The Commission calls for comments on a proposed amendment to the linkage and distribution requirements for Canadian ethnic and third-language services, set out in the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations. The deadline for the receipt of comments is 15 October 2024.
In its regulatory frameworks for broadcasting distribution undertakings and discretionary programming services, the Commission set out its current approach in regard to the linkage and distribution requirements for Canadian ethnic and third-language services. The objective of this approach was to require a minimum one-to-three distribution ratio of Canadian ethnic and third-language services to non-Canadian third-languages services operating in the same principal language. The intended effect of this requirement was for BDUs to distribute at least one Canadian ethnic or Canadian third-language service for every one to three non-Canadian third-languages services that they distribute in the same principal language.
Since the making of the 2024 Amendments, the only type of “ethnic” service provided for in the Regulations is an “ethnic Category A service,” as defined in section 1 of the Regulations. The current definition of “third-language service” was added to the Regulations at the same time.
As currently worded, the requirement requires a BDU, for every one to three non-Canadian third-language services that it distributes to subscribers, to distribute at least one Canadian third-language service operating in the same principal language, to the extent that such a service is available.
The Commission notes that, a BDU that distributes a Canadian ethnic Category A service in the same principal language as the one to three non-Canadian third-language services it distributes will, in most cases, be both following the intent of the Commission’s policy and complying with the Regulations. This is owing to the fact that the majority of ethnic Category A services are also third-language services.
However, it is possible for an ethnic Category A service not to be also a third-language service. The Commission notes that, as a result, in a limited number of cases a BDU will be distributing a Canadian ethnic Category A service and one to three non-Canadian third-language services in the same principal language, but will nonetheless be in non-compliance with section 27(2) of the Regulations.
To address this limited number of cases, the Commission proposes to amend the Regulations in order to bring them into greater conformity. Specifically, the Commission proposes to amend section 27(2) of the Regulations in order to make clear that BDUs may satisfy their regulatory requirements relating to the linkage and distribution of Canadian ethnic and third-language services by distributing to subscribers one of either a Canadian ethnic Category A service or a Canadian third-language service for every one to three non-Canadian third-language services operating in the same principal language that they also distribute. In the Commission’s view, the proposed amendment, which is set out in the appendix to this notice, achieves this goal.