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Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2006-464
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Ottawa, 31 August 2006 |
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Cogeco Cable Québec Inc.
Acton Vale, Bécancour (Gentilly sector), Courcelles, Danville,
Daveluyville, East Broughton, Forestville, Lac Carré, La Guadeloupe,
Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Conseil, Rivière Beaudette, Saint-Anicet, Saint-Benoît-Labre,
Saint-Donat-de-Montcalm, Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs, Sainte-Gertrude, Saint-Ephrem-de-Beauce,
Saint-Ferdinand (Bernierville sector), Saint-Léonard D’Aston,
Saint-Prosper-de-Dorchester, Saint-Théodore-D’Acton, Saint-Théophile,
Saint-Vital-de-Lambton, Tring-Jonction, Valcourt, and surrounding areas,
Quebec |
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Application 2005-1581-9
Public Hearing at Edmonton, Alberta
19 June 2006 |
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Class 3 regional licence for broadcasting distribution undertakings
in Quebec
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The Commission approves the
application by Cogeco Cable Québec Inc. for a Class 3 regional
broadcasting licence to operate cable distribution undertakings serving
the above-noted locations. |
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The application
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1. |
The Commission received an application by
Cogeco Cable Québec Inc. (Cogeco) for a Class 3 regional
broadcasting licence to operate the cable broadcasting distribution
undertakings (BDUs) serving the above-noted locations. Cogeco currently
operates these BDUs under separate Class 3 licences, with the exception
of the BDUs serving Courcelles, East Broughton, Forestville, La
Guadeloupe, Saint-Donat-de-Montcalm, Saint-Ephrem-de-Beauce,
Saint-Ferdinand (Bernierville sector), Saint-Vital-de-Lampton and
Tring-Jonction, which are currently exempted from licensing
requirements. The licences for these undertakings expire 31 August 2006.
The applicant requested that these BDUs be included in the Class 3
regional licence because the undertakings are now interconnected with a
Class 1 undertaking. |
2. |
Cogeco proposed to amend the condition of
licence relating to the use of 25% of its local availabilities for the
promotion of its discretionary programming services to allow the
promotion of non-programming services, such as Internet access and local
telephone service.1 |
3. |
The applicant also requested a condition of
licence permitting it to distribute, on a digital discretionary basis, a
second set of signals that provides the programming of the four U.S.
commercial networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX) and of the non-commercial PBS
network.2 |
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Intervention
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4. |
The Commission received comments from the
Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) expressing concerns about the
use of local availabilities. |
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Commission’s analysis and determination
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Applicant’s request to include its currently exempted BDUs
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5. |
In Revocation of the licences of exempted
small cable distribution undertakings, Broadcasting Decision CRTC
2002-45, 19
February 2002, pursuant to Exemption order respecting cable systems
having fewer than 2,000 subscribers, Broadcasting Decision CRTC
2001-121, 7
December 2001 (Public Notice 2001-121),
the Commission revoked the broadcasting licences issued to Cogeco
for the BDUs serving Courcelles, East Broughton, Forestville, La Guadeloupe,
Saint-Donat-de-Montcalm, Saint-Ephrem-de-Beauce, Saint-Vital-de-Lambton
and Tring-Jonction. |
6. |
Given that the BDUs serving Courcelles, La
Guadeloupe, Saint-Ephrem-de-Beauce and Saint-Vital-de-Lambton are
now interconnected with the Cogeco BDU serving Saint-Georges-de-Beauce,
Quebec, they no longer satisfy the terms and conditions of the Exemption
order attached to Public Notice 2001-121
and therefore must be licensed. |
7. |
Given that the BDUs serving East Broughton
and Tring-Jonction are now interconnected with the Cogeco BDU serving
Thetford Mines, Quebec, they no longer satisfy the terms and conditions
of the Exemption order attached to Public Notice 2001-121
and therefore must be licensed. |
8. |
Given that the BDU serving Forestville is
now interconnected with the Cogeco BDU serving Baie-Comeau, Quebec,
it no longer satisfies the terms and conditions of the Exemption order
attached to Public Notice 2001-121
and therefore must be licensed. |
9. |
Given that the BDU serving Saint-Donat-de-Montcalm
is now interconnected with the Cogeco BDU serving Sainte-Adèle, Quebec,
it no longer satisfies the terms and conditions of the Exemption order
attached to Public Notice 2001-121
and therefore must be licensed. |
10. |
In Revocation of licences – Exempted
cable broadcasting distribution undertakings that serve up to 6,000
subscribers, Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2005-13,
18 January 2005, pursuant to Exemption order respecting cable broadcasting
distribution undertakings that serve between 2,000 and 6,000 subscribers;
and Amendment to the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations,
Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2004-39,
14 June 2004 (Public Notice 2004-39),
the Commission revoked the broadcasting licence issued to Cogeco for
its BDU serving Bernierville (now Saint-Ferdinand (Bernierville sector)). |
11. |
Given that the BDU serving Saint-Ferdinand
(Bernierville sector) is now interconnected with the Cogeco BDU serving
Thetford Mines, Quebec, it no longer satisfies the terms and conditions
of the Exemption order attached to Public Notice 2004-39
and therefore must be licensed. The Commission notes that before being
exempted, the BDU serving Saint-Ferdinand was operated under a Class
2 licence but must now be included under Cogeco’s Class 3 regional
licence because it had 302 subscribers as at 31 August 2005. |
12. |
Given the circumstances leading to Cogeco’s
inclusion of these BDUs in its application, the Commission approves
the application to include in the Class 3 regional broadcasting licence
the currently exempted BDUs serving Courcelles, East Broughton,
Forestville, La Guadeloupe, Saint-Donat-de-Montcalm, Saint-Ephrem-de-Beauce,
Saint-Ferdinand (Bernierville sector), Saint-Vital-de-Lambton and
Tring-Jonction. |
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Other conditions of licence
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13. |
The Commission notes that the applicant
also proposed to add other conditions of licence for its Class 3 BDUs.
