A CRTC decision that could have broad implications regarding specialty channels and their adherence to conditions of licence is expected within the next few weeks.

The Canadian entertainment industry will be watching closely as the commission responds to a formal complaint filed by CBC Newsworld in late 1997, alleging that CTV News 1 had violated its condition of licence on a number of occasions by broadcasting live segments of events or breaking news that did not adhere to its mandated ‘headline news,’ 15-minute wheel format.

While some cbc staff have implied that the unusually long time it has taken the crtc to respond to the complaint suggests that the issue is a low priority, Denis Carmel, crtc head of communications, disagrees and says the regulatory body is taking the utmost care before tabling a decision.

‘It’s a very complicated issue and it raises questions that go far beyond these two licencees,’ says Carmel.

Indeed, if the commission’s decision expunges News 1 of any wrongdoing, it could open the door for other specialty services to test the limits of their conditions of licence with programming choices instead of formal applications. However, if the crtc rules that News 1 has violated its licence conditions, many will argue that the commission is discouraging competition and perpetuating monopolies for certain licensed specialty services.

‘They’re [the cbc] trying to deny viewers choice,’ says Henry Kowalski, ctv senior vp of news, regarding the complaint. ‘I don’t think that’s a position that a public broadcaster should take. And certainly not a broadcaster that’s in the business of news.’

According to the crtc’s Sept. 4, 1996 decision to approve ctv’s application for News 1, the service’s conditions of licence include the provision that, ‘The licencee shall maintain a `headline news’ format as described in its application, presented in a continuously-updated fifteen minute wheel.’ In its decision, the commission also wrote, ‘The licensee will not engage in any long form programming.’

In its conclusion to the approved application, the commission noted that News 1 would ‘contribute to diversity by providing viewers at all times of the day with a service that, through its format and continuously updated scheduling, will be totally differentiated from CBC Newsworld. . . ‘

But the cbc’s complaint contends that News 1 has continually broken out of its 15-minute wheel format to cover live breaking news events. And it appears that News 1 plans to continue to do so until told otherwise as just last month it carried over an hour of live pictures and analysis of the bombing of Iraq, with no weather, business or sports updates.

When asked about News 1’s Iraq coverage and its apparent licence violation, Kowalski says, ‘I believe that there is room within the licence that we were granted – we’re onside. We’ve lived up to our licence conditions.’

But cbc head of regulatory affairs Lanny Morry begs to differ. ‘They constantly do this. It’s clear that they can only be doing this if someone’s telling them they can do it.

‘I guess conditions of licence only apply to the cbc,’ she says.

Many in the industry say that Newsworld’s formal complaint about News 1 was filed partly in retaliation to a March 1997 decision ordering Newsworld to stop broadcasting political satire shows This Hour Has 22 Minutes and The Royal Canadian Air Farce. That ruling was the result of a complaint filed by ctv.

The crtc has most likely already made a decision on the issue and is now carefully crafting the wording of the ruling that will undoubtedly be meticulously examined by execs at the two news services as well as the industry at large.

‘On this one it’s a very delicate issue,’ says Carmel.

Whichever way the commission rules, the decision will not appear on the crtc Website but rather in a letter sent to both News 1 and Newsworld outlining the commission’s judgment on the issue.