Shaw 2013 Annual Report Download - page 23

S
haw
C
ommunications Inc
.
MANA
G
EMENT’
S
DI
SCUSS
I
O
N AND ANALY
S
I
S
August
31
,
2013
I
n November
2013
the
G
overnment
i
ntroduced B
i
ll
C
-
13,
An Act to amend the
C
r
i
m
i
nal
C
ode
,
t
he Canada Evidence Act, the Competition Act and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Crimina
l
M
atters Ac
t
(the “Bill C-13”) which would, if passed, expand the lawful access powers of th
e
G
overnment and
i
ntroduce new re
q
u
i
rements
f
or telecommun
i
cat
i
ons
p
rov
i
ders to
p
reserve and
produce subscriber information. Consistent with the Government’s decision not to proceed with
B
ill C-30, almost all of the newl
yp
ro
p
osed measures under Bill C-13 are sub
j
ect to
j
udicia
l
o
vers
ig
ht and do not re
q
u
i
re the
p
rov
i
s
i
on o
fi
n
f
ormat
i
on w
i
thout a warrant or d
i
schar
g
eo
fa
burden of proof. However, should the requirements of Bill C-13 become law, Shaw and other
t
elecommunications providers will need to review and potentially upgrade their interception and
o
ther s
y
stems to com
p
l
y
w
i
th new law
f
ul access re
q
u
i
rements.
I
n earl
y 2013
the
C
RT
Ci
n
i
t
i
ated a
p
roceed
i
n
g
to cons
i
der
i
ntroduc
i
n
g
mandated V
i
deo Rela
y
S
erv
i
ces
(“
VR
S
”
)i
n
C
anada. VR
S
allows dea
f
, hard-o
f
-hear
i
ng and speech
i
mpa
i
red persons t
o
u
se third party sign-language interpreter services to make and receive telephone calls. The
serv
i
ce has been ava
i
lable
i
n the Un
i
ted
S
tates
f
or over a decade. The
C
RT
Ci
s also cons
i
der
i
n
g
if
the serv
i
ce would be
f
unded through a levy on telecommun
i
cat
i
ons revenues o
f
t
elecommunication carriers, including Shaw
.
Di
g
ital transition
I
n July 2009 the CRTC identified the major markets where it expected conventional television
broadcasters to convert the
i
r
f
ull-
p
ower
O
TA analo
g
transm
i
tters to d
igi
tal transm
i
tters b
y
August
31
,
2011
. The convers
i
on
f
rom analog to d
i
g
i
tal has
f
reed up spectrum
f
or government
auction
.
The Corporation completed the digital transition in all mandatory markets as of August 31
,
2011
.In
2012
and
2013
the
C
or
p
orat
i
on commenced convert
i
n
g
transm
i
tters
i
n non-
m
andatory markets and expects to be complete
i
n
2016
.
V
ert
i
ca
li
ntegrat
i
o
n
The
C
omm
i
ss
i
on recogn
i
zes that vert
i
cal
i
ntegrat
i
on can be bene
fi
c
i
al and that
i
t also ha
s
potential to enable preferential treatment. In view of increasing industry consolidation and
vert
i
cal
i
nte
g
rat
i
on, the
C
RT
Ci
ssued a vert
i
cal
i
nte
g
rat
i
on
p
ol
i
c
yi
n
S
e
p
tember
2011
. The
pol
i
cy
i
ntroduced new sa
f
eguards
i
n add
i
t
i
on to var
i
ous regulatory mechan
i
sms that alread
y
exist, including a prohibition on the distribution of television programs on an exclusive basis o
n
n
ew med
i
a and a reverse onus o
fp
roo
fi
n cases where undue
p
re
f
erence
i
s alle
g
ed
in
connection with the terms of distribution of any programming service. New measures als
o
include a code of conduct governing commercial relations and interactions between and amon
g
broadcast d
i
str
i
butors,
p
ro
g
rammers and new med
i
a undertak
i
n
g
s, and a standst
i
ll re
q
u
i
remen
t
prohibiting a distribution undertaking from changing the terms of distribution or carriag
e
pending the resolution of a dispute
.
The CRTC imposed certain parts of the code as conditions of license upon BCE in its recen
t
ac
q
u
i
s
i
t
i
on o
f
Astral Med
i
a Inc. Uncerta
i
nt
y
rema
i
ns as to the extent to wh
i
ch the
C
RT
C
w
i
l
l
seek to impose such conditions of licence and the ultimate impact of the CRTC decisio
n
introducing the new safeguards and to formalize code of conduct requirements as conditions of
l
i
cense. The code o
f
conduct
i
sa
pp
l
i
ed on a case-b
y
-case bas
i
s when d
i
s
p
utes ar
i
se. The new
safeguards could have an impact on the Corporation
.
19