Spectrum Management and Telecommunications

BPR-8: Application Procedures and Rules for Broadcasting Receiving Undertakings (Cable Television)

Issue 2
January 2009

Spectrum Management and Telecommunications
Broadcasting Procedures and Rules

Part 8: Application Procedures and Rules for Broadcasting Receiving Undertakings (Cable Television)
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1. General

1.1 The Radiocommunication Act stipulates that no radio apparatus that forms part of a broadcasting undertaking may be possessed, installed and operated without a broadcasting certificate issued by the Minister of Industry.

1.2 Pursuant to paragraphs 5(1)(a) and 5(1)(d) of the Act, the Minister is empowered to issue and fix the terms and conditions of the broadcasting certificate and to establish technical requirements and standards in relation to radio apparatus.

1.3 This document specifies the technical standards and requirements and the operational terms and conditions applicable to broadcasting distribution undertakings, also called cable television systems and prescribes departmental requirements for filing applications for broadcasting certificates.

1.4 This document supersedes BPR-8, Issue 1, published in June 2005. It contains amendments related to Client Procedures Circular CPC-2-0-3, Issue 4, entitled Radiocommunication and Broadcasting Antenna Systems, effective January 1, 2008.

1.5 This document consists of six sections. Section 1 sets out the legislative basis and the purpose of this document. Section 2 defines certain terms used throughout this text. Section 3 is devoted to operational requirements. Section 4 specifies technical standards. Section 5 discusses measurement procedures applicable to the technical standards specified in the previous section. Section 6 describes broadcasting certificate application procedures.

1.6 The content of this document notwithstanding, Industry Canada may authorize certain minor departures from the standards and operational requirements specified herein when it is shown that the quality of signals will not be compromised and that harmful interference will not occur.

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2. Definitions

For convenience, the corresponding French term is noted in parentheses at the end of each definition.

Adjacent channel denotes:

for any television channel, another television channel whose visual carrier frequency, either off-air or in the cable system, differs from the visual carrier frequency of the first-mentioned television channel by 6 MHz.
for any FM distribution channel, another FM distribution channel whose carrier frequency differs from the first-mentioned channel's carrier frequency by 600 kHz or less (canal adjacent).

Assigned carrier frequency denotes any carrier frequency authorized by the Department for distribution over a cable system (fréquence porteuse assignée).

Augmented channel capacity denotes a cable system's channel capacity that extends beyond the 12 television channels available on the standard VHF broadcast band (capacité augmentée).

Cable television system denotes the equipment and facilities leased or owned by a cable operator and used within or near the service area to receive, process, produce and broadcast programs and services to subscribers (système de télévision par câble).

Cable television system input or system input denotes, with respect to the technical standards and operational requirements presented in this document, for each signal directly received over the air at a local receiving facility, input to a processor or demodulator. With respect to locally originated signals or signals from a satellite, a microwave receiving facility or other means of telecommunications, system input denotes input to a modulator at the headend. In the case of signals received via system interconnection, system input denotes the interconnection point (entrée du système de télévision par câble) or (entrée du système).

Carrier-to-noise ratio denotes the relationship, expressed in dB, between the visual carrier level and the noise level, as defined herein, on a given television channel (rapport porteuse à bruit).

Class I television signals denotes signals from local and regional television stations (signaux de télévision de classe I).

Community programming denotes community programming as defined in the Broadcasting Act and the CRTC Cable Television Regulations (programmation communautaire).

CLI air-based criterion (CLI_a) denotes a signal leakage criterion used to estimate, from measurements taken in the airspace above the cable system, the cumulative impact of signal leakage on aeronautical frequency users. This performance criterion applies to cable systems carrying channels A-1(99), A-2(98), EE(41) and FF(42). The CLI_a's limit is defined in Section 4.5 of this document (ICR de mesures aériennes (ICR_a)).

