GATINEAU – The CRTC has told Shaw Communications that it must appear at a public hearing on January 15th over the company’s apparent refusal to simultaneously substitute certain over-the-air digital television signals.
After a complaint filed by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters in June that said neither Shaw Cablesystems nor its sister satellite company Star Choice were performing their simultaneous substitution duties as required under the broadcast distribution undertaking regulations, the Commission issued decisions on the matter in August.
The Regulator directed Shaw Cablesystems and Star Choice, to do the sim-subbing (substituting a Canadian TV signal over an American one when the same programming is on at the same time, since the Canadian broadcaster has paid for the rights and sold ads in it) with respect to all high definition television stations, and in particular, the CITY-TV station in Toronto and the CTV stations in Toronto and Vancouver, by the end of the calendar year.
The Commission further directed Shaw and Star Choice to file detailed plans to implement HD substitution within that time frame, says today’s CRTC release.
However, on September 7, Shaw sent a letter saying it was having “difficulties” implementing the substitution – and that it believes the broadcasters should be paying for such upgrades anyway.
“Shaw did not provide a plan to implement HD substitution within the time frame set out in the Commission’s direction, nor did it express an intention to comply with the Commission’s instruction to implement HD substitution by the end of the year,” says the Commission.
So, last month, the CAB sent a new letter that said by failing to file detailed implementation plans for HD substitution Shaw has no intention of complying and the association “urged the Commission to take immediate action to require Shaw Cablesystems and Star Choice to comply with the regulatory framework for the substitution of HD signals. The CAB added that the Canadian HD signals in question have been operational for several years, and an increasing number of consumers are interested in these signals,” reads the CRTC release.
So, the Commission has called Shaw in for a public hearing January 15th with a December 13th deadline for further submissions on the matter.
