|
Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2006-373
|
|
Ottawa, 15
August 2006 |
|
Ethnic Channels Group
Limited
Across Canada |
|
Application 2004-1322-9
Public Hearing at Québec, Quebec
20 March 2006 |
|
Irish TV – Category 2 specialty service
|
|
In this decision, the
Commission approves an application for a broadcasting licence to
operate a new Category 2 specialty programming undertaking. |
|
The application
|
1. |
The Commission received an
application by Ethnic Channels Group Limited (ECGL), for a broadcasting
licence to operate a national ethnic Category 21
specialty programming undertaking to be known as Irish TV. |
2. |
The applicant proposed to offer
a service that would be devoted to the Irish community and would
broadcast primarily in the Gaelic language. The applicant proposed that
not less than 60% of all programming broadcast during the broadcast week
would be in the Gaelic language. |
3. |
All of the programming would
be drawn from the following categories, as set out in Schedule 1 to the
Specialty Services Regulations, 1990: 1 News; 2(a) Analysis and
interpretation; 2(b) Long-form documentary; 3 Reporting and actualities;
4 Religion; 5(b) Informal education/Recreation and leisure; 6(a)
Professional sports; 6(b) Amateur sports; 7(a) Ongoing drama series;
7(b) Ongoing comedy series (sitcoms); 7(c) Specials, mini-series or
made-for-TV feature films; 7(d) Theatrical feature films aired on TV;
7(e) Animated television programs and films; 7(f) Programs of comedy
sketches, improvisations, unscripted works, stand-up comedy; 7(g) Other
drama; 8(a) Music and dance other than music video programs or clips;
8(b) Music video clips; 8(c) Music video programs; 9 Variety; 10 Game
shows; 11 General entertainment and human interest; 12 Interstitials; 13
Public service announcements; and 14 Infomercials, promotional and
corporate videos. |
4. |
The applicant also requested
that it be authorized, by condition of licence, to broadcast up to six
minutes per hour of local or regional advertising. |
|
Interventions
|
5. |
The Commission received one
intervention in support of this application, interventions offering
comments, and one intervention in opposition. Comments were submitted by
Multivan Broadcast Limited Partnership2
(Multivan), the licensee of ethnic television programming undertaking
CHNM-TV Vancouver, and by NMTV inc. (NMTV), the licensee of the national
ethnic Category 2 specialty programming undertaking known as NuevoMundo
Television. The opposing intervention was submitted by CanWest
MediaWorks Inc. (CanWest). CanWest, as a partner in general
partnerships, is licensee of the national English-language specialty
television service Prime TV3
(now known as TV Tropolis4),
and is part owner of the national English-language Category 1 specialty
television services, Mystery5
and Men TV6. |
6. |
While Multivan did not oppose
the licensing of the proposed service, it did oppose the applicant’s
request for authority to broadcast local and regional advertising.
