OTTAWA – The CRTC has renewed the direct satellite relay distribution undertaking (SRDU) and Direct to Home (DTH) licences for Bell ExpressVu, Shaw Direct and Shaw Satellite Services for another seven years until August 31, 2019.
Shaw requested to be relieved from the requirement to contribute 5% of its annual revenues from broadcasting activities to the creation and presentation of Canadian programming, as well as from the requirement to file reports regarding such contributions. Shaw submitted that its SRDU’s competitors, namely terrestrial relay distribution undertakings (TRDUs), have no such obligation.
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA), the Independent Broadcast Group (IBG), and the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) opposed Shaw’s proposal, arguing that SRDUs’ financial contributions were essential to the system.
The CRTC denied Shaw’s proposal noting that “TRDUs are exempt undertakings and are usually much smaller than SRDUs. In Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2012-94, the Commission contemplated the possibility of exempting SRDUs, but decided that it would be inappropriate to do so in light of the lack of effective competition in the signal transport sector.” Shaw therefore must maintain the current requirements relating to contributions to the creation and presentation of Canadian programming.
The Commission did approve Star Choice’s proposal to amend its license to distribute any non-Canadian audio programming service that is received over the air anywhere in Canada and any international radio service that is operated or funded by a national government or its agent.
But it denied Shaw’s request to stop simultaneous program substitution and deletion unless it received the written request for substitution or deletion at least four days before the beginning of the broadcast week in which the program is broadcast. It however noted nothing prevents Star Choice from negotiating an earlier request date with broadcasters.
Shaw Direct is now required to distribute, in standard definition (SD) and on a full-time basis, all local programming improvement fund (LPIF)-conforming conventional television stations by June 30, 2013, or within 30 days of the Anik G1 satellite becoming operational. It also denied Shaw’s request to broadcast OTA signals in SD noting “Star Choice has not provided any evidence that it would be impossible or burdensome for it to distribute the signals that Shaw Direct is required to distribute under section 46 of the Regulations in the same format that they are provided over the air.”
The CRTC also imposed a reverse onus provision, on both Shaw and Bell. Bell argued unsuccessfully that there was no proven need for this type of regulation with respect to SRDUs. The Commission ruled that it is the party conferring a preference or a disadvantage that will have the necessary information required for the Commission to determine the facts of the case in order to issue a ruling.
In Broadcasting Decision 2011-163, the Commission determined that Bell TV was to distribute at least 43 additional television services in standard definition and to make these services available as part of the basic package in the appropriate local markets. These requirements, as listed below, are now part of its renewed license requirements:
- local stations eligible for the local programming improvement fund (LPIF);
- non-branded community-based television services;
- non-LPIF-eligible local stations that meet the five-hour (French-language) and seven-hour (English-language) minimum local programming commitment;
- and existing independent television stations that were required to convert to digital transmission.
The CRTC also approved Bell TV’s proposal to delete the condition of licence related to compensation in lieu of having to perform non-simultaneous program deletion. But it denied Bell’s proposal to suspend the signal deletion provisions of the Regulations until Bell TV has negotiated compensation with broadcasters for permission to distribute their distant signals.