CLI ground-based criterion (CLI_g) denotes a signal leakage criterion used to estimate, from measurements made on the ground, the cumulative impact of signal leakage on aeronautical frequency users. This performance criterion applies to cable systems carrying channels A-1(99), A-2(98), EE(41) and FF(42). The CLI_g's limit and the formula to calculate it appear in Section 4.4 of this document (ICR de mesures au sol (ICR_s)).

Distribution system denotes the part of a cable system used to transmit the signal from the trunk or trunk system to each subscriber terminal within the service area (système de distribution).

Equivalent Leakage Density (ELD) is a criterion for evaluating cable system leakage performance and its potential impact on spectrum users operating radio systems on land, i.e. police, ambulance services, etc. The ELD is calculated from measurements using a formula which appears in Section 4.3 of this document (Densité équivalente de rayonnement (Der)).

FM carrier level denotes the peak modulated aural carrier level, measured in terms of RMS voltage and expressed in dBmV (niveau de la porteuse FM).

Frequency stability denotes the ability of a cable system to maintain a carrier at its assigned frequency under all environmental conditions and power supply variations. For the purposes of this document, an interval of at least six hours is required to verify compliance with any frequency stability requirement (stabilité de fréquence).

Grade A contour denotes the official Grade A contour of a television station as defined in Broadcasting Procedures and Rules Part 4 (contour de classe A).

Grade B contour denotes the official Grade B contour of a television station as defined in Broadcasting Procedures and Rules Part 4 (contour de classe B).

Harmful interference denotes an adverse effect of electromagnetic energy from any emission, radiation or induction that endangers the use or functioning of a safety-related radiocommunication system, or significantly degrades or obstructs, or repeatedly interrupts, the use or functioning of radio apparatus or radio-sensitive equipment (brouillage préjudiciable).

Impairment grade denotes the degree of impairment of a television image and is rated as follows (note de dégradation):

Impairment Grade	Impairment
5	Imperceptible
4	Perceptible, but not annoying
3	Somewhat annoying
2	Very annoying
1	Unusable

Local AM station denotes, in relation to a cable television system, any AM broadcasting station, located in Canada, whose main studio is located within 32 kilometres of the local headend where the majority of local and regional off-air signals are received (station AM locale).

Local FM station denotes, in relation to a cable television system, any FM broadcasting station located in Canada whose 500 microvolts per metre official contour encloses any part of the service area of the cable television system (station FM locale).

Local television station denotes, in relation to a cable television system, a television station, located in Canada, with a Grade A contour that covers any part of the cable system's service area (station de télévision locale).

Noise level denotes the total random noise, measured in terms of an RMS voltage with respect to a 75-ohm impedance, over a 4 MHz bandwidth centred on a given channel and expressed in dBmV (niveau du bruit).

Reception facilities denote that part of the cable television system used to receive signals and includes towers, antennas, preamplifiers and other equipment used in the reception of signals (installation de réception).

Regional television station denotes, in the case of a cable system, a television station, located in Canada, whose Grade B contour, but not Grade A contour, covers any part of the cable system's service area (station de télévision régionale).

Restricted FM channel denotes an FM channel that coincides with another channel over which signals are transmitted by any FM station whose official 500-microvolts-per-metre contour encloses any part of the service area (canal FM à usage limité).

Restricted television channel denotes any television channel that coincides with another channel over which signals are transmitted by any television station whose Grade A contour covers any part of the service area (canal de télévision à usage limité).

Service area denotes the zone or territory within which a cable television system is authorized to distribute signals to subscribers (zone de desserte).

Signal leakage or leakage denotes all electromagnetic energy escaping from a cable system (rayonnement).

Standard signals denotes signals authorized for distribution by a cable television system at specific levels and assigned frequencies (signaux normaux).

Standard system operating conditions denote the conditions which must apply to a system being tested for minimum requirements, unless others are specified (conditions normales de fonctionnement de système).

