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Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987 (SOR/87-49)

Regulations are current to 2024-03-06 and last amended on 2023-11-01. Previous Versions

Programming Content (continued)

  •  (1) Before January 1, 1999, a licensee shall not broadcast a commercial message for, or an endorsement of, a device to which the Food and Drugs Act applies unless

    • (a) the script of the commercial message or endorsement has been approved by the Minister of Health to indicate, to the extent that it is possible to do so on the basis of a script, that a commercial message or an endorsement conforming to the approved script would comply with the applicable provisions, administered by that Minister, of the Food and Drugs Act, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and regulations made pursuant to those Acts or to the Department of Health Act; and

    • (b) the script bears the script number assigned to it by that Minister.

  • (2) Before January 1, 1999, when a licensee broadcasts a commercial message or an endorsement referred to in subsection (1), the licensee shall keep a record of the script for a period of one year after the date of the broadcast, which record shall contain

    • (a) the name of the device to which the script relates;

    • (b) the name of the sponsor or advertising agency that submitted the script for approval; and

    • (c) the script number referred to in paragraph (1)(b).

  • (3) A licensee shall provide the record required by subsection (2) to the Commission or to an inspector designated pursuant to the Food and Drugs Act, acting on behalf of the Commission, where the Commission or the inspector so requests for the purpose of audit or examination.

  • (4) The approval of the script of a commercial message or an endorsement referred to in subsection (1) does not indicate that the commercial message or endorsement complies with the applicable legislation.

  • SOR/92-615, s. 1
  • SOR/93-208, s. 2
  • SOR/97-290, s. 2

Political Broadcasts

 During an election period, a licensee shall allocate time for the broadcasting of programs, advertisements or announcements of a partisan political character on an equitable basis to all accredited political parties and rival candidates represented in the election or referendum.

Ethnic Programs

  •  (1) On or before January 31 of each year, the licensee of an ethnic station shall submit to the Commission, for approval, a calendar that

    • (a) covers a period of 52 or 53 weeks;

    • (b) begins on the Monday of the week during which the next broadcast year begins; and

    • (c) is divided into 12 periods of four or five weeks.

  • (1.1) The licensee of an ethnic station shall devote to ethnic programs not less than 60 per cent of the total number of hours devoted to broadcasting during the aggregate of the broadcast days in each of the four or five week periods in the calendar approved by the Commission and referred to in subsection (1).

  • (2) Except as otherwise provided under a licensee’s condition of licence, the licensee of an ethnic station shall devote to third language programs at least 50% of the total number of hours devoted to broadcasting during the aggregate of the broadcast days in each of the four or five week periods in the calendar approved by the Commission and referred to in subsection (1).

  • (3) Except as otherwise provided under a licensee’s condition of licence to devote up to 40% of a broadcast month to third language programs, the licensee of a station other than an ethnic station shall devote not more than 15% of its broadcast month to third language programs.

  • SOR/90-320, s. 1
  • SOR/2000-237, s. 3

Non-Disclosure

  •  (1) A licensee whose programming services are being distributed by a licensed distribution undertaking or that is negotiating terms of carriage with such an undertaking for its programming services, including new programming services, shall sign and provide to the licensee of the distribution undertaking an agreement that

    • (a) reproduces the non-disclosure provisions; and

    • (b) contains its consent to comply with the non-disclosure provisions for the benefit of the licensee of the distribution undertaking.

  • (2) A licensee whose programs are being broadcast by a licensed video-on-demand undertaking or that is negotiating terms of carriage with such an undertaking for its programs shall sign and provide to the licensee of the video-on-demand undertaking an agreement that

    • (a) reproduces the non-disclosure provisions; and

    • (b) contains its consent to comply with the non-disclosure provisions for the benefit of the licensee of the video-on-demand undertaking.

  • (3) For the purposes of subsections (1) and (2), the non-disclosure provisions are those provisions set out in the Appendix to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2013-578, dated October 31, 2013 and entitled Standard clauses for non-disclosure agreements.

  • SOR/2014-206, s. 1

Logs and Records

  •  (1) Subject to any condition of licence, a licensee shall

    • (a) keep, in a form acceptable to the Commission, a program log or a machine readable record of its programming;

    • (b) retain the log or record for a period of one year after the date when the programming was broadcast; and

    • (c) cause to be entered in the log or record each day the following information:

      • (i) the date,

      • (ii) the call letters, location and channel of the licensee’s station,

      • (iii) the time at which each station identification announcement is made,

      • (iv) the time of commencement of advertising material, its duration and, in the case of a commercial message, the name of the person selling or promoting goods, services, natural resources or activities, and

      • (v) in relation to each program broadcast,

        • (A) its title and any additional information that is to be included by the appropriate subitem of Schedule I,

        • (B) subject to subsection (4), the key figure set out in Schedule I describing the program,

        • (C) the time at which the program begins and ends,

        • (D) the code set out in Schedule II indicating the language, type or group, as applicable, and

        • (E) where applicable, the code set out in Schedule II indicating an accessible program, and

        • (F) where applicable, the code set out in Schedule II indicating programming that is locally relevant.

