Cable channels are no longer limited in how much advertising they can air, following a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decision issued on Tuesday (Sept. 5).

Effective immediately, all discretionary TV channels – as well as news and sports networks – that are permitted to air advertising no longer have to adhere to the previous limit of 12 minutes per hour. However, the regulator maintained the stipulation that these channels only air paid national advertising, and are not to solicit local advertising.

Further, the CRTC also decided to remove the six minute limit on local advertising that had been placed on channels that broadcast local programming. They are still required, however, to only solicit local advertising from the markets they serve. Channels that wish to exceed this limit must apply to the CRTC to have the terms of their licence amended.

Last year, Quebecor filed an application to remove the 12 minute limit from its discretionary services, arguing that it put the company at a disadvantage against foreign-owned streaming platforms. It also stated that removing the limit would help improve competition in the French-language market and inject revenue back into the Canadian broadcasting system.

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), Bell, Corus Entertainment, Pelmorex and Anthem all filed interventions in favour of Quebecor’s application, though several added that it would be unfair to only do so in the Quebec market.

The CRTC ultimately agreed with the application, applying it to all discretionary services in Canada.

In its decision, the CRTC stated that a short-term solution to declining ad revenues could “slow the downward trend” for Canadian programming expenditures (CPE), which it argued would be in the public interest. A list of impacted discretionary services were not included in the decision, but specialty channels in Canada include HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, YTV, Discovery Canada, OUTtv, T+E, Bell Media’s CTV-branded channels, and more.

While some interventions said that removing the advertising limit would result in a poorer viewing experience that could accelerate the trend of cord-cutting, those that were in favour of the removal argued that the lack of a limit of conventional TV channels had not resulted in advertising saturation.

The CAB also argued that, since broadcasters would not be able to alter the length of much of the programming they aired, there would only be a reduction in the amount of “filler” aired during breaks, especially for the most popular programs.

Bell and Pelmorex argued that the ban on local advertising – which was imposed by the CRTC to protect conventional channels – should be removed for discretionary channels. Bell claimed the ban only served to direct ad revenues online, while Pelmorex said lifting the ban would allow it to provide more tailored programming for individual markets served by The Weather Network.

The CRTC decided, however, that removing the ban would be counter to its policy of allowing local advertising only on channels that served local markets, which developed more local programming.

Because of the above reasons, the CRTC also decided to remove the limit on local advertising for those cable stations that do broadcast local programming.

Because there are relatively few discretionary stations that are permitted to broadcast local programming, the CRTC found that the impact would be minimal to the broadcasting system as a whole, echoing an intervention by the Independent Broadcasters Group, which argued that it would still help support local and third-language services.

The CRTC did decide, however, to require stations to apply for an amendment to their licences in order to have the ban removed, in order to ensure they do not “change the nature of their service” after receiving the exemption.

This story originally appeared in Media in Canada

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