Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987 (SOR/87-49)

Short Title

1 These Regulations may be cited as the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987.

Interpretation

2 In these Regulations,

Act

Act means the Broadcasting Act; (Loi)

advertising material

advertising material means any commercial message and programming that promotes a station, network or program, but does not include

• (a) a station or network identification,

• (b) the announcement of an upcoming program that is voiced over credits,

• (c) a program that consists exclusively of classified announcements, if the program is broadcast not more than once during a broadcast day and has a duration of not more than one hour, or

• (d) a promotion for a Canadian program or a Canadian feature film, notwithstanding that a sponsor is identified in the title of the program or the film or is identified as a sponsor of that program or that film, where the identification is limited to the name of the sponsor only and does not include a description, representation or attribute of the sponsor’s products or services; (matériel publicitaire)

affiliation agreement

affiliation agreement means an agreement between one or more stations and another party according to which programs provided by the other party will be broadcast by the stations at a predetermined time; (contrat d’affiliation)

alcoholic beverage

alcoholic beverage, in respect of a commercial message, means an alcoholic beverage the sale of which is regulated by the law of the province in which the commercial message is broadcast; (boisson alcoolisée)

baseband

baseband means signals in the frequency range 0 to 120 kHz that are used as input to the sound transmitter of a station; (bande de base)

broadcast day

broadcast day, in respect of a licensee, means the period of up to 18 consecutive hours, beginning each day not earlier than six o’clock in the morning and ending not later than one o’clock in the morning of the following day, as selected by the licensee; (journée de radiodiffusion)

broadcast month

broadcast month, in respect of a licensee, means the total number of hours devoted by the licensee to broadcasting during the aggregate of the broadcast days in a month; (mois de radiodiffusion)

broadcast year

broadcast year, in respect of a licensee, means the total number of hours devoted by the licensee to broadcasting during the aggregate of the broadcast months in a 12 month period, beginning on September 1 in any year; (année de radiodiffusion)

Canadian program

Canadian program means a program

• (a) in respect of which a Canadian film or video production certificate, as defined in subsection 125.4(1) of the Income Tax Act, has been issued; or

• (b) that qualifies as a Canadian program in accordance with the criteria established by the Commission in

  • (i) Appendices 1 and 2 to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2023-90, dated 23 March 2023 and entitled Change to the treatment of stock footage costs as part of the evaluation of applications for Canadian program certification, or

  • (ii) [Repealed, SOR/2023-216, s. 1]

  • (iii) paragraphs 128 to 130 of Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-86 entitled Let’s Talk TV: The way forward – Creating compelling and diverse Canadian programming; (émission canadienne)

classified announcement

classified announcement means an advertisement respecting goods or services offered or sought by a person not engaged in the business of dealing in those goods or services; (petites annonces)

clock hour

clock hour means a period of 60 minutes beginning on each hour and ending immediately prior to the next hour; (heure d’horloge)

commercial message

commercial message means an advertisement intended to sell or promote goods, services, natural resources or activities, including an advertisement that mentions or displays in a list of prizes the name of the person selling or promoting the goods, services, natural resources or activities, and that is broadcast in a break within a program or between programs; (message publicitaire)

election period

election period means

• (a) in the case of a federal or provincial election or of a federal, provincial or municipal referendum, the period beginning on the date of the announcement of the election or referendum and ending on the date the election or referendum is held, or

• (b) in the case of a municipal election, the period beginning two months before the date of the election and ending on the date the election is held; (période électorale)

ethnic program

ethnic program means a program in any language that is specifically directed toward any culturally or racially distinct group, other than one whose heritage is Aboriginal Canadian, from France, or from the British Isles; (émission à caractère ethnique)

ethnic station

ethnic station means a station that is licensed as an ethnic station; (station à caractère ethnique)

exempt distribution undertaking

exempt distribution undertaking means a distribution undertaking whose operator is, by order of the Commission made under subsection 9(4) of the Act, exempt from any or all of the requirements of Part II of the Act; (entreprise de distribution exemptée)

licensed

licensed means licensed by the Commission under paragraph 9(1)(b) of the Act; (autorisé)

licensee

licensee means a station operator or a network operator; (titulaire)

locally relevant

locally relevant means of interest to the community or market served; (pertinence locale)

multiplex channel

multiplex channel means a frequency band centred at 102.27 kHz in the baseband containing a frequency modulated subcarrier; (canal multiplexe)

network operator

network operator means a person licensed to carry on a television network; (exploitant de réseau)

official contour

official contour means a service contour marked for a licensed television station on the map most recently published pursuant to the Department of Communications Act by the Minister of Communications pertaining to that station; (périmètre de rayonnement officiel)

private licence

private licence means a licence issued by the Commission to a person other than the Corporation; (licence privée)

program

program means a broadcast presentation of sound and visual matter that is designed to inform or entertain and that is described by a key figure determined under Schedule I, but does not include visual images, whether or not combined with sounds, that consist predominantly of alphanumeric text; (émission)