  • (2) The times required to be entered pursuant to subparagraphs (1)(c)(iii) and (iv) and clause (1)(c)(v)(C) are local times.

  • (3) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, a licensee shall furnish to the Commission, within 30 days after the end of each month, the program log or machine-readable record of the licensee for that month, together with a certificate signed by or on behalf of the licensee attesting to the accuracy of the contents of the log or record.

  • (4) Where more than one subitem of Schedule I applies to a program, a licensee may, in respect of that program, cause to be entered in its program log or machine readable record

    • (a) the key figures indicating the subitems that apply to each segment of the program, in the order in which the segments are broadcast; and

    • (b) the start time and duration of each segment of the program.

  • (5) A licensee shall retain a clear and intelligible audio-visual recording of all of its programming

    • (a) for four weeks from the date of broadcast; or

    • (b) where the Commission receives a complaint from any person regarding programming or for any other reason wishes to investigate it and so notifies the licensee before the expiration of the period referred to in paragraph (a), for eight weeks from the date of the broadcast.

  • (6) Where, before the expiry of the applicable period referred to in subsection (5), the Commission requests from a licensee a clear and intelligible audio or audiovisual recording of its programming, the licensee shall furnish it to the Commission forthwith.

  • (7) Where a program is broadcast during reserved time by a station operator who operates as part of a television network, subsection (5) applies only to the network operator.

  • (8) This section does not apply to the licensee of a remote station where logging or record-keeping requirements are set out in a condition of licence.

  • SOR/87-425, s. 2
  • SOR/94-220, s. 4
  • SOR/2000-237, s. 4
  • SOR/2006-111, s. 1
  • SOR/2017-160, s. 19

Commercial Messages

 Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, a licensee shall ensure that every commercial message that it broadcasts complies with the technical requirements set out in ATSC Recommended Practice A/85: Techniques for Establishing and Maintaining Audio Loudness for Digital Television, published by the Advanced Television Systems Committee Inc., as amended from time to time.

  • SOR/92-429, s. 2
  • SOR/94-634, s. 1
  • SOR/95-442, s. 1
  • SOR/2007-195, s. 2
  • SOR/2012-57, s. 1

Submission of Information

  •  (1) On or before November 30 of each year, a licensee shall submit to the Commission a statement of accounts, on the annual return of broadcasting licensee form, for the 12 month period ending on the previous August 31.

  • (2) On or before September 1 of each year, a licensee shall submit to the Commission a program schedule for the 12 month period ending on August 31 of the following year.

  • (3) At the request of the Commission, a licensee shall respond to

    • (a) any complaint or request for resolution of a dispute filed by any person or any request for information regarding the programming originated or distributed by the licensee or regarding the licensee’s technical operations, subscribership, financial affairs or ownership; and

    • (b) any request for information regarding the licensee’s adherence to the conditions of its licence, the Act, these Regulations, industry standards, practices or codes or any other self-regulatory mechanism of the industry.

  • SOR/92-611, s. 1
  • SOR/2011-147, s. 4

Affiliation

 A licensee shall not enter into an affiliation agreement with a person falling within a class described in section 3 of the Direction to the CRTC (Eligible Canadian Corporations).

Ownership of Equipment and Facilities

 Except as otherwise provided pursuant to a condition of its licence, a licensee shall own and operate its transmitter.

  • SOR/93-353, s. 1

Transfer of Ownership or Control

  •  (1) For the purposes of this section,

    associate

    associate, when used to indicate a relationship with any person, includes

    • (a) a partner of the person,

    • (b) a trust or an estate in which the person has a substantial beneficial interest or in respect of which the person serves as a trustee or in a similar capacity,

    • (c) the spouse or common-law partner of the person,

    • (c.1) a child of the person or of their spouse or common-law partner, including a child adopted in fact by the person or by the spouse or common-law partner,

    • (c.2) the spouse or common-law partner of a child referred to in paragraph (c.1),

    • (d) a relative of the person, or of the spouse or common-law partner referred to in paragraph (c), if that relative has the same residence as the person,

    • (e) a corporation of which the person alone, or a person together with one or more associates as described in this definition, has, directly or indirectly, control of 50 per cent or more of the voting interests,

    • (f) a corporation of which an associate, as described in this definition, of the person has, directly or indirectly, control of 50 per cent or more of the voting interests, and

    • (g) a person, with whom the person has entered into an arrangement, a contract, an understanding or an agreement in respect of the voting of shares of a licensee corporation or of a corporation that has, directly or indirectly, effective control of a licensee corporation, except where that person controls less than one per cent of all issued voting shares of a corporation whose shares are publicly traded on a stock exchange; (liens)

    common-law partner

    common-law partner, in respect of a person, means an individual who is cohabiting with the person in a conjugal relationship, having so cohabited for a period of at least one year; (conjoint de fait)

    common shares

    common shares means the shares that represent the residual equity in the earnings of a corporation, and includes securities that are convertible into such shares at all times at the option of the holder and the preferred shares to which are attached rights to participate in the earnings of the corporation with no upper limit; (actions ordinaires)

    person

    person includes an individual, a partnership, a joint venture, an association, a corporation, a trust, an estate, a trustee, an executor and an administrator, or a legal representative of any of them; (personne)

    voting interest

    voting interest, in respect of

    • (a) a corporation with share capital, means the vote attached to a voting share,

