|
Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2005-405
|
|
Ottawa, 12 August 2005 |
|
Learning and Skills Television of
Alberta Limited
Across Canada |
|
Application 2004-0359-3
Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2005-19
28 February 2005 |
|
CourtTV Canada – Licence amendment
|
|
The Commission denies the
application to amend the broadcasting licence for the national
Category 2 specialty programming undertaking known as CourtTV Canada in
order to increase the level of drama that it may broadcast. |
|
The application
|
1. |
The Commission received an application by
Learning and Skills Television of Alberta Limited (Learning and Skills)
to amend the broadcasting licence for the national Category 2 specialty
programming undertaking known as CourtTV Canada (formerly known as The
Law & Order Channel) in order to increase the level of drama that it may
broadcast. |
2. |
CourtTV Canada’s nature of service
conditions of licence1
stipulate that: |
|
a) The licensee shall provide a national English-language Category
2 specialty television service that will feature entertainment
programming about police, law, the courts, emergency and medical
response teams, disaster and relief operations featuring people and
organizations that uphold law and order in our society. There will be
special emphasis given to the Canadian experience, both historical and
current, in the development and delivery of law and order. Canada’s
emphasis on "peace, order and good government" will be stressed, as
opposed to the United States emphasis on "life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness." A daily live Law and Order Help
program, with a strong, interactive website component, will assist
people with specific legal and other issues, and will provide
up-to-date information and service.
|
|
b) The programming must be drawn exclusively from the following
categories, as set out in Schedule I to the Specialty Services
Regulations, 1990:
|
|
1 News
2 (a) Analysis and interpretation
(b) Long-form documentary
3 Reporting and actualities
5 (a) Formal education and pre-school
(b) Informal education/Recreation and leisure
7 (a) Ongoing drama series
(c) Specials, mini-series or made-for-TV feature films
(d) Theatrical feature films aired on TV
(g) Other drama
12 Interstitials
13 Public service announcements
14 Infomercials, promotional and corporate videos
|
|
c) No more than 15% of all programming broadcast during the
broadcast week shall be drawn from category 7.
|
3. |
In its application, Learning and Skills
proposed to replace condition of licence c) with the following: |
|
c) No more than 35% of all programming broadcast during the
broadcast week shall be drawn from category 7.
|
|
Interventions
|
4. |
The Commission received an intervention in
support of this application by Mr. David Colpitts and interventions in
opposition by Global Television Network Inc. (Global) and CTV Inc. (CTV).
Global and CTV have ownership interests in conventional television
and/or analog specialty and Category 1 and Category 2 services. Among
its broadcasting holdings, Global is the co-owner of the national
Category 1 service, Mystery (formerly known as 13th Street).
Mystery is dedicated to programming offering suspense, espionage,
thrillers, police drama and classic mysteries. |
5. |
Global submitted that the applicant did not
demonstrate that the proposed increase in drama programming would not
make CourtTV Canada directly competitive with Mystery. Global further
contended that allowing CourtTV Canada to increase the level of
programming drawn from category 7 to 35% of the broadcast week would
place Mystery at a competitive disadvantage. In support of its claim,
Global pointed out that Category 1 services are subject to much more
stringent requirements with respect to the exhibition of, and
expenditures on Canadian programming than Category 2 services. It noted
that Mystery must currently devote not less than 55% of the broadcast
day to Canadian programs, and expend a minimum of 43% of its annual
gross revenues on Canadian programs while CourtTV Canada is only
required to devote 35% of the broadcast day to Canadian programs and is
not subject to any requirements with respect to expenditures on Canadian
programs. |
6. |
Global further contended that, rather than
adding to programming diversity, allowing CourtTV Canada to air more
drama would increase the duplication of programming. In addition, Global
expressed the opinion that approval of this application would exacerbate
competition for programming rights for drama programming. |
7. |
CTV submitted that CourtTV Canada was
originally licensed to provide a service that includes a strong
educational component. In CTV’s view, the approval of this application
would change CourtTV Canada’s focus from educational to entertainment
and essentially transform the service into a crime drama network. |
|
Applicant’s response
|
8. |
In response to Global’s intervention, the
applicant acknowledged that there would be some duplication in the
programming broadcast by CourtTV Canada and that aired by Mystery, but
maintained that such duplication would not be directly competitive.
