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Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2005-1-1
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See also: 2005-1
Ottawa, 1 March 2005 |
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Determinations with respect to the
establishment of rules to govern the distribution of specialty services
on the basic service of fully digital cable undertakings; and call for
proposals for a framework to guide the migration of pay and specialty
services from analog to a digital distribution environment
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Extension of deadline for submission of proposals
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1. |
In order to bring the deadline for comments
into agreement with that set out in Determinations with respect
to the establishment of rules to govern the distribution of specialty
services on the basic service of fully digital cable undertakings;
and call for proposals for a framework to guide the migration of pay
and specialty services from analog to a digital distribution environment,
Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2005-1,
7 January 2005 (Public Notice 2005-1),
the Commission extended the deadlines for comments for two other proceedings
to 7 March 2005 in the following public notices: |
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- Call for comments on a proposed framework for the licensing and
distribution of high definition pay and specialty services – Second
extension of deadline for submission of comments, Broadcasting
Public Notice CRTC 2004-58-2,
7 January 2005; and
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- Call for comments on a request by the CCTA for the addition of
HD Net and Discovery HD Theater to the lists of satellite services
eligible for digital distribution – Second extension of deadline
for submission of comments, Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC
2004-61-2, 7 January 2005.
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2. |
The Commission has received letters from
Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc., Astral Media Inc., CHUM Limited,
CTV Inc., Global Television Network Inc., Corus Entertainment Inc., and
Rogers Communications Inc. seeking a further 90-day extension of the
deadline for comments for these proceedings. The parties noted that a
number of senior executives from major companies in the broadcast
distribution and programming industries are discussing the development
of a consensus, or, at a minimum, a narrowing of the issues raised in
the above noted public notices. |
3. |
The Commission also received a letter from
Shaw Communications Inc. (Shaw) opposing any further extensions to the
deadline. Shaw expressed concern that any further delay in the
Commission’s consideration of these issues would put Shaw and other
hybrid analog-digital cable operators at a regulatory and technological
disadvantage to other digital broadcast distributors. |
4. |
The Commission is of the view that the development
of an industry-wide consensus would further the successful transition
to digital distribution in a way that could best address the competing
interests of the parties. At the same time, the Commission does not
want to unduly delay its consideration of these matters. Accordingly,
the Commission extends the deadline for proposals with respect to
Public Notice 2005-1 by 45 days to 21
April 2005. Parties may file written replies commenting on any
of the proposals no later than 12 May 2005. |
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Secretary General |
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This document is available in alternative
format upon request, and may also be examined in PDF
format or in HTML at the following Internet site:
http://www.crtc.gc.ca |