Multivan contended that the Commission’s policy to generally permit new
ethnic Category 2 services to broadcast up to six minutes per hour of
local advertising would generate additional competition that would
impede CHNM-TV’s ability to fulfill its regulatory obligations and
prevent it from becoming profitable. |
7. |
NMTV commented on the high
volume of applications filed with the Commission for new third-language
ethnic services and the process involved in the granting of these types
of broadcasting licences. |
8. |
CanWest expressed the view
that the applicant had failed to demonstrate that the proposed service
would not be directly competitive with existing pay, specialty or
Category 1 services. CanWest stated that, under the Commission’s revised
approach for the consideration of applications for new third-language
ethnic Category 2 pay and specialty services as set out in Revised
approach for the consideration of broadcasting licence applications
proposing new third-language ethnic Category 2 pay and specialty services,
Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2005-104,
23 November 2005 (Public Notice 2005-104),
a third-language ethnic Category 2 service must commit to devote at
least 90% of the program schedule of the service to programming in
languages other than English or French. The intervener submitted that
the proposed service is therefore not a third-language ethnic service,
and that competitiveness must therefore be determined on a non-ethnic
basis. |
9. |
CanWest further contended that
the definition of the nature of service proposed by the applicant
contained very few restrictions on programming subcategories and was
therefore too vague. CanWest argued that Irish TV could become a general
interest service, or a powerful niche service and that in either case,
the proposed service could be directly competitive with a number of
existing analog pay or specialty services or Category 1 services,
including CanWest’s specialty services Mystery TV, Men TV, or TVTropolis. |
|
Applicant’s replies
|
10. |
In response to Multivan, the
applicant maintained that the intervener had not made a compelling case
for the Commission to change its practice of generally permitting ethnic
Category 2 services to broadcast up to six minutes per hour of local
advertising. The applicant further contended that Multivan had not
provided any evidence that approval of this application would have any
impact on the intervener. |
11. |
The applicant did not respond
to NMTV’s comment. |
12. |
In response to CanWest’s
intervention, the applicant stated that there is no basis for CanWest’s
claim that this service would be directly competitive with Mystery TV,
Men TV, or TVTropolis, since Irish TV would be focused on serving a
particular ethno-cultural community. ECGL indicated that all of the
programming on this channel would be targeted to the Irish community
that identifies itself as newcomers to Canada from Ireland. The
applicant was of the view that the recent Irish immigrant population to
Canada constitutes as distinctive an ethno-cultural group as any other
and the use of the Gaelic language in at least 60% of all programming
would ensure that the service focuses on this community. |
13. |
ECGL further claimed that
services with a substantial portion of third-language programming are
already, by their nature, targeted to a specific minority audience,
whereas CanWest’s services draw upon the entire English-speaking
audience, and focus that audience through demographic-directed
programming or genre-specific programming. |
14. |
ECGL indicated that its
service would have as a starting point a target ethnic group, which is
already a minority group within the entire available audience and that
the Commission generally permits such a service to offer a broader range
of programming genres than would be the case for a service providing
only English- or French-language programming. ECGL noted that none of
CanWest’s services offer third-language programming or programming
specifically targeted to the relevant ethnic group. |
15. |
The applicant also contended
that ethnic services face different realities of distribution compared
to CanWest’s mainstream specialty services. These realities include no
guarantee of carriage rights, a higher subscriber fee for ethnic
services and a fairly small audience pool to draw upon. |
|
Commission’s analysis and determinations
|
16. |
In Licensing framework policy
for new digital pay and specialty services, Public Notice CRTC
2000-6, 13 January
2000, the Commission implemented a competitive, open-entry approach
to licensing Category 2 services. While the Commission does not consider
the impact that a new Category 2 service might have on an existing
Category 2 service, it does seek to ensure that newly licensed Category
2 services do not compete directly with any existing pay or specialty
television service, including any Category 1 service. |
17. |
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 proposed Category 2 service should be considered
directly competitive with an analog pay or specialty service or an
existing Category 1 service. The Commission examines each application
in detail, taking into consideration the proposed nature of service
and the unique circumstances of the genre in question. |
18. |
The Commission notes that the
applicant has made a commitment that the programming will be dedicated
to members of the Irish community who speak Gaelic. In addition, not
less than 60% of all programming broadcast during the broadcast week
will be in the Gaelic language and not more than 40% of all programming
broadcast during the broadcast week will be in the English language. The
Commission is imposing these commitments as conditions of licence,
as set out in the appendix to this decision. Should the applicant decide
to make any changes in the languages of broadcast, it would have to file
another application with the Commission for an amendment to its
condition of licence. |
19. |
Considering that a minimum of
60% of the programming will be in Gaelic, the Commission is satisfied
that the service will not directly compete with any analog pay or
specialty or existing Category 1 service, including the services offered
by CanWest and identified in its intervention. |
20. |
The Commission is satisfied
that the application is in conformity with all applicable terms and
conditions announced in Introductory statement – Licensing
of new digital pay and specialty services – Corrected Appendix 2,
Public Notice CRTC 2000-171-1,
6 March 2001 (Public Notice 2000-171-1).
Accordingly, the Commission approves the application by Ethnic
Channels Group Limited for a broadcasting licence to operate the national,
general interest, ethnic Category 2 specialty programming undertaking,
Irish TV. |
21. |
With respect to the
applicant’s request for regional and local advertising, the Commission
notes that the service will be devoted to the Irish community, and that
not less than 60% of all programming broadcast during the broadcast week
will be in the Gaelic language. As a result, the Commission is of the
view that the service would not compete directly with existing analog or
Category 1 services and that the addition of local or regional
advertising on the proposed service would have limited impact on them.
