ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Commission Letter addressed to the Distribution List

Ottawa, 28 March 2019

Our reference: 1011-NOC2019-0091

BY E-MAIL

To: Distribution List

RE: Request for information – Online revenues and expenditures by digital media broadcasting undertakings

Dear Madam, Sir:

On 31 May 2018, in response to a direction from the Governor in Council, the Commission issued a report entitled Harnessing Change: The Future of Programming Distribution in Canada. In that report, the Commission proposed a number of short- or medium-term steps that could be taken in advance of new legislation, paving the way for changes needed for the future. One of the steps proposed was the updating of definitions of Canadian programming expenditures (CPE) in light of the digital environment (See Conclusions and Potential Options from the report).

Today, the Commission has issued Call for comments on the Commission’s policy on Canadian programming expenditures, Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2019-91, 28 March 2019. With the objective of updating its current policy relating to CPE, set out in The reporting of Canadian programming expenditures, Public Notice CRTC 1993-93, 22 June 1993, the Commission is calling for comments on, among other things, the option of allowing licensees to claim expenditures associated with their digital media activities towards their CPE requirements.

By way of this letter, the Commission is seeking your assistance towards fulfilling its objective of updating its current CPE policy. Specifically, the Commission is requesting revenue and expenditure data associated with your digital media broadcasting activities, including the online windows associated with licensed services and any other digital media broadcasting service.

Using the attached Excel template, please provide revenue and expenditure data by service, for each of the 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 broadcast years. Please create a tab for each service. You do not need to provide data for any hybrid video-on-demand (HVOD) services that you operate, given that revenue and expenditure data for such services are provided as part of the annual financial returns filed with the Commission.

Please note that the Commission may publish, in aggregate form, some of the data gathered via this request for information.

We anticipate that you may have concerns arising from the commercially-sensitive nature of the information we are requesting. Furthermore, you may require some clarity concerning the procedure for designating the information you file as confidential and the potential for its disclosure. Consistent with its general practice, the Commission will apply sections 30 to 34 of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure when considering requests for confidentiality. In this regard, the following criteria, set out in Procedures for filing confidential information and requesting its disclosure in Commission proceedings, Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin 2010-961, 23 December 2010 (Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin 2010-961), will apply:

• A party filing information can “designate” it as confidential at the time it is filed with the Commission (Section 31) if it falls into one of the following categories:
  1. information that is a trade secret;
  2. financial, commercial, scientific or technical information that is confidential and that is treated consistently in a confidential manner by the person who submitted it; or
  3. information the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected
     1. to result in material financial loss or gain to any person;
     2. to prejudice the competitive position of any person; or
     3. to affect contractual or other negotiations of any person.
• At the time that the party files the information it designates as confidential, it must provide an abridged version of the document along with an explanation of how the information falls into a category of information listed in Section 31. The party must provide a detailed rationale to explain why the disclosure of the information is not in the public interest (Section 32(1)).
• The confidential version of the document must be filed separately and must be marked “CONFIDENTIAL” on each page. If the document is filed electronically, each file containing confidential information must include “confidential” in the file name.
• The abridged version of the document and the reasons for the designation of information as confidential will be placed on the public record of the proceeding.

For additional information, please consult Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin 2010-961 as well as Implementation of new Rules of Practice and Procedures, Broadcasting and Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010-958, 23 December 2010.

If you have any questions regarding this request for information, please contact Nicolas Gatto at 873-353-9280, or by e-mail at nicolas.gatto@crtc.gc.ca.Please submit the requested information by 11 April 2019.

Thank you for your participation.

Yours sincerely,

Noah Moser
Director
Financial and Multiplatform Technology Analysis

Distribution List
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Incorporated
Accessible Media Inc.
Allarco (Superchannel)
BCE Inc.
Blue Ant Media Inc.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Channel Zero
CHEK News
Corus Entertainment Inc.
Crossroads Television System
DHX Media Ltd.
Fairchild Property Group Ltd.
Jim Pattison Broadcast Group Ltd.
Les Placements Péladeau inc.
Newfoundland Broadcasting Company Ltd.
Remstar Diffusion inc. (V Média)
RNC Média inc.
Rogers Communications Inc.
TV5 Québec Canada
ZoomerMedia

Request for Information: CPE Policy

Service Name:

Service Type:
Revenues - Part A :
Subscription revenues:
Advertising revenues Other revenues (specify type) :
Total Revenues:                   
Are any of these revenues included in other reports to the CRTC?
If yes, please indicate which lines and in which reports to the CRTC

Expenses - Part B

Content-related expenses Expenses related to producing content:                    
Expenses related to repurposing content:         
Expenses related to acquiring content (includes licensing/royalty fees) :                
Other content-related expenses (specify type) :                   
Total content-related expenses :                 
Non content-related expenses :                   
Technical expenses :               
Sales and promotion :            
Administration and general expenses:                      
Other non content-related expenses (specify below):                      
Total non content-related expenses :                    
Total Expenses :                     

Canadian Programming Expenses

Expenses related to producing Canadian content:
Expenses related to repurposing Canadian content:            
Expenses related to acquiring Canadian content (includes licensing/royalty fees):
Other Canadian content-related expenses (specify type) :
Total Canadian content-related expenses:

Are any of these expenditures included in other reports to the CRTC?

If yes, please indicate which lines and in which reports to the CRTC.

Date modified:

2019-03-28