ARCHIVED - Public Notice CRTC 2001-53

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Public Notice
CRTC 2001-53

 

Ottawa, 15 May 2001

 

The Commission has received the following applications:

1.

St. Thomas and Woodstock, Ontario
Application Nos. 2001-0471-1, 2001-0472-9

 

Applications by Rogers Cable Inc. for rate deregulation.

 

Rogers Cable Inc. has given the Commission notice of its proposal for rate deregulation, dated March 30, 2001, for its St. Thomas and Woodstock, Ontario cable systems, pursuant to section 47 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations (the Regulations). In order to provide an opportunity for subscribers and interested parties to review the information filed and comment on the proposal, the Commission, pursuant to subsection 47(3) of the Regulations, has suspended these proposals pending the completion of this public process. The Commission has taken this step given that this is the first proposal of this type that has been filed since the Regulations went into force on 1 January 1998.

 

Under section 47 of the Regulations, a licensee can apply to be relieved from the application of Part 5 of the Regulations, as long as the licensee can demonstrate that there is competition in their market, and he has lost 5% or more of his customers, as of a given date. If these tests are met, and the Commission has not suspended or disallowed the proposal, the licensee is relieved of his obligations under Part 5 of the Regulations (sections 45 to 56), which includes the following provisions:

 

- installation and provision of basic service (Section 48). This means that a cable company would no longer have to provide service to a customer even if that customer lives within the licensed area of the cable company and certain other criteria are met.

 

- regulation of increases of the basic rate (sections 50 and 51) and regulation of increases in the basic rate for distribution of specialty services (sections 52, 53, 54 and 55). The cable company would be free to increase its basic rate without Commission approval. Currently, the Commission only allows prescribed increases to the basic rate of a cable company under the following three scenarios:

 

1) if the cable company has met the necessary economic tests and its profitability is below set thresholds; or

 

2) if the cable company has added a specialty service to basic; or

 

3) if the Commission has approved a rate increase for a specialty service that is already carried on basic.

 

Under each of these scenarios, customers must be notified in advance and are provided with an opportunity to comment on the proposed increases.

 

The Commission has already indicated, in Circular No. 427, (22 December 1997), that it would accept 31 August 1997 as the date on which the basic service of another licensed broadcasting distribution undertaking (BDU) is available to 30% or more subscribers across Canada. Therefore, the first part of the test has been met. Rogers has provided auditors' reports for each of its Woodstock and St. Thomas Class 1 systems confirming that the percentage loss of addresses in both systems is greater than 5%. Percentage losses are 16.3% in Woodstock and 17.0% in St. Thomas. The calculation was based on a comparison of addresses that received basic cable service at 5 September 1997 and which no longer received basic cable service at any time during the 30-day period preceeding 18 October 2000.

 

In this public notice, the Commission seeks comments from subscribers in the affected systems and interested parties on the proposal filed by Rogers.

 

Licensee's address:

 

Rogers Cable Inc.
333 Bloor Street East
Toronto, Ontario
M4W 1G9
Fax: (416) 935-4875
E-Mail: pkovacs@rci.rogers.com

 

Examination of applications:

 

Rogers Community TV
535 Talbot Street
St. Thomas, Ontario

 

Rogers Video
709 Dundas Street
Woodstock, Ontario

 

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

 

DEADLINE FOR INTERVENTION

19 June 2001

 

The intervention must be received by the CRTC and by the applicant ON OR BEFORE the above-mentioned date. The Commission cannot be held responsible for postal delays.

 

Your intervention will be considered by the Commission, and will form part of the public record of the proceeding without further notification to you, provided the procedure set out below has been followed. You will be contacted only if your submission raises procedural questions.

 

Submit your written intervention to the Secretary General of the Commission in ONLY ONE of the following formats:

 

BY MAIL AT
CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2

OR

BY FAX TO THE
Secretary General - (819) 994-0218

OR

BY ELECTRONIC MAIL TO
procedure@crtc.gc.ca

 

A true copy MUST be sent to the applicant and proof that this has been done must accompany the intervention sent to the Commission.

 

Where the intervention is filed by electronic means, the line ***End of document*** should be entered following the last paragraph of the document, as an indication that the document has not been damaged during electronic transmission.

 

Please note, that only the documents (applications and interventions) electronically filed will be available on the Commission's web site. You will be able to access these documents by indicating the public notice or the notice of public hearing number.

 

Each paragraph of the document should be numbered.

 

Your intervention should clearly identify the application and indicate whether you support or oppose the application, or if you propose changes to it, include the facts and grounds for your proposal.

 

In the event that the application is brought to the oral phase of the hearing, and if you wish to appear, you must provide reasons why your written comments are not sufficient and why an appearance is necessary.

 

In exceptional circumstances, the Commission may allow an intervenor to present its intervention by teleconference. At the time of filing its intervention, the intervenor must clearly indicate why the Commission should grant such a request.

 

EXAMINATION OF DOCUMENTS DURING NORMAL OFFICE HOURS

 

Documents are available at the local address provided in this notice and at the Commission offices and documentation centres directly involved with these applications or, upon request, within 48 hours, at any other CRTC offices and documentation centres.

 

Central Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
1 Promenade du Portage, Room G-5
Hull, Quebec K1A 0N2
Tel: (819) 997-2429 - TDD: 994-0423
FAX: (819) 994-0218

 

 

 

 

Bank of Commerce Building
1809 Barrington Street, Suite 1007
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3K8
Tel: (902) 426-7997 - TDD: 426-6997
FAX: (902) 426-2721

 

405 de Maisonneuve Blvd. East
2nd Floor, Suite B2300
Montréal, Quebec H2L 4J5
Tel: (514) 283-6607 - TDD: 283-8316
FAX: (514) 283-3689

 

55 St. Clair Avenue East, Suite 624
Toronto, Ontario M4T 1M2
Tel: (416) 952-9096
FAX: (416) 954-6343

 

Kensington Building
275 Portage Avenue, Suite 1810
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2B3
Tel: (204) 983-6306 - TDD: 983-8274
FAX: (204) 983-6317

 

Cornwall Professional Building
2125 - 11th Avenue, Room 103
Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 3X3
Tel: (306) 780-3422
FAX: (306) 780-3319

 

10405 Jasper Avenue, Suite 520
Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3N4
Tel: (780) 495-3224
FAX: (780) 495-3214

 

530-580 Hornby Street
Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3B6
Tel: (604) 666-2111 - TDD: 666-0778
FAX: (604) 666-8322

 

This document is available in alternative format upon request and may also be examined at the following Internet site:
http://www.crtc.gc.ca 

 

Secretary General

 

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