Standard VHF channels denote the FM and VHF television channels normally used for over-the-air broadcast by FM and television stations (canaux VHF normaux).

Subscriber denotes, in the case of a cable television system, the end user of a signal distributed by a cable television system, but excludes those who redistribute the signal, such as apartment building owners who connect to or pay for the cable television service (abonné).

Subscriber's equipment denotes an FM or television receiver, a cable converter or some other domestic terminal device owned or rented by the subscriber (équipement d'abonné).

Subscriber terminal denotes a point at which the subscriber's equipment interconnects with the cable television system (terminal d'abonné).

Supplementary channels denote all the channels designated as follows (canaux supplémentaires).

sub-low band: under 54 MHz;
mid-band: from 108 MHz to 174 MHz;
super-band: from 216 MHz to 300 MHz;
hyper-band: from 300 MHz to 1000 MHz.

Television channel denotes a frequency band 6 MHz wide on which a television signal is received over the air or distributed via a cable system, and which is identified by a number, letter, video carrier frequency or extreme lower and upper frequencies (canal de télévision).

Television signal denotes a standard NTSC System M television signal or any other signal present on a standard VHF or supplementary channel (signal de télévision).

Trunk or trunk system denotes the part of a cable television system that is used essentially to transmit signals friom a processing facility to a distribution system (ligne principale)

The 90^th percentile value of the field strength denotes, when all cable leakage data collected above a cable system are ranked in ascending order, the maximum field strength reading of the group composed of 90% of all the collected data (intensité du champ au 90^e centile).

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3. Operational Requirements and Antenna-Supporting Structure Site Selection Issues

3.1 General Provisions

3.1.1 All proposed antenna structures whether new or modified must comply with the requirements of CPC-2-0-03 and Section 2 of BPR-1. In addition to meeting the requirements on site sharing, land-use consultation and public consultation, applicants must also fulfill other important obligations, including notification of nearby broadcasting stations, environmental considerations and Transport Canada/NAV CANADA aeronautical safety responsibilities.

3.1.2 The reception, local origination, processing and distribution facilities of every cable television system shall, under all environmental conditions and in the presence of power supply fluctuations, meet the operational requirements and technical standards detailed in this document.

3.1.3 The local AM and FM signals and the Class I television signals carried over the cable system shall not be impaired by any other signal distributed by the cable system.

3.2 Leakage Control

3.2.1 At all times, cable system operators should strive to minimize leakage emanating from their facilities.

3.2.2 The operator of a cable television system distributing signals over supplementary channels must carry out systematic patrols to detect leakage, and take corrective measures to prevent cable leakage.

3.2.3 The operator of a cable television system must keep a logbook indicating the date and location for each leak detected, the date on which it was repaired and its probable cause. This logbook must be kept for a period of two years so that it may be examined by an inspector from Industry Canada upon request.

3.2.4 When leakage originates from a subscriber's premises, the system operator must ensure the necessary repairs are carried out. If such repairs cannot be affected within a reasonable period of time, the operator must stop distribution of the interfering service(s) or channel(s) to the subscriber's premises until the leakage can be repaired. In addition, distribution of interfering of service(s) or channel(s) to the subscriber's premises must be stopped immediately if the leakage originating from the subscriber causes harmful interference to safety services (ambulances, police, aeronautical frequencies, and so on).

3.3 Interference from Cable Television Systems

If a cable system causes harmful interference, as determined by Industry Canada, the operator must take corrective measures immediately.

3.4 Restricted Television Channels

3.4.1 Class I television signals and community programming must not be carried on restricted channels.

3.4.2 The previous section notwithstanding, use of restricted channels to distribute Class I television signals and community programming will be permitted only when the system operator can demonstrate that the use of the restricted channel will not impair the television signal quality.

3.5 Restricted FM Channels

3.5.1 Signals from local FM and AM stations must not be carried over restricted FM channels.

3.5.2 The previous section notwithstanding, use of restricted FM channels is permitted only when the system operator can demonstrate that the use of the restricted channel will not impair the FM signal quality.