    • (b) a corporation without share capital, means an interest that entitles the owner to voting rights similar to those enjoyed by the owner of a voting share,

    • (c) a partnership, a trust, an association or a joint venture, means an ownership interest in the assets of it that entitles the owner to receive a share of the profits of it, to receive a share of the assets of it on dissolution and to participate directly in the management of it or to vote on the election of the persons to be entrusted with the power and responsibility to manage it, and

    • (d) a not-for-profit partnership, trust, association or joint venture, means a right that entitles the owner to participate directly in the management of it or to vote on the election of the persons to be entrusted with the power and responsibility to manage it; (intérêt avec droit de vote)

    voting share

    voting share means a share in the capital of a corporation, to which is attached one or more votes that are exercisable at meetings of shareholders of the corporation, either under all circumstances or under a circumstance that has occurred and is continuing, and includes any security that is convertible into such a share at all times at the option of the holder. (action avec droit de vote)

  • (2) For the purposes of this section, control of a voting interest by a person includes situations in which

    • (a) the person is, directly or indirectly, the beneficial owner of the voting interest; or

    • (b) the person, by means of an arrangement, a contract, an understanding or an agreement, determines the manner in which the interest is voted but the solicitation of proxies or the seeking of instructions with respect to the completion of proxies in respect of the exercise of voting interests is not considered to be such an arrangement, contract, understanding or agreement.

  • (3) For the purposes of this section, effective control of a licensee or its undertaking includes situations in which

    • (a) a person controls, directly or indirectly, other than by way of security only, a majority of the voting interests of the licensee;

    • (b) a person has the ability to cause the licensee or its board of directors to undertake a course of action; or

    • (c) the Commission, after a public hearing of an application for a licence, or in respect of an existing licence, determines that a person has such effective control and sets out that determination in a decision or public notice.

  • (4) Except as otherwise provided pursuant to a condition of its licence, a licensee shall obtain the prior approval of the Commission in respect of any act, agreement or transaction that directly or indirectly would result in

    • (a) a change by whatever means of the effective control of its undertaking;

    • (b) a person alone

      • (i) who controls less than 30 per cent of the voting interests of the licensee, having control of 30 per cent or more of those interests,

      • (ii) who controls less than 30 per cent of the voting interests of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, having control of 30 per cent or more of those interests,

      • (iii) who owns less than 50 per cent of the issued common shares of the licensee, owning 50 per cent or more of those shares but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, or

      • (iv) who owns less than 50 per cent of the issued common shares of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, owning 50 per cent or more of those shares but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee; or

    • (c) a person together with an associate

      • (i) who control less than 30 per cent of the voting interests of the licensee, having control of 30 per cent or more of those interests,

      • (ii) who control less than 30 per cent of the voting interests of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, having control of 30 per cent or more of those interests,

      • (iii) who own less than 50 per cent of the issued common shares of the licensee, owning 50 per cent or more of those shares but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, or

      • (iv) who own less than 50 per cent of the issued common shares of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, owning 50 per cent or more of those shares but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee.

  • (5) A licensee shall notify the Commission, within 30 days thereafter, of the occurrence of any act, agreement or transaction that, directly or indirectly, resulted in

    • (a) a person alone

      • (i) who controls less than 20 per cent of the voting interests of the licensee, having control of 20 per cent or more but less than 30 per cent of those interests,

      • (ii) who controls less than 20 per cent of the voting interests of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, having control of 20 per cent or more but less than 30 per cent of those interests,

      • (iii) who controls less than 40 per cent of the voting interests of the licensee, having control of 40 per cent or more but less than 50 per cent of those interests but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, or

      • (iv) who controls less than 40 per cent of the voting interests of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, having control of 40 per cent or more but less than 50 per cent of those interests but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee; or

    • (b) a person together with an associate

      • (i) who control less than 20 per cent of the voting interests of the licensee, having control of 20 per cent or more but less than 30 per cent of those interests,

      • (ii) who control less than 20 per cent of the voting interests of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, having control of 20 per cent or more but less than 30 per cent of those interests,

      • (iii) who control less than 40 per cent of the voting interests of the licensee, having control of 40 per cent or more but less than 50 per cent of those interests but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, or

      • (iv) who control less than 40 per cent of the voting interests of a person who has, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee, having control of 40 per cent or more but less than 50 per cent of those interests but not having, directly or indirectly, effective control of the licensee.

  • (6) A notification referred to in subsection (5) shall set out the following information:

    • (a) the name of the person or the names of the person and the associate;

    • (b) the percentage of the voting interests controlled by the person or by the person and the associate; and

    • (c) a copy or a complete description of the act, agreement or transaction.

  • SOR/93-353, s. 2
  • SOR/96-325, s. 1(E)
  • SOR/2001-357, s. 2
  • SOR/2006-110, s. 1
 

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