Speech
Opening remarks
by Charles Dalfen
Chairman, Canadian Radio-television
and Telecommunications Commission
at the public hearing in Gatineau, Quebec
Gatineau, Quebec
May 26th, 2003
(CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY)
Good day ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this public hearing.
My name is Charles Dalfen, and I am Chairman of the CRTC. I will be chairing
this hearing with my colleagues: Andrée Wylie, Vice-Chairperson, Broadcasting;
David Colville, Vice-Chairman, Telecommunications and Commissioner, Atlantic
Region; Cindy Grauer, Commissioner, British Columbia and Yukon regions, as well
as Joan Pennefather, Commissioner.
The Commission team working with us is composed of Tandy Greer-Yull, Hearing
Manager, James Wilson, Legal Counsel, and Pierre LeBel, Hearing Secretary. Please
see Mr. Lebel if you have any questions about hearing procedures.
At this hearing, we will review the licence renewal for the national service,
VoicePrint, as well as licence renewals for several specialty services. We will
also examine an application from Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. to amend the licence of
OMNI.2, an application from Crossroads Television System to amend the licence of
CITS-TV, and finally, an application from Bea-Ver Communications Inc. to amend
the licence of CKUE-FM.
VoicePrint
First of all, we will hear from National Broadcast Reading Service Inc.
regarding the licence renewal of the VoicePrint English-language national audio
programming service. The licensee has applied to amend its condition of licence
relating to its wholesale rate by increasing the monthly charge to distributors
from $0.01 to $0.04 per subscriber.
Licence renewals for specialty television services
We will then hear the applications for the licence renewals for specialty
television services. As part of this process, the Commission will consider the
renewal of 22 specialty television services that were approved in 1996. This is
the largest number of analogue services that we have ever dealt with at one time.
It is valuable for us to hear from representatives of the major broadcasting
groups holding specialty television service licences, and to discuss the status
of the specialty television service sector in Canada, as well as the challenges
and the opportunities it is facing. In the preamble to Broadcasting Notice of
Public Hearing CRTC 2003-3, the Commission listed a number of issues that it
would consider at this hearing, including the following:
- Proposed increases in wholesale rates and the criteria used in evaluating
such proposals
- The contribution of licensees to Canadian programming
- Proposals for amending conditions of licence governing the nature of
service, including those with respect to Canadian drama
- Mechanisms and policies related to broadcasting adult programming during
watershed hours in all time zones
- Making television programming more accessible to persons who are visually
impaired
- Commitments to closed captioning
- Contributions to cultural diversity
- And finally, commitments to independent production and regional production
and reflection
Order of appearance
The Commission will hear the licence renewal applications in the following
order:
- MuchMoreMusic
- Sportsnet
- Teletoon/Télétoon
- The Score
- The Comedy Network
- Outdoor Life Network
- CTV Newsnet
- Home and Garden Television Canada
- History Television
- Prime TV
- Musimax
I note that CTV Newsnet, Sportsnet and The Score have also applied for
wholesale rate increases.
Rogers Broadcasting Ltd.
We will then hear from the representatives of Rogers Broadcasting, which wants
to amend the licence of the OMNI.2 television station in Toronto-Hamilton. The
applicant is proposing to add rebroadcasting transmitters for its OMNI.2 station
at Ottawa and London.
Crossroads Television System (CITS-TV)
After that, we will hear the Crossroads Television System application to amend
the licence of CITS-TV Burlington in order to add transmitters at Ottawa and
London to rebroadcast its programming.
Bea-Ver Communications Inc.
Finally, representatives from Bea-Ver Communications will present their
application to amend the licence of CKUE-FM. The applicant is proposing to add a
transmitter at Windsor in order to increase local weekly programming from 42 to
84 hours and increase its contribution to the development of Canadian talent. It
also wants to broadcast up to 85% hits.
Process
This hearing will continue until June 3. Please note that the panel intends to
sit Monday through Friday this week to deal with the applicants' presentations
and questions. Next Monday and Tuesday we will deal with interventions and
replies. Each day will begin at 9:30 a.m. but may run as late as 8:00 p.m. We
will notify you of any changes in the schedule as they arise.
We would ask you to please turn off your cell phones and beepers while you are
in the hearing room as they tend to be an unwelcome distraction for participants
and panel members. We are counting on your cooperation in this regard throughout
the hearing.
I will now invite the Hearing Secretary, Mr. Pierre LeBel, to explain the
hearing procedure to you. Mr. LeBel.
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Contact: Denis Carmel,
Tel.: (819)
997-9403, TDD: (819) 994-0423, Fax: (819) 997-4245
e-Mail:
denis.carmel@crtc.gc.ca
Toll-free #
1-877-249-CRTC (2782)
TDD -
Toll-free # 1-877-909-2782
This document is available in alternative format upon request.
Date Modified: 2003-05-26 |
