ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Procedural Letter Addressed to SCFP-Québec

This page has been archived on the Web

Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. Archived Decisions, Notices and Orders (DNOs) remain in effect except to the extent they are amended or reversed by the Commission, a court, or the government. The text of archived information has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Changes to DNOs are published as “dashes” to the original DNO number. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats by contacting us.

Ottawa, 20 April 2018

VIA E-MAIL

Denis Bolduc
President
SCFP-Québec
nblais@scfp.qc.ca

Dear Mr. Bolduc:

RE: Request for process of Part 1 application - Review of the Exemption order for digital media broadcasting undertakings

The Commission is in receipt of the application filed on 13 February 2018 by the Conseil provincial du secteur des communications (CPSC) of the Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique (SCFP), requesting that the Commission review the Exemption order for digital media broadcasting undertakings (the Order), as well as of its request for process of the aforementioned application, dated 26 March 2018.

The Commission notes that, pursuant to section 7 of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules), the Commission may dispense with or vary the Rules when considerations of public interest or fairness permit. The Commission also notes that the elements raised by the CPSC in its 13 February 2018 application are similar to those mentioned by the CPSC in response to the public proceeding initiated by Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2017-359, Call for comments on the Governor in Council’s request for a report on future programming distribution models (the Notice).

For example, both in its 13 February 2018 application and in its intervention in response to the Notice, the CPSC references the obsolescence of the Commission’s findings from Exemption order for new media broadcasting undertakings – Public Notice CRTC 1999-197,  the time elapsed since the last review of the Order, the fact that Internet penetration rate is now higher than the penetration rates for broadcasting distribution undertakings, the migration of advertising revenues from traditional media towards the Internet, etc. Moreover, the Commission notes that some paragraphs included in the intervention filed by the CPSC in response to the Notice are completely or almost completely replicated as part of the 13 February 2018 application.

The issue of the relevance of maintaining or amending the Order has also been raised by a number of other interveners participating in the public consultation.

Furthermore, the Commission is an independent administrative tribunal that has the mandate, inter alia, to supervise and regulate the Canadian broadcasting system. In furtherance of its objects, the Commission has the discretion to determine the appropriate moment to undertake a review of one of its policies. Under the circumstances, the Commission considers that it is not appropriate to initiate a separate public proceeding to consider the application.

Accordingly, the Commission has determined that your application will not be posted nor receive further process.

Yours sincerely,

Claude Doucet
Secretary General

Date modified: