CB-CDA 2025-055

Order of the Board

Proceeding: SOCAN Tariff 6 - Motion Picture Theatres (2017-2024)

Matter: SOCAN Tariff 6 - Motion Picture Theatres (2025-2027)

July 11, 2025

I. Overview

[1] On June 11, 2025, SOCAN and the Movie Theatre Association of Canada (MTAC), jointly requested, pursuant to Rule 33 of the Copyright Board Rules of Practice and Procedure, SOR/2023-24 (the “Rules”), that:

• SOCAN Tariff 6 be approved for the years 2017-2024 in the form of a jointly‑submitted text (JST) (the “JST (2017-2024)”); and

• SOCAN Tariff 6 be approved for the years 2025-2027 in the form of another JST.

[2] The June 11, 2025, submission provides information set out in the Board’s Practice Notice on Filing of Jointly-Submitted Texts in a Proceeding (PN 2022-005).

[3] The submission refers to agreements with MTAC and some cinema chains, but no agreements were filed.

II. Order

A. Proposed tariff added to proceeding

[4] Given SOCAN and MTAC’s request, I am adding the consideration of proposed SOCAN Tariff 6 for the years 2025-2027 to this proceeding.

B. SOCAN and MTAC shall file information

[5] Rule 33 of the Rules provides that:

33(1) If a collective society and one or more objectors jointly submit a set of royalty rates and related terms and conditions to the Board and jointly request that the Board approve a proposed tariff based on those royalty rates and terms and conditions, they must

• (a)file a submission in support of their request;

• (b)file all agreements concluded between the parties that relate to the same uses or substantially the same uses as those covered by the proposed tariff;

[6] If there are any agreements, written or oral, between SOCAN and the MTAC, they shall file these.

[7] Furthermore, SOCAN shall file the agreements between itself and MTAC members. If there are more than three such agreements, it may file a sample of three.

[8] The JST proposes a minimum fee of $200 per screen. The last approved tariff set a rate of $1.50 per seat, with a minimum of $150 per screen. SOCAN and MTAC shall indicate the reasons for the increase in the minimum fee.

[9] SOCAN and MTAC shall provide a quantitative analysis of the impact of this increase in the minimum fee. This shall include:

• the percentage of MTAC members and the percentage of non-MTAC members that would pay the minimum fee under the last approved tariff rates during the last three years for which the relevant data is available; and

• the percentage of MTAC members and the percentage of non-MTAC members that would pay the minimum fee under the rates JST (2017-2024) during the last three years for which relevant data is available.

[10] MTAC shall assist SOCAN in identifying how many motion picture theatres are not MTAC members.

[11] Finally, SOCAN and MTAC shall indicate how many users that have been contacted by either of these parties have not agreed to these terms. The parties may provide context to assist the Board in understanding the reasons for the user not agreeing to those terms.

III. Confidentiality Order

[12] If parties intend on designating any information as Confidential or Highly Confidential, they should file a request for a Confidentiality Order.

[13] The parties seeking a confidentiality order must include a proposed confidentiality order with their request (Rule 46(1)). The parties are encouraged to use one of the templates in the Board’s Practice Notice on Confidential Information (PN 2024-013).

IV. Deadlines

[14] An application for a confidentiality order shall be made by July 25, 2025.

[15] The parties shall file the documents required in this order by August 1, 2025, or three weeks after the issuance of a requested confidentiality order, whichever is later.

Katherine Braun
Member