Moreover, the applicant alleged that any similarities in the programming
offered by the two services are a result of Mystery’s non-compliance
with its nature of service conditions of licence. According to the
applicant, Mystery currently broadcasts programming that is consistent
with a police and action drama service as opposed to the mystery and
suspense service that it was originally licensed to provide. In the
applicant’s view, Mystery should therefore not be permitted to seek
protection from competition from Category 2 services. |
9. |
In response to CTV’s intervention, the
applicant stated that the description of CourtTV Canada’s nature of
service set out in its conditions of licence states that the service
will "feature entertainment programming about police, law, the courts,
emergency and medical response teams, disaster and relief operations
featuring people and organizations that uphold law and order in our
society." The applicant further maintained that, while CourtTV Canada
does schedule programming drawn from category 5(a) Formal education and
pre-school and category 5(b) Informal education/Recreation and leisure,
it is an entertainment service. |
|
Commission’s analysis and determination
|
10. |
In Licensing framework policy for new
digital pay and specialty services, Public Notice CRTC 2000-6,
13 January 2000 (Public Notice 2000-6),
the Commission implemented a competitive, open-entry approach to licensing
Category 2 services. While the Commission does not consider the impact
that a Category 2 service might have on an existing Category 2 service,
it does seek to ensure that Category 2 services do not compete directly
with any existing pay or specialty television service, including any
Category 1 service. |
11. |
In Introductory statement - Licensing
of new digital pay and specialty services, Public Notice CRTC
2000-171, 14
December 2000, the Commission adopted a case-by-case approach in determining
whether a Category 2 service should be considered directly competitive
with an existing pay, specialty or Category 1 service. The Commission
examines each application in detail, taking into consideration the
nature of service and the unique circumstances of the genre in question. |
12. |
In the present case, the Commission has
considered the concerns raised by Global that approval of the proposed
licence amendment would make CourtTV Canada directly competitive with
the Category 1 service, Mystery. As noted above, CourtTV Canada’s nature
of service conditions of licence specify that it will "feature
entertainment programming about police, law, the courts, emergency and
medical response teams, disaster and relief operations featuring people
and organizations that uphold law and order in our society"; and that it
will emphasize "the Canadian experience, both historical and current, in
the development and delivery of law and order." In comparison, Mystery’s
nature of service conditions of licence specify that it be "devoted to
mystery and suspense programming", that it "nurture and encourage short
form Canadian mysteries" and that it "provide a wide assortment of
genre-specific programs including movies, television series, short films
and documentaries that will focus exclusively on the delivery of
entertaining programming on suspense, espionage and classic mysteries."2 |
13. |
Both CourtTV Canada and Mystery may draw
programming from the following categories: 1, 2(b), 5(b), 7(a) 7(c),
7(d), 7(g), 12, 13, and 14. The only categories that CourtTV Canada may
draw programming from that Mystery may not are the following information
categories: 2(a) Analysis and interpretation, 3 Reporting and
actualities, and 5(a) Formal education and pre-school. For its part,
Mystery may draw programming from additional drama categories, namely
7(b) Ongoing comedy series (sitcoms), 7(e) Animated television programs
and films, 7(f) Programs of comedy sketches, improvisations, unscripted
works, stand-up comedy and 7(g) Other drama. Further, the amount of
programming that CourtTV Canada may broadcast from the drama categories
7(a), 7(c), 7(d), and 7(g) is restricted to 15% of the broadcast week.
In comparison, the amount of programming that Mystery may broadcast from
category 1 News is restricted to 15% of the broadcast week, as is the
amount of programming that it may broadcast from category 7(f) Programs
of comedy sketches, improvisations, unscripted works, stand-up comedy. |
14. |
The Commission finds that there are
substantial similarities in the definition of CourtTV Canada’s nature of
service and the definition of Mystery’s nature of service. Both have
broadly-defined natures of service that authorize each licensee to offer
programming that focuses on investigation and law and order genres, and
most of the program categories from which each licensee may draw
programming are the same. However, the current restriction on the amount
of drama programming that CourtTV Canada may broadcast mitigates the
similarities between CourtTV Canada and Mystery and helps to ensure that
the Category 2 service is not directly competitive with the Category 1
service. The Commission finds that CourtTV Canada’s proposal to increase
the amount of drama programming that it may broadcast would allow the
service to become directly competitive with the existing Category 1
service, Mystery, and, consequently, approval of this application would
be contrary to the Commission’s licensing policy set out in Public
Notice 2000-6. |
15. |
Accordingly, the Commission denies
the application by Learning and Skills Television of Alberta Limited to
amend the broadcasting licence for the national Category 2 specialty
programming undertaking known as CourtTV Canada in order to increase the
level of drama programming that it may broadcast. |
|
Secretary General |
|
This decision 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
|
|
Footnotes:
|
Date Modified: 2005-08-12 |