Star Ray TV owner vows to continue on air despite potentially serious penalties

The owner of pirate television station Star Ray TV intends to put the CRTC off guard by showing up at a Sept. 19 public hearing in Hull QC with a gang of protesters who will picket outside the building. Jan Pachul is promising a circus-like atmosphere for what is normally considered a serious regulatory proceeding. "It will be a kangaroo court and (the CRTC’s) decision is a foregone conclusion. But we will put on a nice media show," Pachul told CCR. Canada’s broadcast regulator has called Pachul to a hearing to determine whether a mandatory cease and desist order should be issued against him for operating a TV station without a licence in the Beaches area of Toronto since last September – PN CRTC 2001-8. Star Ray TV, which operates on the ultra-high frequency (UHF) wireless band, has already ignored two cease and desist letters from the commission. Pachul, who doesn’t expect the CRTC’s power to extend beyond "much more than a traffic ticket," may be in for a big surprise as he tests the CRTC’s resolve in this case. Grant Buchanan, a lawyer with McCarthy Tétrault, notes that there are serious penalties for broadcasting without a licence. He points out that if the CRTC issues a mandatory cease and desist order and it is ignored, the regulator can file an order with the Federal Court of Canada, and Pachul’s continued defiance would constitute contempt of court. Rule 355 of the Broadcasting Act specifies that anyone guilty of contempt of court is liable to a fine of up to $5,000 and to imprisonment of up to a year. Buchanan adds that if after a fine is paid or a jail term served a pirate TV station is still on the air, the penalties can be re-imposed until the illegal activity is stopped. The CRTC also has the ability to impose hefty fines, which could put Star Ray out of business. Under section 32 (1) of the Broadcasting Act, the CRTC has the right to impose fines not exceeding $20,000 for each day an individual broadcasts without a licence, and fines not exceeding $200,000 for each day a corporation operates without a broadcast licence. Pachul, however, professes not to be deterred, and vows that Star Ray will continue, even if a cease and desist order is issued. "You don’t seem to realize that I’m beyond any kind of punitive fear. I don’t care," he says. "If I end up in the slammer; if that’s the scenario so be it, I’ll go through it. Put it this way, the court order would be kind of hard to enforce considering the improprieties involved here." Pachul says he plans to "go into minute detail" at the CRTC hearing about how Star Ray "was defrauded out of a licence" and how the "CRTC is corrupt." The CRTC denied Star Ray’s application for a low-power TV station licence in August 2000, and Star Ray began broadcasting without a licence the following month. Pachul says he is unwilling to wait for the CRTC to release its policy on low-power TV, which is expected this November, to try again for a licence. "If the CRTC ever does come up with regulations, they are going to try to turn low-power into non-profit, which is a joke," he says. "That means that no one will be allowed to have equity… Chum Television can have hundreds of millions of dollars in equity, but a small television station can have none." Pachul estimates that anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000 of the 130,000 people capable of receiving the Star Ray signal tune in, adding that the TV station is on the verge of breaking even. Pachul notes that Star Ray has given up on using the Internet as a means of distributing its signal because of poor quality and a lack of a business case, but that the web can be used "as a tool for political action" and to gain supporters. But one broadcasting lawyer, who requested anonymity, points out that Star Ray is taking things so far over the edge that it risks losing the support of people who back low-power TV. The CRTC will accept submissions on the Star Ray matter until Aug. 20.

Star Ray TV owner vows to continue on air despite potentially serious penalties

Broadcast | August 15, 2001

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