Vol. 149, No. 24 — December 2, 2015

Registration

SOR/2015-240 November 19, 2015

BROADCASTING ACT

Simultaneous Programming Service Deletion and Substitution Regulations

Whereas, pursuant to subsection 10(3) of the Broadcasting Act (see footnote a), a copy of the proposed Simultaneous Programming Service Deletion and Substitution Regulations, substantially in the annexed form, was published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on August 1, 2015, and a reasonable opportunity was given to licensees and other interested persons to make representations to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission with respect to the proposed Regulations;

Therefore, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, pursuant to subsection 10(1) of the Broadcasting Act (see footnote b), makes the annexed Simultaneous Programming Service Deletion and Substitution Regulations.

Gatineau, November 17, 2015

DANIELLE MAY-CUCONATO
Secretary General
Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission

SIMULTANEOUS PROGRAMMING SERVICE DELETION AND SUBSTITUTION REGULATIONS

Definitions

1. (1) The following definitions apply in these Regulations.

“Canadian television station”
« station de télévision canadienne »

“Canadian television station” means a television programming undertaking that is licensed as a television station or that provides its Canadian programming service by way of a transmitting antenna and includes an educational authority responsible for an educational television programming service and the station CTV Two Atlantic.

“local television station”
« station de télévision locale »

“local television station”, in relation to a licensed area of a distribution undertaking, means

Definitions — Broadcasting Distribution Regulations

(2) In these Regulations, the expressions “Canadian programming service”, “comparable”, “customer”, “DTH distribution undertaking”, “educational authority”, “educational television programming service”, “format”, “licence”, “licensed”, “licensed area”, “licensee”, “non-Canadian television station”, “official contour”, “operator”, “programming service”, “regional television station”, “relay distribution undertaking”, “subscriber”, “subscription television system” and “terrestrial distribution undertaking” have the same meanings as in section 1 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations.

Application

2. These Regulations apply to a person that is licensed to carry on a distribution undertaking, other than a person that is licensed to carry on

Terrestrial distribution undertaking

3. (1) The operator of a Canadian television station may ask a licensee that carries on a terrestrial distribution undertaking to delete the programming service of another Canadian television station or a non-Canadian television station and substitute for it the programming service of a local television station or regional television station.

DTH distribution undertaking

(2) The operator of a Canadian television station may ask a licensee that carries on a DTH distribution undertaking

Obligation to carry out request

4. (1) Except as otherwise provided under these Regulations or in a condition of its licence, a licensee that receives a request referred to in section 3 must carry out the requested deletion and substitution if the following conditions are met:

Late request

(2) In the case of a request that is not received within the period referred to in paragraph (1)(a) but that meets the conditions set out in paragraphs (1)(b) to (d), the licensee may carry out the requested deletion and substitution, except as otherwise provided under these Regulations or in a condition of its licence.

Decision by Commission

(3) A licensee must not delete a programming service and substitute another programming service for it if the Commission decides under subsection 18(3) of the Broadcasting Act that the deletion and substitution are not in the public interest.

Deletion and substitution by operator

(4) The licensee and the operator of the local television station or the regional television station may agree to have the operator carry out the deletion and substitution.

More than one request

(5) If a licensee that carries on a terrestrial distribution undertaking receives a request for deletion and substitution from more than one operator of a Canadian television station, it must give preference to the programming service of the television station that has the highest priority under section 17 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations.

Discontinuation of substitution

(6) A licensee may discontinue a deletion and substitution if the deleted and substituted programming services are not, or are no longer, comparable and broadcast simultaneously.

Minimal disruption

5. (1) A licensee that deletes a programming service and substitutes another programming service for it must exercise due diligence to ensure that the deletion and substitution do not result in errors in the provision of the service and that they cause only minimal disruption of the service to its subscribers.

Compensation

(2) A licensee must provide compensation to its customers if the Commission decides under subsection 18(3) of the Broadcasting Act that the licensee deleted and substituted a programming service in a manner that, through its own actions, resulted in recurring substantial errors and did not establish that it exercised due diligence to avoid those errors.

Errors

(3) For the purposes of this section, an error occurs if the deletion and substitution of the programming service are not carried out simultaneously or the video or audio components of the programming service are affected as a result of the deletion and substitution.

CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS TO THE BROADCASTING DISTRIBUTION REGULATIONS

6. Paragraph 7(a) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations (see footnote 1) is replaced by the following:

7. Section 38 of the Regulations and the heading before it are repealed.

8. Section 39 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

39. Except as otherwise provided under a condition of licence, this Part and sections 19, 23 to 26, 28 and 30 to 37 apply to terrestrial distribution undertakings that elect to distribute programming services on an analog basis.

9. Section 51 of the Regulations and the heading before it are repealed.

COMING INTO FORCE

December 1, 2015

10. These Regulations come into force on December 1, 2015.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

The Regulations will give effect to the policy determinations of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (the Commission) regarding simultaneous substitution as set out in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-25, dated January 29, 2015. In particular, the Commission determined that there should be consequences should broadcasters or distributors make errors in the deletion and substitution of programming. Under the Regulations, broadcasters who make errors may lose the privilege to request simultaneous substitution and distributors who make errors may be required to compensate their customers.