CRTC orders Rogers to file compliance reports over Internet announcements

The CRTC has rapped Rogers Cable Inc. on the knuckles for breaching conditions of licence and broadcast distribution rules by advertising its Internet service in local availabilities and on its community channels. As a result, the commission is requiring Rogers to file quarterly compliance reports for the next three years, beginning September 1 – Broadcasting Public Notice 2002-44. But the commission stopped short of granting the Independent Members of the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (IMCAIP) the compensation that they had requested. IMCAIP had urged the CRTC to require Rogers to supply its members operating in Rogers’ territory with an equivalent amount of airtime used by the cableco to promote its Internet service. "In the commission’s view such relief would cause Rogers to be in breach of the distribution regulations and its conditions of licence, and would be inconsistent with applicable commission policies and decisions," states the CRTC’s August 12 decision. The CRTC found that Rogers had breached Section 27(1) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations with the messages it aired on its community channel. It also determined that Rogers was in contravention of the commission’s policy regarding the distribution of pay television promotional material by broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) when it aired a 15-minute program on @Rogers on its promotional channel, and that the cableco was in breach of its licence conditions with the Internet messages it inserted into the local availabilities of U.S. satellite services. Each report submitted by Rogers must confirm that it is in compliance with the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations and all applicable conditions of licence, as well as commission decisions and policies on the promotion of retail Internet services by cablecos. It must also identify and describe any programming, announcement or promotion referring to its Internet service that is aired on the community channel, in local availabilities or on promotional channels. While Rogers has already removed the programming and spots at issue, the commission "remains concerned with the…breaches of the distribution regulations and conditions of licence. Rogers ought reasonably to have known that its actions were inconsistent with its regulatory obligations." The decision stems from a January 9 IMCAIP complaint accusing Rogers of violating guidelines by using airtime on its community channels, promotional channels and in local inserts to advertise its high-speed Internet service (CCR, Jan. 18/02). IMCAIP said Rogers was giving its own Internet service preferential access to the regulated BDU it operates. At the time, Rogers dismissed the allegations. Ken Engelhart, VP of regulatory law at Rogers Communications Inc., told Canadian Communications Reports that the programming was not ads or promos, but announcements to existing customers on how to convert from @Home to @Rogers (CCR, Jan. 31/02). The material was intended to "educate an audience about issues of public concern." But the CRTC, for the most part, didn’t agree with Rogers. IMCAIP complained that three messages airing on the community channel and four inserted into local availabilities were in breach of CRTC rules. The commission determined that the messages aired on the community channel not only communicated information to help customers convert to @Rogers but also promoted the Internet service. The spots highlighted the benefits associated with the @Rogers services, particularly in noting that the changes would result in a "better high speed Internet service including web-based email with access from anywhere in the world." But the CRTC ruled that the Media Awareness Network announcement did not constitute an advertisement and that it fell within the definition of a public service announcement (PSA). "The commission notes that the definition of a PSA does not prohibit branding or references to sponsors," the CRTC stated in its decision.

CRTC orders Rogers to file compliance reports over Internet announcements

Broadcast | August 15, 2002

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