3.6 Assignment of Television Channels

Visual carrier frequencies of adjacent television channels are normally assigned at intervals of 6 MHz ± 22 kHz, except for cable channels A-2, A-1, A, B, C, EE and FF that must operate on frequencies specified by the Department, when applicable. Standard television channel assignments can be found in Appendix A.

3.7 FM Channel Assignment

3.7.1 FM carrier frequencies shall be assigned to standard VHF FM broadcast channel frequencies.

3.7.2 Adjacent FM carrier frequencies shall be assigned at intervals of 400 kHz or more.

3.8 Authorization with respect to Aeronautical Bands

The spectrum occupied by cable channels A-1, A-2, A, B, C, EE and FF is allocated to the aeronautical services. The use of these channels by cable systems is regulated by the provisions of Section 17 of the Radiocommunication Regulations. The Regulations stipulate that explicit authorization from the Department is required before such frequencies can be used, and that they must be used subject to and in accordance with all conditions specified in the system's broadcasting certificate. The purpose of these conditions is to protect aeronautical radionavigation and radiocommunication signals.

3.9 Conditions Concerning the use of all Channels within the Aeronautical Bands in Cable Systems

3.9.1 Before using the aeronautical frequencies, the applicant must establish and submit to Industry Canada a program for maintenance, leakage control and response to interference problems. The operator of the cable system must maintain such a program and perform regular leakage patrols.

3.9.2 The applicant should be aware that it may be necessary for a cable system to offset some carrier frequencies when using channels A(14), B(15), C(16), A-1(99), A-2(98), EE(41) and/or FF(42). The Department will specify any required offset(s) in the system's broadcasting certificate.

Assignments of new aeronautical frequencies or changes in service volumes of existing aeronautical frequencies may result in an incompatible frequency relationship between these assignments and carriers on channels A-1, A-2, A, B, C, EE and/or FF. In such a case, Industry Canada will require the system operator to take the necessary measures, as specified, to offset the carriers of the channels.

3.9.3 The operator must have installed calibrated equipment capable of achieving the carrier offsets and of maintaining the carrier stability specified in the Department's authorization. The operator must also have equipment capable of verifying the frequency and stability of the affected carriers. He or she must make the necessary measurements at regular intervals - at least every three months - to ensure that the required offsets are maintained at all times. These measurements must be kept in a log book and made available on request for examination by the Department.

The calibration of the equipment must be carried out at intervals determined by the manufacturer or at shorter intervals.

3.9.4 If the conditions specified in Industry Canada's authorization on the use of aeronautical frequencies are no longer being fulfilled, the system operator must immediately take the necessary steps to correct the situation. Failure to do so may result in loss of authorization to use these frequencies.

3.10 Conditions Concerning use of Aeronautical Channels A-1, A-2, EE and FF Only

In addition to the conditions described in Section 3.9, authorization to use channels A-1, A-2, EE and FF shall be granted subject to a qualification procedure and shall require compliance with the following conditions:

3.10.1 Operators must submit to Industry Canada a report on cable leakage control activities in conjunction with any application to use aeronautical channels. This report must indicate the amount of resources (i.e. people and materials) allocated to maintenance and leakage control, including leakage patrol and repair of cable leaks. The report must also include the recently measured value of the CLI of the system along with the location, date of measurement and field strength of each of the readings used in the CLI calculation, the list of test equipment used, calibration dates and measurement set-up. To be valid, the CLI evaluation should have been performed no more than 6 months prior to the date of application. The Department will evaluate the report and determine the appropriate action to take with regard to the application. The applicable leakage criteria to protect the aeronautical frequency users are defined in Sections 4.4 and 4.5 of this document. These leakage criteria are either ground-based or airborne-based. The measurement procedures for these criteria are described in Section 5 of this document. Also, a suggested procedure for qualification and verification of the use of aeronautical and emergency frequencies is supplied in Broadcasting Circular 12 (BC-12).

