Broadcasting Distribution Regulations (SOR/97-555)

Emergency Alerts

• 7.2 (1) The following definitions apply in this section.

  issuing authority

  issuing authority means any person who is authorized by a Canadian governmental authority — including the federal Department of the Environment, federal and provincial government departments and agencies that are responsible for emergency management and public safety, and municipal authorities — to issue warnings to the public, and to the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System, announcing danger to life or property. (autorité compétente)

  National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System

  National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System means the alert message aggregation system established and operated by Pelmorex Communications Inc. (système d’agrégation et de dissémination national d’alertes)

• (2) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, a licensee shall implement, by no later than March 31, 2015, a public alerting system that alters without delay a programming service being distributed by the licensee in a licensed area in order to insert any alert that it receives — in a form including both text and audio content — from the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System that

  • (a) announces an imminent or unfolding danger to life; and

  • (b) is designated by the applicable issuing authority for immediate broadcast or distribution in the licensed area.

• (3) The licensee shall insert the alert in all programming services that it is distributing to subscribers whose residence or other premises are located in an area that is targeted by the alert.

• (4) The licensee shall take all reasonable measures to ensure that the alerts are in conformity with the specifications and recommended practices set out in the document entitled National Public Alerting System Common Look and Feel Guidance, produced at the request of the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Public Alerting Working Group of Senior Officials Responsible for Emergency Management with the support of Defence Research and Development Canada, Centre for Security Science, Canadian Safety and Security Program, and in consultation with the public-private Common Look and Feel Working Group, as that document is amended from time to time.

Accessibility of Programming

7.3 Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, a licensee shall make available to its subscribers such equipment, software or other technology that will allow any individual who is blind, visually impaired or who has fine motor skills disabilities to identify and have access to its programming services — including programs with described video — if that equipment, software or other technology is available for purchase by the licensee and is compatible with its distribution system.

Prohibited Programming Content

• 8 (1) No licensee shall distribute a programming service that the licensee originates and that contains

  • (a) anything that contravenes any law;

  • (b) any abusive comment or abusive pictorial representation that, when taken in context, tends to or is likely to expose an individual or group or class of individuals to hatred or contempt on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age or mental or physical disability;

  • (c) any obscene or profane language or pictorial representation; or

  • (d) any false or misleading news.

• (2) For the purpose of paragraph (1)(b), sexual orientation does not include the orientation towards a sexual act or activity that would constitute an offence under the Criminal Code.

• (3) For the purpose of paragraph (1)(c), material is obscene if it has as a dominant characteristic the undue exploitation of sex or the combination of sexual content with one or more of the following subjects, namely, crime, horror, cruelty and violence.

Undue Preference or Disadvantage

• 9 (1) No licensee shall give an undue preference to any person, including itself, or subject any person to an undue disadvantage.

• (2) In any proceedings before the Commission, the burden of establishing that any preference or disadvantage is not undue is on the licensee that gives the preference or subjects the person to the disadvantage.

Non-disclosure

• 9.1 (1) A licensee that is distributing programming services of a licensed programming undertaking or that is negotiating terms of carriage with such an undertaking, or with an undertaking otherwise authorized to operate by reason of a Commission decision approving the issuance of a licence under paragraph 9(1)(b) of the Act, for its programming services, including new programming services, shall sign and provide to the other licensee or to the operator of the undertaking otherwise authorized 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 other licensee or the operator of the undertaking.

• (2) A licensee that is distributing an exempt discretionary service of an exempt programming undertaking or that is negotiating terms of carriage with an exempt programming undertaking for an exempt discretionary service, including any new programming service that is an exempt discretionary service, shall sign and provide to the operator of the exempt programming 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 operator of the exempt programming 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.

Inside Wire

• 10 (1) A licensee that owns an inside wire shall, on request, permit the inside wire to be used by a subscriber, by another licensee, or by a broadcasting undertaking in respect of which an exemption has been granted, by order under subsection 9(4) of the Act, from the requirement to obtain a licence.

• (2) The licensee that owns an inside wire may charge a just and reasonable fee for the use of the wire.

