Broadcasting Commission Letter adressed to Cynthia Wallace (Shaw Communications Inc.)
Ottawa, 31 October 2022
Our reference: 2017-138
BY EMAIL
Cynthia Wallace
Regulatory Counsel, Director, Regulatory Affairs
Shaw Communications Inc.
regulatory@sjrb.ca
Re: Request for Information regarding availability of Described Video on Video-on- Demand Services – Request to disclose information designated as confidential
Cynthia Wallace,
Commission staff acknowledges receipt of the correspondence provided by Shaw Communications Inc. (Shaw) dated 12 September 2022 in response to Broadcasting - Commission Letter addressed to the Distribution List regarding the availability of Described Video on Video-on-Demand Services.
With this letter, Commission staff is requesting disclosure of the following documents submitted in confidence by Shaw:
- Shaw’s response to Question 2 - Is DV available on your over-the-top (digital media broadcasting) VOD platforms (if applicable)? If yes, how many titles and hours of DV are available on these platforms over broadcast year 2021-2022? Provide these data in the table templates set out in Appendix A.
- Appendix A
- Appendix B
At the time that Shaw filed its response, it designated the above information as ‘confidential’ pursuant to sections 30 to 34 of the CRTC Rules of Procedure and Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2010-961, Procedures for filing confidential information and requesting its disclosure in Commission Proceedings. Shaw provided the following rationale for its designation of confidentiality for this information in its letter dated 12 September 2022:
“The foregoing information is competitively sensitive and has been consistently treated in a confidential manner by Shaw. Disclosure of this information would provide specific insight to Shaw’s competitors (both licensed and unlicensed) and could reasonably be expected to significantly prejudice Shaw’s competitive position. This potential harm is not outweighed by any public interest. Shaw is filing an abridged version of this response for the public record.”
Commission staff is of the view that Shaw has not provided sufficiently specific rationale to justify that disclosure of this information is would be likely to result in specific direct harm and that this harm outweighs the public interest in disclosure, nor did it explain how the information at issue meets the criteria listed in the Appendices to Information Bulletin 2010-961. Commission staff further notes that the information requested in Appendix A and Shaw’s Appendix B is information that has always been disclosed on the Commission’s web site as part of data collection pursuant to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2011-59-1. Also, the requested information was submitted publicly by other service providers without a designation for confidentiality. For these reasons, Commission staff considers that the information in Appendix A and B is not confidential and that release of this information and the response to Question 2 is in the public interest.
Accordingly, Shaw is to submit a non-abridged version of its response to Question 2, Appendix A, and Appendix B, or re-file to the Commission a complete rationale for confidentiality no later than 7 November 2022.
All documents filed in response to this request are to be submitted in a file format that is accessible by someone who is blind or partially sighted who may benefit from a file format that allows for text to be enlarged or modified or read by screen readers (for example, in MSWord, not pdf). Please refer to Creating Accessible Documents that is available on the CRTC’s website.
When submitting documents, use the following naming convention: “Company Name – Report – Described Video – Brand name (if applicable) – Title of document (i.e. cover letter, appendix) if multiple documents are filed – FR/EN – Abridged/Confidential (if applicable) – YYYY-MM-DD”.
Sincerely,
Original signed by
Nanao Kachi
Director
Social and Consumer Policy
Consumer Affairs and Strategic Policy
c.c.: Meghan Zwiers, Meghan.Zwiers@crtc.gc.ca
Paula Jaramillo Palacio, Paula.JaramilloPalacio@crtc.gc.ca
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