Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission		Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes
		Office of the Secretary General to the Commission Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2		Bureau du Secrétaire général du Conseil Ottawa (Ontario) K1A 0N2

January 27, 1997

Out File: 1175-066

Dear Mr. Carlin:

This letter constitutes the Commission's decision with respect to complaints received concerning the broadcast of the programs Royal Canadian Air Farce (Air Farce) and This Hours has 22 Minutes (This Hour) on CBC Newsworld (Newsworld). The Commission has received complaints from CHUM Television (CHUM), The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), Baton Broadcasting Incorporated (Baton), and Mr. Gary Naylor.

The complainants alleged that the broadcast of the aforementioned programs on Newsworld is a violation of Newsworld's Condition of Licence No. 1. This condition of licence states:

1. The programming provided by the licensee on the news and information service shall be dedicated exclusively to programs drawn from the following categories as set out in Schedule 1 to the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990:

News (category 1);

Analysis and Interpretation (category 2);

Reporting and Actualities (category 3);

Religion (category 4);

Education, informal (category (5b);

Sports (category 6) [1].

In response to the complaints, the CBC stated that Newsworld has "created" an hour-long program to incorporate Air Farce and This Hour. The CBC submitted that this new hour-long program comes within the purview of category 2, "analysis and interpretation", because (1) it is a satirical interpretation of current newsworthy events; (2) it is "hosted by a member of the Air Farce who describes why particular news events have been selected as the subject matter of sketches"; (3) This Hour "uses the original CBC Newsworld Halifax set and it frequently uses actual Newsworld material within the program itself".

The CBC further argued that humourous sketches are merely another means by which viewers are informed on current newsworthy stories. A recent newspaper article was appended to their response in which it is stated that "a staggering 40% of Americans under the age of 30 admit they get at least some of their news on national politics from the comedy monologues of late night TV hosts". The CBC submitted that this is why This Hour and Air Farce have a place on Newsworld. The CBC drew a distinction between other programs of comedy sketches which are "totally removed from the world of news and current affairs" and programs such as Air Farce and This Hour for which the "focus, inspiration, and raison d'être is directly related to satirical analysis and interpretation of current events".

The Commission has reviewed the complaints, the CBC's initial response, and the CBC's additional submissions in response to the Commission's letter dated 31 October 1996, as well as logger tapes for the episodes which aired on 8, 15, and 22 October 1996. The Commission now makes the following determination with respect to the complaints.

The Commission finds that the programs Air Farce and This Hour are not subsumed by any of the categories from which Newsworld is authorized to draw its programming. The Commission rejects the CBC's contention that the "hour-long program" is materially different from the individual programs. Having viewed the episodes which aired on 8, 15, and 22 October 1996, the Commission concludes that the "hour-long program" merely constitutes back-to-back episodes of Air Farce and This Hour preceded by a short introduction.

The Commission further rejects the argument put forward by the CBC in support of including satirical programs in the categories of "news" or "analysis and interpretation". The Commission is of the view that a broad interpretation of the categories set out in Schedule 1 of the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990 (the Specialty Regulations), as the CBC's argument requires, does not conform with the detailed categorization of programming in the Specialty Regulations. Moreover, the Commission notes that This Hour and Air Farce are logged as "programs of comedy sketches" (subcategory 7f) by the CBC main network in spite of the fact that the categories are the same under the Specialty Regulations and the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987.

In making its determination with respect to these complaints, the Commission has taken into consideration its long-standing licensing framework with respect to specialty services. This licensing framework, which was set out in Public Notice CRTC 1986-199: "Call for Applications for Network Licences to Offer Canadian Specialty Programming Services" and recognized in the public notice accompanying the initial licensing of Newsworld, Public Notice CRTC 1987-260: "Introductory Statement to Decisions CRTC 87-895 to 87-906 - Canadian Specialty and Pay Television Services", aims at providing narrowcast television programming designed to reflect the particular interests and needs of different age, language, cultural, geographic, or other groups in Canada. Under this licensing framework, the Commission decided to license only one service per genre when it licensed new specialty services in 1994 (see Public Notice CRTC 1995-59: "Introductory Statement - Licensing of New Specialty and Pay Television Services") and in 1996 (see Public Notice CRTC 1996-20: "Introductory Statement - Licensing of New Specialty and Pay Television Undertakings").

The Commission considers it necessary to prescribe by condition of licence the nature of the specialty service "in order to foster diversity, and to ensure that specialty licensees adhere to their commitments to provide programming within a specific genre" [2]. It would be inconsistent with the rationale underlying the condition of licence concerning the nature of service and with the Commission's licensing framework as a whole to allow specialty services to become more and more indistinguishable.

Accordingly, the Commission finds that Newsworld's broadcast of This Hour and Air Farce is in contravention of its Condition of Licence No. 1. The Commission orders Newsworld to take immediate steps to comply with the letter and spirit of its first condition of licence and, further, the Commission expects a report on the status of Newsworld's compliance within 30 days of the date of this letter.

Sincerely, (signed) Allan J. Darling Secretary General

c.c:

Lanny Morry, CBC, Director, Regulatory Affairs

CHUM Television

Canadian Association of Broadcasters

Baton Broadcasting Incorporated

Gary Naylor

[1]

Renewal Decision for CBC Newsworld, Decision CRTC 92-529, 5 August 1992.)

[2]

Public Notice CRTC 1994-59: "Introductory Statement - Licensing of New Specialty and Pay Television Services"