|
Broadcasting Act
Directions to the CRTC (Direct-To-Home (DTH) Satellite Distribution Undertakings) Order
Order issuing directions to the Canadian Radio-television and telecommunications
Commission respecting policy for the licensing of direct-to-home (DTH)
satellite distribution undertakings
Short title
1. This Order may be cited as the Directions to the CRTC (Direct-to-Home
(DTH) Satellite Distribution Undertakings) Order
Interpretation
2. In this Order,
"CRTC" means the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission;
(CRTC)
"DTH distribution undertaking" means a Direct-to-Home (DTH)
Satellite Distribution Undertaking;
(entreprise de distribution par SRD)
"DTH pay-per-view television programming undertaking" means a
pay-per-view television programming undertaking licensed to provide
pay-per-view services for distribution to subscribers through a licensed
DTH distribution undertaking;
(entreprise de programmation de télévision à la carte par SRD)
"other distribution undertakings" includes cable
distribution, Satellite Master Antenna Television (SMATV) and
radiocommunication distribution undertakings that are licensed or exempted
by the CRTC from the requirement for a licence under section 9 of the
Broadcasting Act;
(autres entreprises de distribution)
"pay-per-view television programming undertaking" means a pay
television programming undertaking that provides a pay-per-view service.
(entreprise de programmation de télévision à la carte)
DIRECTIONS
3. The CRTC is directed to promote, through licensing, a dynamically competitive market for DTH distribution undertakings.
4. The CRTC is directed to ensure, by appropriate means, that, with respect to the operation of a licensed DTH distribution undertaking,
(a) substantially the same rules that are in effect for other distribution undertakings govern the selection of particular Canadian and foreign programming services that are offered by the undertaking to its subscribers;
(b) the undertaking is subject to the same generally applicable Canadian policy as other broadcasting undertakings in respect of the use of Canadian and foreign satellite facilities;
(c) the undertaking is subject to equitable obligations and makes maximum contributions to Canadian programming, including a significant financial contribution derived from a percentage of gross annual revenues to the production of Canadian programming, and that the financial contribution is administered independently of the undertaking;
(d) the undertaking is not prevented from or impeded in distributing to its subscribers the same or equivalent programming services offered by other distribution undertakings as a result of contracts or arrangements entered into by other licensees for the acquisition of rights to the distribution or exhibition of such programming services via other distribution undertakings within Canada;
(e) the undertaking is prohibited from distributing any pay-per-view service other than that offered by a DTH pay-per-view television programming undertaking;
(f) the undertaking is not prohibited from distributing a pay-per-view service referred to in paragraph (e) for the sole reason that a foreign satellite is to be used for the distribution of the non-Canadian programming of that pay-per-view service, provided that such use is consistent with generally applicable Canadian satellite policy; and
(g) where the undertaking decides to distribute one or more English-language pay-per-view services, the undertaking is required to distribute at least one French-language pay-per-view service as soon as that service becomes licensed for DTH distribution.
5. The CRTC is directed
(a) not to authorize any person or class of persons to carry on a DTH distribution undertaking other than by means of a licence issued by the CRTC for that purpose; and
(b) following the conclusion of the licensing process referred to in section 7, to take all necessary and appropriate steps to ensure that no person is authorized to carry on a DTH distribution undertaking by any means other than a licence.
6. The CRTC is directed not to refuse to issue a licence to an applicant to carry on a DTH distribution undertaking for the sole reason that the applicant holds a licence to carry on a DTH pay-per-view television programming undertaking.
7. The CRTC is directed to call, immediately on the coming into force of this
Order, for licence applications to carry on DTH distribution undertakings and,
thereafter, to complete the licensing process in respect of those applications
at the earliest time practicable and, in the absence of the most compelling of
circumstances, not later than November 1, 1995.
Date modified: 2002-01-07 |
