ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Commission Letter Addressed to Various parties

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Ottawa, 10 August 2016

VIA E-MAIL

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

Ms. 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

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

Mr. Luc Doyon
Vice-président exécutif et chef de l’exploitation
Groupe V Média
ldoyon@groupevmedia.ca 

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 – Monitoring of Canadian television programming targeted at children and youth

Pursuant to Broadcast Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-323, 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 (the Policy), the Commission has implemented new methods for monitoring the amount of Canadian television programming targeted at children and youth.

The Policy states that, starting 1 September 2015, television licensees must record their programs' target audiences in their program logs using new target audience markers. Television licensees are also required to break down their total programming expenditures by target audience in their annual returns.

The additional data collected will allow the Commission to monitor effectively the amount of Canadian children's and youth programming available in the system, as well as the expenditures on such programming. The Commission will then be in a better position, in the context of the licence renewal process, to determine if regulatory action is necessary to ensure that Canadians have adequate access to Canadian children's and youth programming.

In order to ensure that licensees comply with these new logging requirements, Commission staff emailed detailed instructions to all licensees on 31 August, 2015 and, again, on 19 May, 2016. These instructions included the new key figures that must be used by broadcasters with respect to children’s programming. The key figures are outlined as such:

Target audience

  1. Preschool children (0-5 years)
  2. Children (6-12 years)
  3. Teenagers (13-17 years)
  4. Adults (18 years and over)

In examining the logs of the licensees that are part of the renewal of television licences held by large English- and French-language ownership groups, it is apparent that licensees have not been using these new key figures, as required by the Policy.

As such, all licensees that are part of the renewal of television licences held by large English- and French-language ownership groups proceeding must refile their television logs by using the aforementioned key figures for children’s programming.

If you have submitted logs since September 2015 and you have not used these new key figures, you must revise and resubmit these log files to the Commission.  If you have any further questions, please contact TV logs staff by e-mail at tvlogs@crtc.gc.ca.

Scott Hutton
Executive Director
Broadcasting

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