programming

programming means anything that is broadcast, but does not include visual images, whether or not combined with sounds, that consist predominantly of alphanumeric text; (programmation)

public licence

public licence means a licence issued by the Commission to the Corporation; (licence publique)

remote station

remote station means a station that is licensed as a remote station; (station périphérique)

reserved time

reserved time means the predetermined time during which a station broadcasts programs pursuant to an affiliation agreement; (temps réservé)

second audio program channel

second audio program channel means a frequency band centred at 78.67 kHz in the baseband containing a frequency modulated subcarrier for audio programming; (second canal d’émissions sonore)

station

station means a television programming undertaking that transmits sounds and images or a broadcasting transmitting undertaking that transmits sounds and images, but does not include a broadcasting undertaking that only rebroadcasts the radiocommunications of another licensed broadcasting undertaking; (station)

station operator

station operator means a person licensed to carry on a station; (exploitant de station)

third language program

third language program means an ethnic program in a language other than English, French, or a language of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada; (émission dans une troisième langue)

vertical blanking interval

vertical blanking interval means the brief period of time which recurs approximately 60 times per second between successive scans of television pictures. (intervalle de suppression de trame)

Application

3 These Regulations do not apply in respect of programming that is broadcast by a licensee using a signal contained in a second audio program channel or a multiplex channel or during the vertical blanking interval.

Canadian Programs

• 4 (1) [Repealed, SOR/94-220, s. 2]

• (2) For the purposes of this section,

  ethnic programming period

  ethnic programming period means that portion of the broadcast year during which a licensee broadcasts ethnic programs; (période de programmation à caractère ethnique)

  evening ethnic programming period

  evening ethnic programming period means that portion of the evening broadcast period during which a licensee broadcasts ethnic programs; (période de programmation à caractère ethnique en soirée)

  evening broadcast period

  evening broadcast period means the total time devoted to broadcasting between six o’clock in the afternoon and midnight during each broadcast year. (période de radiodiffusion en soirée)

• (3) For the purposes of this section, the time devoted to the broadcasting of a program includes any time devoted to advertising material that is inserted

  • (a) within the program;

  • (b) in breaks within the program; or

  • (c) between the end of the program and the beginning of the following program.

• (4) Subsections (6), (7), (9) and (10) do not apply to the licensee of an ethnic station.

• (5) Subsections (6) and (7) do not apply to the licensee of a remote station.

• (6) [Repealed, SOR/2017-160, s. 18]

• (7) Subject to subsection (10),

  • (a) a licensee holding a public licence shall devote not less than 60 per cent of the evening broadcast period to the broadcasting of Canadian programs; and

  • (b) a licensee holding a private licence shall devote not less than 50 per cent of the evening broadcast period to the broadcasting of Canadian programs.

• (8) Except where authorized by a condition of licence designed to enhance the quality or diversity of Canadian programs, the licensee of an ethnic station or of a remote station shall devote not less than

  • (a) 60 per cent of the broadcast year and of any six month period specified in a condition of licence to the broadcasting of Canadian programs; and

  • (b) 50 per cent of the evening broadcast period to the broadcasting of Canadian programs.

• (9) Where a licensee is authorized by a condition of licence to devote less than 60 per cent of the ethnic programming period to the broadcasting of Canadian programs and does so, subsection (6) applies to that part of the broadcast year and of any six month period specified in a condition of licence during which the licensee is not broadcasting ethnic programs.

• (10) Where a licensee is authorized by a condition of licence to devote less than the required percentage referred to in subsection (7) to the broadcasting of Canadian programs during the evening ethnic programming period and does so, subsection (7) applies only to that portion of the evening broadcast period during which ethnic programs are not broadcast.

• (11) Where, in the calculation of the time devoted by a licensee to Canadian programs that are broadcast during a broadcast day, inequities arise among licensees because their stations are located in different time zones, the Commission may vary the application of this section in order that licensees receive equitable treatment in the calculation of their Canadian programs.

Programming Content

• 5 (1) A licensee shall not broadcast

  • (a) anything in contravention of the law;

  • (b) any abusive comment or abusive pictorial representation that, when taken in context, tends to or is likely to expose an individual or a 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.

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

• (2) For the purposes 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.

• 6 (1) A licensee may broadcast a commercial message directly or indirectly advertising an alcoholic beverage only if

  • (a) the sponsor is not prohibited from advertising the alcoholic beverage by the laws of the province in which the commercial message is broadcast;

  • (b) subject to subsection (2), the commercial message is not designed to promote the general consumption of alcoholic beverages; and

  • (c) the commercial message complies with the Code for Broadcast Advertising of Alcoholic Beverages, published by the Commission on August 1, 1996.

• (2) Paragraph (1)(b) does not apply so as to prohibit industry, public service or brand preference advertising.