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Public Notice CRTC 2000-22
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Ottawa, 4 February 2000 |
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Call for Applications for
Licences for New Digital Pay and Specialty Television Programming Undertakings
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Summary |
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The Commission calls for applications for licences to
operate new digital pay and specialty services, in accordance with the licensing policy
set out in Public Notice CRTC 2000-6, dated 13 January 2000.
Applications should be filed on or before 3 April 2000 and will be considered at a
public hearing to be held in the National Capital Region in August 2000. The Commission
will announce details of the public hearing at a later date. |
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Introduction |
1.
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In Public Notice CRTC 2000-6
Licensing framework policy for new digital pay and specialty services, the
Commission set out a framework for licensing new Canadian pay and specialty services for
digital distribution. As described in that notice, the Commission will license two
different categories of new services, Category 1 and Category 2. |
2.
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The Commission now calls for applications for
new Category 1 and Category 2 services for digital distribution.
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Category 1 services |
3.
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As noted in PN 2000-6,
the Commission expects to license approximately ten new specialty services as Category 1
services.
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4.
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In assessing applications for new Category 1
services, the Commission will examine the merits of each proposal in light of the
licensing criteria set out in PN 2000-6. These include:
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- contributions to Canadian programming, including minimum commitments to
exhibition (no less than 50% Canadian content exhibition by the end of the licence
term), original production and expenditures. Specific requirements in these areas will be
established on a case-by-case basis, based on the applicants' commitments;
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- attractiveness of the service to potential viewers. Particular attention
will be paid to the evidence of demand provided in the market studies contained in the
applications. The Commission encourages applicants and other interested parties to file
jointly commissioned studies where possible;
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- contribution to the diversity of available programming genres;
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- affordability, or cost, of the proposed service to potential subscribers,
based on the proposed wholesale rate; and
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- reasonableness of the business plan. As the Commission will license
applications based on the commitments made, it must assess the ability of the applicants
to meet their objectives. Accordingly, the Commission will consider the market studies and
business plans of the applicants.
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5.
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As set out in PN 2000-6,
when assessing applications for Category 1 services, the Commission will also take into
account contributions to linguistic diversity in the digital offering, contributions to
the reflection of Canada's cultural diversity, as well as innovation in the use of the
digital medium. While the Commission recognizes that the latter may not be appropriate to
all applications, it welcomes creative and innovative proposals.
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6.
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As the minimum levels of Canadian content and
other commitments, including the nature of their service, will be considered on a
competitive basis for Category 1 services, the Commission emphasizes that applicants
should not expect to be permitted to change their commitments after they have filed their
applications.
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Category 2 services
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7.
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As stated in PN 2000-6,
the Commission intends to grant licences to all Category 2 applications that meet
basic licensing criteria. These criteria include compliance with the Commission's
ownership policies. They should also comply with the eligibility requirements set out in
P.C. 1997-486, dated 8 April 1997, Direction to the CRTC (Ineligibility of
non-Canadians), amended by P.C. 1998-1268, dated 15 July 1998, and in
P.C. 1985-2108, dated 27 June 1985, Direction to the CRTC (Ineligibility to
hold broadcasting licences), amended by P.C. 1997-629, dated 22 April 1997.
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8.
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Applicants will also be expected to commit to
minimum Canadian content exhibition requirements as set out in PN 2000-6
and further clarified below:
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- English-language and French-language specialty services will be expected
to commit to minimum Canadian content exhibition levels as follows: 15% in Year 1; 25% in
Year 2; 35% in Year 3 and each year of the licence term thereafter;
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- Ethnic specialty services will be expected to commit to a minimum
Canadian content level of 15% in each year of the licence term.
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- In addition to the above requirements, music video specialty services
will be expected to commit to exhibit a minimum level of Canadian music videos as follows:
20% in Year 1; 25% in Year 2; 30% in Year 3 and each year of the licence term thereafter.
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- The Commission will expect Canadian content exhibition and expenditure
commitments for pay services to be comparable to those of existing pay services.
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9.
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As noted in PN 2000-6,
the Commission will not consider the viability of proposed Category 2 services, their
business or marketing plans, or the rates to be charged by them.
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Competition with new and existing
services
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10.
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The Commission will not license a Category 1
or Category 2 service that is directly competitive with an existing pay or specialty
service or with another Category 1 service. Category 2 services that are competitive with
other Category 2 services will, however, be licensed. |
11.
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The Commission will assess the matter of
competition on a case-by-case basis. Each applicant will be required to indicate in
the application form whether their proposed service will be directly competitive with any
existing pay or specialty service, and to provide a detailed justification in support of
their position.
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12.
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In addition, once applications for new digital
programming services have been published, all applicants will be given the opportunity to
provide written comments on whether or not their proposed service would be directly
competitive with any of the Category 1 services proposed.