3.10.2 Industry Canada will evaluate and determine if the procedures established by the operator to perform leakage patrols, system maintenance and response to interference problems are acceptable. Also, the leakage patrols must be performed according to the procedures described in Section 5. Furthermore, the Department may carry out a leakage patrol of the system as needed to verify that the applicable leakage criteria defined in Sections 4.4 and 4.5 of this document are met.

3.10.3 The operator must put in place a safety procedure to quickly resolve cases of interference to radionavigation systems operating in the 108 to 118 MHz and 328.6 to 335.4 MHz bands. This procedure is subject to departmental approval and must call for the immediate removal of any cable service(s) or channel(s) causing interference to these frequencies.

3.10.4 The operator will need to submit a supplementary report (see Appendix C) every two years from the date of the submission of the preceding report. This report must ascertain what has changed since the submission of the initial detailed report - as described in Sections 3.9.3, 3.10.1, and 3.10.3 - or since the submission of the last supplementary report. The operator must also attest, in the report, to the recent CLI value for the cable system and to the percentage of the cable plant covered by the recent CLI measurements. To be valid, the CLI evaluation should have been performed no more than 6 months prior to the date of submission of the supplementary report.

3.10.5 Between the periods of submission of the detailed and supplementary reports mentioned in Sections 3.10.1 and 3.10.4 above, the Department may, as needed, take follow-up action with systems that have received the authorization to use channels A-1, A-2, EE and FF to ensure that all operating conditions are met.

3.11 Requirements with respect to International Emergency Frequencies and Aeronautical Marker Beacons

3.11.1 Cable signals shall not exceed 10^-5 watts on average across a 25 kHz bandwidth in any 160 μsec period at any point in the cable system within 100 kHz of the international emergency frequency of 121.5 MHz and the aeronautical marker beacon of 75 MHz. In addition, cable signals shall not exceed 10^-5 watts on average across a 25 kHz bandwidth in any 160 μsec period within 50 kHz of the emergency frequency 243 MHz and the emergency frequency band 406 to 406.1 MHz, at any point in the cable system.

3.11.2 For systems operating in the vicinity of maritime mobile service stations, cable signals shall not exceed 10^-5 watts on average across a 25 kHz bandwidth in any 160 μsec period within 50 kHz of the international distress, safety and calling frequency 156.8 MHz, at any point in the cable system.

3.11.3 The cable operator must put in place a safety procedure in case of interference to the international emergency frequencies of 121.5 MHz, 156.8 MHz, 243.0 MHz and 406-406.1 MHz and the aeronautical marker beacon frequency of 75 MHz. This procedure must call for the immediate removal of any interfering cable signal(s) or channel(s) causing interference to these frequencies.

3.12 Signal Quality Requirement

3.12.1 All Class I television signals must be received at the subscriber terminal with an impairment grade equal to or better than 4.

3.12.2 Under special circumstances and when other sources of signals are not available or approved for use, the Department may authorize the distribution of Class 1 signals to the subscriber terminal with an impairment grade that is lower than 4.

3.12.3 The above-mentioned requirements do not apply to television signals carried on restricted channels.

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4. Technical Standards

4.1 General Provisions

4.1.1 Unless otherwise indicated, all technical standards stated herein apply to the requirements respecting performance between the cable television system input and any subscriber terminal.

4.1.2 All technical standards specified herein relate to the measurement procedures discussed in this document and, where appropriate, apply in the presence of all signals usually carried on the system.

4.2 Leakage Criteria

4.2.1 The following leakage criteria are used to evaluate cable system leakage performance.

4.2.2 The Equivalent Leakage Density (ELD) estimates the impact of signal leakage on land-based radio systems (i.e. police, ambulance service, etc.) which share spectrum with cable television systems. The ELD criterion ensures that all cable systems meet a leakage performance requirement intended to minimize interference to land-based radio systems.

