CRTC approves Category A conditions of licence
The following Category A licences were amended to remove specific conditions, which were replaced with a general description. Category A services will benefit from mandatory distribution only until their next licence renewal in 2017.
APPROVED - Application to amend the broadcasting licence for the national, English-language specialty Category A service in regard to its nature of service conditions of licence
2015-549 Book Television - featuring general interest and entertainment programming.
2015-550 MTV2 - featuring general interest, lifestyle and entertainment programming.
2015-551 Fashion Television - primarily dedicated to lifestyle and entertainment.
The CRTC is including the following condition in all general licences:
The licensee shall devote not more than 10% of the programming broadcast during the broadcast month to live professional sports programming, which falls under program category 6(
a) Professional sports.
Bell Media also attempted to remove a condition from each licence that says:
No less than 25% of all Canadian programs broadcast by the licensee, other than news, sports and current affairs programming, shall be produced by independent production companies.
Since these are Category A services that benefit from mandatory distribution, that request was denied and will be reviewed in 2017.