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13.
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The intervention process will provide all
interested parties, including applicants, with the opportunity to comment on whether any
of the applications filed should be considered to be directly competitive, either with an
existing pay or specialty service or with an application for a new Category 1 service.
During the reply stage of the intervention process, applicants will be given the
opportunity to respond to any such interventions.
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Other matters pertaining to
applications for Category 1 and Category 2 services
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Advertising |
14.
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The Commission expects to limit Category 1 and
Category 2 specialty services, by condition of licence, to a maximum of 12 minutes of
advertising material per clock hour.
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Closed captioning
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15.
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The Commission will expect applicants for both
Category 1 and Category 2 English-language services to commit to close caption at least
90% of their programming by the end of the licence term. Ethnic services will be expected
to close caption at least 90% of their English-language programming by the end of the
licence term. Applicants for ethnic services will also be asked to specify appropriate
commitments to close caption third-language programming.
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16.
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The Commission will review with applicants for
Category 1 French-language services appropriate commitments for closed captioning.
Applicants for French-language Category 2 services will be expected to commit to close
caption at least 50% of their programming by the end of the licence term.
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Process
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17.
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Applications must be filed with the Secretary
General of the CRTC on or before 3 April 2000. Unsuccessful applicants
for Category 1 licences will not be automatically considered for Category 2
licences. Accordingly, interested parties may wish to apply for both Category 1 and
Category 2 services. In this case, separate application forms must be submitted.
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18.
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The Commission expects to consider
applications filed for Category 2 services after this licensing round, on an ongoing
basis.
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19.
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The Commission notes that it expects to
consider applications for new pay-per-view or video-on-demand services filed on or before
3 April 2000 at the same public hearing as the applications arising from this call.
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20.
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Application forms for new digital specialty
service programming undertakings (Category 1 and Category 2) will be available at the
Commission's offices and website by 11 February 2000.
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21.
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The Commission stresses that applications must
contain all required information by the filing date or they will be deemed to be
incomplete and returned by the Commission.
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22.
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The Commission reminds applicants that, as
usual, applications will be treated as confidential until the Commission issues a Public
Notice announcing the Public Hearing. |
23.
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Applications must be filed in hard copy form
and may be filed at any of the following Commission offices:
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Central Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
1 Promenade du Portage,
Room G-5
Hull, Quebec K1A ON2
Tel: (819) 997-2429 -
TDD: 994-0423
Telecopier: (819) 994-0218
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Bank of Commerce Building
1809 Barrington Street
Suite 1007
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3K8
Tel: (902) 426-7997 -
TDD: 426-6997
Telecopier: (902) 426-2721
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405 de Maisonneuve Blvd. East
2nd Floor, Suite B2300
Montréal, Quebec
H2L 4J5
Tel: (514) 283-6607 -
TDD: 283-8316
Telecopier: (514) 283-3689
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Kensington Building
275 Portage Avenue
Suite 1810
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2B3
Tel: (204) 983-6306 -
TDD: 983-8274
Telecopier: (204) 983-6317
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530-580 Hornby Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6C 3B6
Tel: (604) 666-2111 -
TDD: 666-0778
Telecopier: (604) 666-8322
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CRTC Documentation Centre
Scotia Place Tower Two
19th Floor, Suite 1909
10060 Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
T5J 3R8
Tel: (780) 495-3224
Telecopier: (780) 495-3214
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CRTC Documentation Centre
55 St. Clair Avenue East
Suite 624
Toronto, Ontario
M4T 1M2
Telephone: (416) 952-9096
Telecopier: (416) 954-6343
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CRTC Documentation Centre
Cornwall Professional Building
2125 - 11th Avenue
Room 103
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4P 3X3
Telephone: (306) 780-3422
Telecopier: (306) 780-3319
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24.
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The Commission encourages parties to file an
electronic version by e-mail or on diskette. The Commissions e-mail address for
electronically filed documents is: procedure@crtc.gc.ca
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25.
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Electronic submissions should be in the HTML
format. As an alternative, those making submissions may use "Microsoft Word" for
text and "Microsoft Excel" for spreadsheets. |
26.
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Please number each paragraph of the comment.
In addition, please enter the line ***End of Document*** following the last paragraph.
This will help the Commission verify that the document has not been damaged during
transmission. |
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Future public hearing
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27.
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The public hearing at which the submitted
applications will be heard will be held in August 2000. The Commission will
announce the details at a later date. The public will be given the opportunity to comment
and the deadline for filing interventions will be announced in the notice of public
hearing. |
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Secretary General |
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This notice is available in alternative
format upon request, and may also be viewed at the following Internet site: http://www.crtc.gc.ca |