4.2.3 The Cumulative Leakage Index (CLI) estimates the cumulative impact of leakage on aeronautical spectrum users. When the signal leakage measurements are taken on the ground, the CLI ground-based criterion (CLI_g) is used. If the measurements are taken in the airspace above the cable system, the CLI air-based criterion (CLI_a) is used to estimate this impact. Both criteria apply only to cable systems carrying channels A-1(99), A-2(98), EE(41) and FF(42).

4.3 Equivalent Leakage Density (ELD)

4.3.1 For the purposes of calculating the ELD, leakage readings are classified into three categories, each of which has its corresponding weighting factor, as shown in the table below.

Table 4.1

Leakage Category	Value (μV/m at 3 metres)	Weighting Factor
A	50 - 200	1
B	201 - 500	2
C	> 500	3

4.3.2 The ELD is calculated using the following formula:

ELD = ((N1 X 1) + (N2 X 2) + (N3 X 3))/K (Number of Leaks /km)

where:

ELD = Equivalent Leakage Density
N1 = Number of leaks in Category A (50-200 μV/m)
N2 = Number of leaks in Category B (201-500 μV/m)
N3 = Number of leaks in Category C (>500 μV/m)
1 = Category A weighting factor
2 = Category B weighting factor
3 = Category C weighting factor
K = Number of kilometres patrolled

4.3.3 For the purposes of ELD calculations, only leaks equal to or greater than 50 μV/m at 3 metres need to be taken into account and the ELD value must not exceed 0.8.

4.4 CLI Ground-Based Criterion (CLI_g)

4.4.1 The computed CLI_g must not be over 64.

4.4.2 The CLI_g is calculated using the following formulas:

where :

CLI_g = CLI ground-based criterion, taking into account the surface area of the system
F(S) = Correction factor for the surface area
E_i = Field strength of the i^th leak measured at 3 metres, in μV/m
S = Surface area covered by the cable system, in km²
D = Surface area patrolled, in km²
N = Number of leaks detected

4.4.3 Although all leaks, regardless of magnitude, must be repaired, it is not necessary to take into account leaks of less than 50 μV/m at 3 metres when calculating the CLI_g.

4.5 CLI Air-Based Criterion (CLI_a)

The CLI_a is the 90^th percentile value of the field strength due to cable leaks and it must not exceed 10 microvolts per metre RMS at an altitude of 450 metres above the cable system's average ground level.

4.6 Carrier-to-Noise Ratio

The carrier-to-noise ratio for each television channel received at any subscriber terminal must not be less than 40 dB.

BPR-8: Application Procedures and Rules for Broadcasting Receiving Undertakings (Cable Television)

Contents

1. General

2. Definitions

3. Operational Requirements and Antenna-Supporting Structure Site Selection Issues

3.1 General Provisions

3.2 Leakage Control

3.3 Interference from Cable Television Systems

3.4 Restricted Television Channels

3.5 Restricted FM Channels

3.6 Assignment of Television Channels

3.7 FM Channel Assignment

3.8 Authorization with respect to Aeronautical Bands

3.9 Conditions Concerning the use of all Channels within the Aeronautical Bands in Cable Systems

3.10 Conditions Concerning use of Aeronautical Channels A-1, A-2, EE and FF Only

3.11 Requirements with respect to International Emergency Frequencies and Aeronautical Marker Beacons

3.12 Signal Quality Requirement

4. Technical Standards

4.1 General Provisions

4.2 Leakage Criteria

4.3 Equivalent Leakage Density (ELD)

4.4 CLI Ground-Based Criterion (CLIg)

4.5 CLI Air-Based Criterion (CLIa)

4.6 Carrier-to-Noise Ratio

4.4 CLI Ground-Based Criterion (CLI_g)

4.5 CLI Air-Based Criterion (CLI_a)