-2015 and 2015-2016.
• Appendix 2: Total CPE (i) and Total PNI expenditures (iv) for each discretionary service for BY 2011-2012 to 2015-2016.

• Appendix 4: Total projected CPE for BY 2015-2016 to 2020-2021:
  • On an aggregate basis for television stations; and
  • For each discretionary service.
• Appendix 5: Financial projections for BY 2015-2016 to 2020-2021 (aggregates).
• Appendix 6: Financial projections for each discretionary service (including sport services) for BY 2015-2016 to 2020-2021 (except the number of subscribers, which may remain confidential).
• List of VOD content offered (including most popular content).

Groupe V

• All requested information has already been provided.

Date modified:

2016-07-13