CRTC opens hearing on potential radio ownership rule exception for Corus

The CRTC opened a hearing and issued a call for comments Wednesday on an application from Corus Entertainment Inc. on behalf of CKIK-FM Ltd. to add an FM rebroadcasting transmitter in Calgary, Alta. for station CHQR Calgary. The hearing will consider whether to grant an exception to the commission's common ownership policy, which states that a company cannot own or control more than two AM and two FM stations in markets with eight commercial stations or more operating in a given language. Corus submitted in its application that the new transmitter does not represent a new service because it would rebroadcast the programming of CHQR within existing contours. But the company added that if the commission determines the new transmitter to be a third FM presence in the market, it would ask for an exception to the common ownership policy. The CRTC said it issued the call for comments to determine whether the addition of the FM rebroadcasting transmitter constitutes the presence of an FM station in the Calgary market. It said the new transmitter would operate at 106.9 MHz or channel 295A and have an effective radiated power of 1,000 watts. The CRTC noted that Corus currently operates two FM radio stations in Calgary, CFGQ-FM and CKRY-FM, and that there are 17 commercial radio stations operating in the Calgary market. In December 2010, the CRTC granted Cogeco Inc. a regulatory exception to operate three French-language FM stations in the Montreal market. Under the exception, Cogeco was allowed to operate three French-language FM stations, CKOI-FM, CFGL-FM, and CHMP-FM, as well as CKAC-AM, in the Montreal market. Cogeco also operates English-language station CFQR-FM in the market. The exception was granted as a part of Cogeco’s acquisition of Corus’s 11 Quebec radio stations. In its decision to grant the exception, the commission said the situation surrounding the acquisition of the French-language Montreal stations created a set of “inextricably linked” elements justifying the ruling. “The Commission considers that granting the requested exception is consistent with section 5(2) of the Broadcasting Act (the Act), which states that the Canadian broadcasting system should be regulated and supervised in a flexible manner that is readily adaptable to the different characteristics of English- and French-language broadcasting and to the different conditions under which broadcasting undertakings that provide English or French language programming operate, and takes into account regional needs and concerns,” the CRTC said. The CRTC said Wednesday that the deadline for comments on the Corus application is Dec. 9, 2011 and that Corus may file a reply by Dec. 19, 2011. A hearing will be held in Calgary on Feb. 6, 2012. news@thewirereport.ca

CRTC opens hearing on potential radio ownership rule exception for Corus

Broadcast | November 9, 2011

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us