The Commission did not receive any interventions concerning these
proposals. A complete list of the conditions of licence imposed
by the Commission is appended to this decision. |
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New regional licence
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14. |
The Commission approves the
application by Cogeco Cable Québec Inc. for a Class 3 regional
broadcasting licence to operate the BDUs serving the locations noted
below. Subject to the requirements of this decision, the Commission will
issue a regional broadcasting licence to operate the Class 3 cable BDUs
to serve the following licensed areas: Acton Vale, Bécancour (zone
Gentilly), Courcelles, Danville, Daveluyville, East Broughton,
Forestville, Lac Carré, La Guadeloupe, Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Conseil,
Rivière Beaudette, Saint-Anicet, Saint-Benoît-Labre, Saint-Donat-de-Montcalm,
Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs, Sainte-Gertrude, Saint-Ephrem-de-Beauce,
Saint-Ferdinand (Bernierville sector), Saint-Léonard D’Aston,
Saint-Prosper-de-Dorchester, Saint-Théodore-D’Acton, Saint-Théophile,
Saint-Vital-de-Lambton, Tring-Jonction and Valcourt. These undertakings
will be regulated pursuant to the Broadcasting Distribution
Regulations. The licence will come into effect on 1 September 2006
and will expire on 31 August 2013. The licence will be subject to the
conditions specified therein, as well as to the conditions
set out in the appendix to this decision. |
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Employment equity
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15. |
Because this applicant is subject to the
Employment Equity Act and files reports concerning employment equity
with the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development, its
employment equity practices are not examined by the Commission. |
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Secretary General |
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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
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Appendix to Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2006-464
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Conditions of licence applicable to all licensed areas
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1. The licensee may, at its option, insert certain promotional
material as a substitute for the "local availabilities" (i.e.,
non-Canadian advertising material) of non-Canadian satellite services.
At least 75% of these local availabilities must be made available for
use by licensed Canadian programming services for the promotion of
their respective services, for the promotion of the community channel
and for unpaid Canadian public service announcements. A maximum of 25%
of the local availabilities may be used to provide subscribers with
information regarding customer service and channel realignments, and
for the promotion of discretionary programming services and packages,
cable FM service, additional cable outlets and non-programming
services, including Internet and telephone services.
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2. The licensee is authorized to distribute the following signals
on a digital discretionary basis:
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a second set of signals that provides the programming of the
four U.S. commercial networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX) and the
non-commercial PBS network (hereafter referred to as the U.S. 4+1
signals).
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The distribution on a discretionary basis on the licensee’s digital
service of a second set of U.S. 4+1 signals is subject to the
provision that, with respect to such signals, the licensee adhere to
the requirements regarding non-simultaneous program deletion set out
in section 43 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations. The
Commission may suspend the application of this provision, with respect
to the signals to be distributed, upon its approval of an executed
agreement between the licensee and broadcasters. Such an agreement
must deal with issues related to the protection of program rights
arising in connection with the discretionary carriage of a second set
of U.S. 4+1 signals solely on the licensee’s digital service.
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Conditions of licence applicable to specific licensed areas
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Acton Vale
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3. The licensee is relieved from the requirement set out in section
32(2) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to
distribute the regional signal of CBFT (CBC) Montréal on the basic
band. The licensee will distribute this signal on channel 15.
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Danville
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4. The licensee is relieved from the requirement set out in section
32(2) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to
distribute the extra-regional signal of CBFT (CBC) Montréal on the
basic band. The licensee will distribute this signal on channel 16.
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Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Conseil
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5. The licensee is relieved from the requirement set out in section
32(2) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to
distribute the local signal of CKTM-TV (CBC) Trois-Rivières on the
basic band. The licensee will instead distribute the signal of CKSH-TV
(CBC) Sherbrooke on channel 13.
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6. The licensee is relieved from the requirement set out in section
32(2) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to
distribute the regional signal of CBFT (CBC) Montréal on the basic
band. The licensee will distribute this signal on channel 15.
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7. The licensee is relieved from the requirement set out in section
32(1)a) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to
distribute the local signal of CIVC-TV (SRTQ) Trois-Rivières. The
licensee will instead distribute the regional signal of CIVS-TV (SRTQ)
Sherbrooke.
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Saint-Théodore-d’Acton
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8. The licensee is relieved from the requirement set out in section
32(2) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to
distribute the regional signal of CBFT (CBC) Montréal on the basic
band. The licensee will distribute this signal on channel 15.
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Valcourt
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9. The licensee is relieved from the requirement set out in section
32(2) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to
distribute the regional signal of CBFT (CBC) Montréal on the basic
band. The licensee will distribute this signal on channel 15.
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Footnotes:
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Date Modified: 2006-08-31 |