OTTAWA – The CRTC is asking for feedback on its plan to merge regulations for specialty and pay television services into a single set of regulations, to be known as the Discretionary Services Regulations.
Currently, the Pay Television Regulations, 1990 and the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990 govern discretionary services. The Commission’s proposal, which stems from the Let's Talk TV proceeding, suggests streamlining the licensing of programming services into three broad categories:
– television services (over-the-air conventional and community television stations and provincial educational services);
– discretionary services (all pay and specialty services); and
– on-demand services (pay-per-view and video-on-demand services).
“The Commission considers that the differences between the current regulations for pay and specialty services are relatively minor and that creating a single set of regulations for both types of services will provide simplicity and eliminate repetition, consistent with its intent to streamline the licensing process and consolidate licence classes”, reads Monday’s call for comments.
The CRTC said that it will accept interventions received by October 30, 2016.