• (3) The licensee that owns an inside wire must not remove it from a building if a request for the use of the wire has been made and is pending under subsection (1), or while the wire is being used in accordance with that subsection.

Information To Be Submitted to the Commission

• 11 (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) 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 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.

• (3) [Repealed, SOR/2011-148, s. 5]

Dispute Resolution

• 12 (1) If there is a dispute between the licensee of a distribution undertaking and the operator of a licensed programming undertaking or an exempt programming undertaking concerning the carriage or terms of carriage of programming originated by the programming undertaking — including the wholesale rate and the terms of any audit referred to in section 15.1 — one or both of the parties to the dispute may refer the matter to the Commission.

• (2) [Repealed, SOR/2011-148, s. 6]

• (3) The Commission may require the parties to engage in mediation before the Commission accepts a referral of the matter for dispute resolution.

• (4) If the Commission accepts a referral of a matter for dispute resolution, the parties to the dispute are required to participate in a mediation with a person appointed by the Commission.

• (5) [Repealed, SOR/2012-151, s. 14]

• (6) When the Commission accepts a referral of a matter for dispute resolution, information provided by a party for the purposes of the dispute resolution may not be used by the other party to the dispute for any other purpose except with the prior consent of the party providing the information.

• (7) During the dispute resolution process, the person appointed under subsection (4) may require additional information from the parties.

• (8) A person appointed under subsection (4) may refer a matter to the Commission if a party does not comply with a request under subsection (7), and the Commission may require the additional information or attendance at a meeting in order to discuss the matters in dispute.

• (9) If the dispute relates to the rates, terms or conditions, or any combination of them, surrounding a programming service that is being distributed in the absence of a commercial agreement and the matter proceeds before the Commission for dispute resolution, the licensee shall submit to having the dispute resolved in accordance with the procedural requirements established by the Commission in Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2019-184, dated May 29, 2019, and the rates, terms and conditions established by the Commission will apply as of the day on which the programming service was first made available to the distributor in the absence of a commercial agreement.

• (10) If the dispute relates to the rates, terms or conditions, or any combination of them, surrounding a new programming service that is being distributed in the absence of a commercial agreement and the matter proceeds before the Commission for dispute resolution, the parties will be bound by the rates, terms and conditions established by the Commission for the duration of the contractual term established by the Commission.

• (11) Despite subsections (9) and (10), the parties may reach an agreement with respect to rates, terms or conditions that differ from those established by the Commission.

13 An agreement that is reached after dispute resolution must be in writing and be signed by all parties.

14 If no agreement is reached by the parties, the person appointed under subsection 12(4) must submit a report to the Commission concerning all unresolved matters within the period established by the Commission.

15 The Commission may, after accepting a referral of a matter for resolution under section 12, render a decision concerning any unresolved matters, including the wholesale rate.

Obligation During Dispute

• 15.01 (1) During any dispute between a licensee and a person licensed to carry on a programming undertaking or the operator of an exempt programming undertaking concerning the carriage or terms of carriage of programming services or concerning any right or obligation under the Act, the licensee shall continue to distribute those programming services at the same rates and on the same terms and conditions as it did before the dispute.

• (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a dispute exists from the moment that written notice of the dispute is provided to the Commission and served on the other undertaking that is party to the dispute and ends when an agreement settling the dispute is reached by the concerned undertakings or, if no such agreement is reached, when the Commission renders a decision concerning any unresolved matter.

Obligation to Programming Undertakings Regarding Distribution Without Agreement

15.02 A licensee who distributes a new programming service with respect to which it has no commercial agreement shall abide by the rates, terms and conditions established by the operator of the concerned programming undertaking until a commercial agreement is reached between the parties or the Commission renders a decision concerning any unresolved matter.

Audit Access by Programming Services

15.1 A licensee shall give access to its records to any Canadian programming undertaking that receives a wholesale rate for its programming services to enable the programming undertaking to verify subscriber information for its programming services in accordance with the terms prescribed in Appendix 2 to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2014-473, dated September 12, 2014 and entitled Provisions governing the timeframes and modalities for the conduct of audits of subscriber information held by broadcasting distribution undertakings.