CRTC proposes licensing exemption for small specialty channels

The CRTC opened a consultation on proposed broadcasting amendments that would allow specialty services and third-language channels to operate without licences, the commission said Friday. In a notice of consultation, the CRTC proposed new broadcast licence exemptions for Category B specialty channels that have a limited number of subscribers, as well as for third-language channels that broadcast more than 40 per cent of their content in Cantonese, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Mandarin or Spanish. The commission said it seeks to amend the Category B licence requirements after determining that the current licensing process “is inefficient and needlessly time-consuming.” The CRTC wants to make it easier for broadcasters to launch specialty services by removing the burden of investing time and money into clearing licensing hurdles, the regulator said. “The majority of Category B services in operation have a relatively small number of subscribers, which results in generally lower revenues,” the notice said. “This fact coupled with on-going regulatory requirements to modify and renew licences, submit program logs, etc., can create significant financial and regulatory burdens for those services.” The commission asked for industry comments on the appropriate subscription level at which Category B services should be required to obtain a licence. It proposed setting the exemption levels at either 20,000, 100,000 or 200,000 subscribers. The commission also asked for comments on a proposal to expand the licence exemptions for third-language programming services to include those that broadcast primarily in some of the country’s most widely used foreign languages. Existing exemptions do not cover channels that broadcast more than 40 per cent of their content in one of the six most popular foreign languages. The deadline for comments on the proposals is Aug. 7, followed by an Aug. 17 deadline for replies, the commission said.

CRTC proposes licensing exemption for small specialty channels

Brief | July 6, 2012

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CRTC proposes licensing exemption for small specialty channels

Brief | July 6, 2012

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