31. (1) In this section,

“new media retransmitter” means a person whose retransmission is lawful under the Broadcasting Act only by reason of the Exemption Order for New Media Broadcasting Undertakings issued by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission as Appendix A to Public Notice CRTC 1999-197, as amended from time to time;

“retransmitter” means a person who performs a function comparable to that of a cable retransmission system, but does not include a new media retransmitter;

“signal” means a signal that carries a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work and is transmitted for free reception by the public by a terrestrial radio or terrestrial television station.

(2) It is not an infringement of copyright for a retransmitter to communicate to the public by telecommunication any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work if

(a) the communication is a retransmission of a local or distant signal;

(b) the retransmission is lawful under the Broadcasting Act;

(c) the signal is retransmitted simultaneously and without alteration, except as otherwise required or permitted by or under the laws of Canada;

(d) in the case of the retransmission of a distant signal, the retransmitter has paid any royalties, and complied with any terms and conditions, fixed under this Act; and

(e) the retransmitter complies with the applicable conditions, if any, referred to in paragraph (3)( b).

(3) The Governor in Council may make regulations

(a) defining "local signal" and "distant signal" for the purposes of subsection (2); and

(b) prescribing conditions for the purposes of paragraph (2)( e), and specifying whether any such condition applies to all retransmitters or only to a class of retransmitter.

R.S., 1985, c. C-42, s. 31; R.S., 1985, c. 10 (4th Supp.), s. 7; 1988, c. 65, s. 63; 1997, c. 24, ss. 16, 52(F); 2002, c. 26, s. 2.