News release

July 15^th, 2004

The CRTC approves nine new non-Canadian satellite services and begins a process to review its approach to authorizing non-Canadian third-language services

OTTAWA-GATINEAU - The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) released three public notices today approving the addition of nine new non-Canadian third-language services to the lists of eligible satellite services and denied six others. The authorized services will enable Canadians to benefit from new programs, principally in Spanish, Arabic, German and Romanian.

The Commission also released today a call for comments on various questions related to its assessment of requests to add non-Canadian third-language services to its lists of eligible satellite services for distribution on a digital basis. The Commission wishes to determine whether there are ways to improve access by Canadians to non-Canadian third-language programming, while continuing to foster Canadian third-language and other ethnic services, in accordance with the objectives set out in the Broadcasting Act (the Act).

The Commission's approach

The Commission's approach to authorizing the distribution of non-Canadian services in Canada aims to strike a balance among the objectives of the Act. For example, the Act states that the Canadian broadcasting system should, through its programming, serve the needs and interests and reflect the circumstances of Canadians, including the multicultural and multiracial nature of Canadian society.

The Commission's policy precludes the addition of non-Canadian services to the lists if the Commission determines them to be either partially or totally competitive with Canadian specialty or pay television services. This serves to ensure that the Canadian licensed services are in a position to fulfil their commitments and obligations regarding the airing of Canadian programming, a responsibility that their non-Canadian competitors do not have. Canadian services make an important contribution to fulfilling the objectives in the Act, for example by airing Canadian programs that enrich Canadian culture and encourage the development of Canadian expression.

When it deals with requests to add non-Canadian services to the lists, the Commission takes a case-by-case approach in assessing competitiveness. Many factors are taken into account. Such factors include the nature and genre of programming, the target audience, the language or languages in which the programming is broadcast, the source of programming and any relevant competitive concerns raised by parties during the proceeding. The Commission weighs these factors as they relate to the relevant Canadian services and the sponsored non-Canadian service in order to determine the amount of overlap between the services, and thus the extent to which they might compete with each other.

Approved services

The services approved today will increase the range of services in a third language that are already offered to Canadians of various origins:

• German TV: German-language general interest service
• Canal SUR: Spanish-language predominantly news and non fiction service with programming by independent broadcasters from Latin America
• CineLatino: Spanish-language movies from Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela and Peru
• Grandes Documentales de TVE: Spanish-language documentaries
• Utilisima: Spanish-language programming service originating from Argentina directed to women
• Eurochannel: Spanish and Portuguese subtitled European movie service
• Romanian Television International: Predominantly Romanian-language general interest programming service
• ART Movies: Arabic-language movies
• Al Jazeera: Arabic-language news and public affairs service

The authorization to distribute Al Jazeera is subject to the broadcasting distribution undertaking (BDU) wishing to offer the service having a condition of licence governing its distribution. The Commission has decided that distributors must record Al Jazeera programming and keep the recordings for a specific length of time. This measure will enable the Commission and licensees of BDUs to verify and assess the context of the programming in the event of any future concerns about abusive comment on Al Jazeera's programming. The Commission is also requiring that BDUs distributing Al Jazeera not distribute, as part of that service, any abusive comment. Finally, the Commission will allow BDUs to alter or delete the programming of Al Jazeera solely for the purpose of ensuring that no abusive comment is distributed. The Commission found that this condition is necessary to prevent, to the greatest extent possible, the distribution of abusive comment on the service pursuant to the Commission's statutory responsibility to regulate and supervise all aspects of the Canadian broadcasting system with a view to implementing the broadcasting policy set out in the Act, while at the same time minimally impairing freedom of expression.

Denied services

The following services were denied on the grounds that they would be competitive, either in whole or in part, with one or more Canadian pay or specialty services:

• Azteca 13 International: Spanish-language general interest service
• GOL TV: Spanish and English-language soccer programming service
• LBC America: Arabic-language general interest service
• TV Chile: Spanish-language general interest service
• TVE Internacional: Spanish-language general interest service
• RAI International: Italian-language general interest service

With its request to add RAI International, Rogers, RAI's sponsor, filed an undertaking from RAI that the service would not hold, obtain, nor exercise preferential or exclusive rights in relation to the distribution of programming in Canada. However, based on other statements made by RAI and its sponsor on the record of this proceeding, the Commission was not persuaded that RAI would not exercise preferential or exclusive rights to at least some of its programming.

Call for comments

The Commission also released today a call for comments on various questions in order to review its approach to authorizing non-Canadian third-language services for distribution on a digital basis.

Statistics Canada data indicates that Canada's already considerable level of ethnocultural diversity will continue to grow. The Commission therefore considers that it is essential to ensure that the Canadian broadcasting system provides adequate service to Canada's increasingly diverse population, particularly those communities that may not have sufficient access to programming in third languages. The Commission further considers that the availability of additional third-language services within the Canadian broadcasting system could serve to reduce the appeal of services offered through the "grey market", which offers services from distributors unauthorized to operate in Canada.

Comments should be sent to the Commission on or before 13 October 2004.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is an independent public authority that regulates and supervises broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada.

Reference documents:

Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2004-50 [.htm] [.pdf]
Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2004-51 [.htm] [.pdf]
Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2004-52
Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2004-53 [.htm] [.pdf]

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Media Relations:
   MediaRelations@crtc.gc.ca, Tel: (819) 997-9403, Fax: (819) 997-4245

General Inquiries:
   Tel: (819) 997-0313, TDD: (819) 994-0423, Fax: (819) 994-0218
   Toll-free # 1-877-249-CRTC (2782), eMail: info@crtc.gc.ca
   TDD - Toll-free # 1-877-909-2782

Copies of today's documents are available through our Internet site (http://www.crtc.gc.ca) or by contacting the public examination room of any CRTC office. These documents are available in alternative format upon request.

Date Modified: 2004-07-15

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