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The CRTC denies Glassbox Television
Inc.'s application for a broadcasting licence to operate AUX TV, a
national, French-language Category 2 specialty channel devoted to emerging
music and its creation, including programming intended to help emerging
artists.
The CRTC received an intervention in
opposition to the application from MusiquePlus Inc. expressing concern
that the proposed service could be directly competitive with its service
and with existing Category 1 or analog pay or specialty services,
particularly those serving a smaller French-language market.
The CRTC has implemented a
competitive, open-entry approach to licensing Category 2 services.
Nevertheless, it does seek to ensure that Category 2 services do not
compete directly with any existing Category 1 or analog pay or specialty
television services.
The Commission considers that the
applicant proposed a very broad nature of service definition that would
allow considerable flexibility in the type of programming that could be
broadcast and that does not clearly define how the proposed programming
would be complementary to that offered by existing Category 1 or analog
pay or specialty services such as MusiquePlus.
Furthermore, the CRTC notes that
Glassbox requested to draw its programming from most of the categories set
out in item 6 of Schedule I to the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990.
In addition, the applicant proposed safe-guards, such as limiting
the broadcast of programming drawn from certain categories to a percentage
of all programming, to ensure that the programming would not be directly
competitive with existing Category 1 or analog pay or specialty services.
The CRTC finds that given the
definition of the nature of service submitted by the applicant, the
proposed service could be competitive with existing Category 1 or analog
pay or specialty services and specifically with MusiquePlus. Moreover, the
Commission is not convinced that the safeguards presented in the
application are sufficient to eliminate this risk.
Source: CRTC, 04/21/2010 |