OTTAWA – Canadians may soon have more teleshopping options after the CRTC was urged to reconsider its earlier decision denying U.S.-based television shopping service QVC a place on Canadian TV screens.
The Federal Court of Appeal ruled earlier this month to allow an appeal of the Commission’s April 2016 decision that rejected an application by VMedia Inc. to add QVC to the list of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution in Canada.
In that decision, the Commission concluded that if authorized, QVC would be carrying on a broadcasting undertaking in whole or in part in Canada, a move that is contingent upon it either obtaining a broadcasting licence or being otherwise authorized pursuant to a valid exemption order. The CRTC added that it was unable to issue a broadcasting licence to QVC and that the service does not meet the criteria set out in the Teleshopping Exemption Order.
But Justice David Near challenged that notion, saying that the Commission’s analysis fails to explain why, based on the meanings of the terms ‘broadcasting undertaking’ and ‘programming undertaking’ in the Broadcasting Act, QVC would be carrying on a programming undertaking (and hence a broadcasting undertaking) while the other non-Canadian broadcasters whose programming services are on the list would not be carrying on a broadcasting undertaking.
“I recognize that the Commission is a specialized expert body with a broad mandate to regulate the complex field of broadcasting and, as such, it is owed deference”, Near wrote. “Even though the decision to authorize a non-Canadian programming service for distribution is discretionary and engages the Commission’s past treatment of foreign teleshopping services, the Commission must reasonably interpret and apply the Act. In my view, the Commission failed to meet this standard in the decision under appeal.”
