CRTC
CRTC
Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission		 Conseil de la radioduffusion et des
télécommunications canadiennes

 

25 November 1994

Sylvain Couture
Director of Production
Les émetteurs Décade
Suite 119
4220 Garlock Street
Sherbrooke, Quebec
J1L 1W5


Dear Mr. Couture:

This is further to your request for clarification of the Commission policies regarding use of the FM band for a very low power transmission system in public places to assist the hearing impaired. This will confirm that, in the opinion of the Commission, the Broadcasting Act (the Act) assented to in 1991 does not give the CRTC jurisdiction over such activities.

The Act empowers the Commission to regulate and supervise all broadcasting activities. In the Act, "broadcasting" is defined as follows:


     Broadcasting means any transmission of programs, whether or not 

     encrypted, by radio waves or other means of telecommunication for 

     reception by the public by means of broadcasting receiving 

     apparatus, but does not include any such transmission of programs 

     that is made solely for performance or display in a public place.
Note that the legislators did not provide a definition for "a public place". Nonetheless, from the list of the principal applications of your concept outlined in the document "Projet d'aide aux malentendants: Système FM Décade" (pages 5 to 7), the Commission staff are of the view that churches, establishments having a chapel (provided that the transmission is confined to the chapel), the common rooms of a school (but not the classrooms), cinemas, performance halls, theatres, arenas, stadiums and sports centres can be considered public places. However, patients' rooms in a hospital or senior citizens' home, residents' rooms in a religious community convent, and conference rooms are not considered public places.

Consequently, users of the Décade FM system are discharged of the requirement to hold a broadcasting licence issued by the Commission provided that they confine the use of such system within the perimeter of the specified public place.

Finally, we recommend that you contact the Department of Industry' to apply to use the FM frequencies.

We trust the above will be satisfactory.

Diane Rhéaume
Director General, Broadcast Analysis
CRTC