Broadcasting - Commission Letter addressed to Marc Simard (Télé Inter-Rives ltée)
Ottawa, 7 June 2022
By email
Marc Simard
President
Télé Inter-Rives ltée
msimard.pres@videotron.ca
Re: Request by Télé Inter-Rives to process a complaint against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation pursuant to Part 1 of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure (Application 2021 0534 5)
Dear Marc Simard:
The Commission received a complaint dated 9 August 2021 from Télé Inter-Rives against the Société Radio-Canada (SRC) following the latter’s refusal to enter into negotiations to reach a non-competition agreement in the extended markets served by Télé Inter-Rives’ stations.
In its complaint, Télé Inter-Rives explained that it tried, without success, to negotiate with the SRC following the non-renewal of the three commercial agreements it had with the SRC, namely an affiliation agreement with the CKRT television station, an advertising non-solicitation agreement and a commercial representation agreement with the CJBR station.
Télé Inter-Rives also proposed three avenues to the Commission:
- The Commission could use all its powers of persuasion to convince Radio-Canada not to solicit local advertising for its conventional television channel CJBR-DT Rimouski in the extended markets of Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski-Matane-Sept-Îles and Carleton, including southwest and northeast New Brunswick.
- Failing that, the Commission could initiate a public proceeding to assess the market capacity of eastern Quebec and identify the possible harm that SRC’s entry into the local advertising market will cause for local television services in the region. This public proceeding could result in a regulatory policy regarding region-specific advertising to maintain local private television services to the public.
- The Commission could require the SRC to provide a detailed breakdown of advertising revenues collected in the advertising markets served by Télé Inter-Rives each year. This would allow the Commission to properly gauge the harm that the SRC may be doing to the substantial local news offering by Télé Inter-Rives.
Although Télé Inter-Rives requested that the Commission process this complaint under Part 1 of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, the Commission processed the complaint under the Rules Applicable to Complaints and Dispute Resolution (Part II).
To obtain the views of the SRC in addition to those of Télé Inter-Rives, the Commission sent a request to the SRC, dated 10 January 2022, asking it to respond to the above-noted complaint.
After analyzing Télé Inter-Rives’ application and in light of the SRC’s response dated 24 January 2022, the Commission finds that the dispute between them is primarily commercial in nature, since it involves agreements between broadcasters, and that it should be handled through commercial negotiations. The Commission also finds that the SRC does not appear to be in violation of any of the Commission’s regulations and that, therefore, the dispute does not raise any concerns with respect to compliance with television policies.
Accordingly, the Commission considers that no further action should be taken and dismisses Télé Inter-Rives’ complaint against the SRC.
Sincerely,
Claude Doucet
Secretary General
c.c.: pharvey@chautva.com
bev.kirshenblatt@cbc.ca
affaires.reglementaires@radio-canada.ca
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