Radio / Television News

More CRTC streamlining



OTTAWA – The Commission hopes that decisions on adding foreign services to the eligible satellite list will get a bit quicker with a recently announced decision.

In calling for comments on adding French channel Planète Thalassa to the lists of eligible satellite services, the CRTC also said that, commencing with this proceeding, it will rely primarily on comments filed to identify the Canadian pay and specialty services with which a sponsored non-Canadian service might compete, and which should therefore be included in its assessment of the competitiveness of the non-Canadian service.

Videotron has asked the CRTC to add Planète Thalassa, a channel out of France which offers seven days a week of programming dedicated to the marine world, including magazine programs and documentaries. No programs are subtitled.

"The Commission’s approach to requests for the addition of non-Canadian English- and French-language services to the digital lists was set out initially in Call for proposals to amend the lists of eligible satellite services through the inclusion of additional non-Canadian services eligible for distribution on a digital basis only, Public Notice CRTC 2000-173, 14 December 2000 (Public Notice 2000-173)," says Friday’s notice.

"In Public Notice 2000-173, the Commission indicated that it would assess such requests in the context of its general policy which, among other things, precludes the addition of a non-Canadian satellite service that can be considered either totally or partially competitive with Canadian specialty or pay television services. In applying this policy, the Commission stated that it would take into account all specialty and pay television programming services whose licence applications had been approved by the Commission, including all of the launched and unlaunched Category 1 and Category 2 specialty and pay television services."

Beginning with this proceeding, the Commission will rely primarily on the comments filed to identify the Canadian pay and specialty services with which non-Canadian services, such as Planète Thalassa, might compete, and which therefore should be included in its assessment of the competitiveness of the service. "Parties commenting in this proceeding, and who are of the view that Planète Thalassa would be competitive, should therefore name the specific Canadian pay or specialty services with which they consider Planète Thalassa would compete, and provide details, such as a programming comparison, to support their views," says the notice.

www.crtc.gc.ca