The Commission further notes that Multivan did not provide any evidence
that a negative financial impact would result from permitting the
proposed service to broadcast local and regional advertising. |
22. |
The Commission therefore
approves the applicant’s request for authority to broadcast up to
six minutes per hour of local and regional advertising. A condition
of licence to that effect is set out in the appendix to this
decision. |
23. |
The licence will expire 31 August
2012, and will be subject to the conditions set out in Public
Notice 2000-171-1,
as well as to the conditions set out in the appendix to this
decision. |
|
Issuance of the licence
|
24. |
A licence will be issued once
the applicant has satisfied the Commission, with supporting
documentation, that the following requirements have been met: |
|
- the applicant has entered into a distribution agreement with at
least one licensed distributor; and
|
|
- the applicant has informed the Commission in writing that it is
prepared to commence operations. The undertaking must be operational
at the earliest possible date and in any event no later than 36 months
from the date of this decision, unless a request for an extension of
time is approved by the Commission before 15 August 2009. In order to
ensure that such a request is processed in a timely manner, it should
be submitted at least 60 days before that date.
|
|
Secretary General |
|
This decision is to be appended
to the licence. It 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 |
|
Appendix to Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2006-373
|
|
Conditions of licence
|
|
1. The licence will be subject to the conditions set out
in Introductory statement – Licensing of new digital pay
and specialty services – Corrected Appendix 2, Public Notice
CRTC 2000-171-1,
6 March 2001, except for condition 4d) which will not apply, and
condition 4a) which is replaced by the following:
|
|
Except as otherwise provided in subparagraphs b) and c), the
licensee shall not broadcast more than twelve (12) minutes of
advertising material during each clock hour, no more than six (6)
minutes of which may consist of local or regional advertising.
|
|
2. The licensee shall provide a national, ethnic Category 2
specialty programming service devoted to the Irish community.
|
|
3. The programming shall be drawn exclusively from the following
categories, as set out in Schedule I to the Specialty Services
Regulations, 1990, as amended from time to time:
|
|
1 News
2 (a) Analysis and interpretation
(b) Long-form documentary
3 Reporting and actualities
4 Religion
5 (b) Informal education/Recreation and leisure
6 (a) Professional sports
(b) Amateur sports
7 Drama and comedy
(a) Ongoing drama series
(b) Ongoing comedy series (sitcoms)
(c) Specials, mini-series or made-for-TV feature films
(d) Theatrical feature films aired on TV
(e) Animated television programs and films
(f) Programs of comedy sketches, improvisations, unscripted works,
stand-up comedy
(g) Other drama
8 (a) Music and dance other than music video programs or clips
(b) Music video clips
(c) Music video programs
9 Variety
10 Game shows
11 General entertainment and human interest
12 Interstitials
13 Public service announcements
14 Infomercials, promotional and corporate videos
|
|
4. Not less than 60% of all programming broadcast during the
broadcast week shall be in the Gaelic language.
|
|
5. Where the licensee broadcasts religious programming as defined
in the Religious Broadcasting Policy, Public Notice CRTC
1993-78, 3 June
1993, the licensee shall adhere to the guidelines set out in sections
III.B.2.a) and IV of that public notice with respect to balance
and ethics in religious programming, as amended from time to time.
|
|
For the purposes of the conditions of this
licence, including condition of licence no. 1, broadcast day
means the period of up to 18 consecutive hours, beginning each day not
earlier than six o’clock in the morning and ending not later than one
o’clock in the morning of the following day, as selected by the
licensee, or any other period approved by the Commission. |
|
Footnotes:
|