A discretionary service is a Canadian specialty channel which, as defined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, may be carried optionally by all subscription television providers. It replaces the previous category A, category B, category C (instead split into the categories of "mainstream sports" and "national news"), and premium classifications.[1][2][3]

Discretionary services may air programming from any of the CRTC's defined categories, although no more than 10% of programming per month may be devoted to live professional sports. Discretionary services may be authorized to offer multiplex channels.[4]

Background

Prior classifications and genre exclusivity

The CRTC previously classified specialty television licenses under different "categories", subject to rules on what types of programming they may generally offer, and how they may be distributed by television providers, legally known as "broadcast distribution undertakings" (BDUs).

  • Category A services: a category established in 2011 that encompassed the legacy "analog" specialty and premium television channels licensed prior to the establishment of digital cable and satellite (such as Much),[5] and "Category 1" digital specialty services. Digital BDUs were required to offer all Category A-licensed channels as part of their services. Category A services were licensed within specific scopes, and subject to "genre protection": no other specialty services were allowed to directly compete with a Category A service. As a consequence, Category A licenses carried more stringent obligations on their owners, such as stricter thresholds for the exhibition of specific types of programming and Canadian content.[6][7][8]
  • Category B services (formerly "Category 2"): digital specialty services that were licensed to carry narrower, niche formats in comparison to Category A-licensed channels. BDUs were not obligated to offer all Category B services, and negotiated with their distributors for carriage. Category B services were allowed to compete between each other, but no Category B service was allowed to directly compete with a Category A service.[6][7][8]
  • Category C services encompassed "competitive Canadian specialty services operating in the genres of mainstream sports and national news", which had been given an exemption from the genre protection rules in 2009 that allowed them more flexibility in programming and formats.[9][10][11]

Reforms and discontinuation of genre exclusivity rules

As part of "Let's Talk TV", a CRTC initiative to reform Canada's broadcasting industry, the Commission announced in 2015 that it would phase out its previous "genre protection" rules, which forbade services with Category B licenses from directly competing with those with Category A licenses. The Commission felt that these restrictions were "no longer needed to ensure programming diversity between services", as "[they] limited programming services to offering certain types of programming and precluded other services from offering that programming." As part of these changes, the CRTC began transitioning all pay and specialty services to standardized conditions of license.[7][8][4][12]

In November 2016, per a request by DHX Media, the previous premium television designation (which was designed for pay television services such as The Movie Network, and restricted the carriage of commercial advertising, but allowed them to offer multiple feeds consistent with their scope of service) was also removed, merging them into the discretionary services category and allowing them to, if they choose, transition to advertising-supported formats.[4] The standard conditions of license were thus amended to allow discretionary services to offer multiplex channels if approved as a condition of license.[4]

List of licensed discretionary services

Former Category A services

Category A services were those which had mandatory distribution by all licensed broadcast distribution undertakings. They consisted of the channels that were licensed before the emergence of digital cable, as well as the narrow tier of digital services which were originally licensed as "Category 1" (must-carry) when digital cable was first introduced.

English

French

Third-language

Former Category B services

Category B services were those which had only optional, rather than mandatory, carriage rights on BDUs, and did not have format protection.

English

French

Third-language

National news and sports discretionary services

English

News
Sports
  • Sportsnet
    • Sportsnet East
    • Sportsnet Ontario
    • Sportsnet Pacific
    • Sportsnet West
  • Sportsnet One
    • Sportsnet Flames
    • Sportsnet Oilers
    • Sportsnet Vancouver Hockey
  • TSN
    • TSN1
    • TSN2
    • TSN3
    • TSN4
    • TSN5

French

News
Sports

Former exempted services

Former premium services

Exempted discretionary services

Services with less than 200,000 subscribers that would otherwise meet the definition of a discretionary service, and services which air 90% of their programming in a "third language (a language other than English, French, or those of Canadian aboriginal peoples), are exempted from formal licensing by the CRTC. They must still comply with standard conditions of license published by the CRTC, maintain a file with the Commission, and, if this is the basis of their exemption, pursue an application for licensing if they exceed 200,000 subscribers.[13][14]

English

Third-language

References

  1. ↑ "Let's Talk TV - the way forward - Creating compelling and diverse Canadian programming". 12 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Types of TV broadcasters". 4 October 2007.
  3. ↑ "Radio, TV and Cable Broadcasting Services that do and do not need a licence". 3 September 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2016-436". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 2 November 2016.
  5. ↑ "Chum complaint "an exercise in turf protection"". Mediacaster Magazine. February 1, 2002. Archived from the original on March 26, 2012. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  6. 1 2 Government of Canada, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) (2008-10-30). "Regulatory policy - Regulatory frameworks for broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) and discretionary programming services". crtc.gc.ca. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  7. 1 2 3 "Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-86: Let's Talk TV - The way forward - Creating compelling and diverse Canadian programming". CRTC. 12 March 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 "Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-96 - Let's Talk TV - A World of Choice - A roadmap to maximize choice for TV viewers and to foster a healthy, dynamic TV market". CRTC. 19 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "Conditions of licence for competitive Canadian specialty services operating in the genres of mainstream sports and national news". crtc.gc.ca. CRTC. 2012-05-25. Retrieved 2019-09-27.
  10. ↑ "ARCHIVED - Conditions of licence for competitive Canadian specialty services operating in the genres of mainstream sports and national news". 4 September 2009.
  11. ↑ "ARCHIVED - Call for comments on amendments to the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations". 10 December 2010.
  12. ↑ Maloney, Val. "CRTC to allow ads on pay-TV channels". Kidscreen. Brunico Communications. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  13. ↑ "Broadcasting Order CRTC 2012-689: New exemption order respecting certain programming undertakings that would otherwise be eligible to be operated as Category B services, and amendments to the Exemption order respecting certain third-language television undertakings". CRTC. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  14. ↑ "Exemption order respecting discretionary television programming undertakings serving fewer than 200,000 subscribers". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 12 March 2015. Retrieved 2018-01-23.

See also

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