Stingray gets French designation for HITS service

The CRTC approved a request from broadcaster Stingray Group Inc. Wednesday, asking that it be allowed to change its English-language discretionary service, Stingray HITS, into a French service. According to the decision, the HITS service was designated as English-language programming in March 2020 when the CRTC approved a separate application from Stingray for a broadcasting licence for the then-exempt service. That application proposed musical programming centring on popular video clips from the last 20 years, 40 per cent of which would be in French, and that it would eventually broadcast all programming other than video clips in French, the CRTC said in its decision Wednesday. Stingray requested the switch in a separate application in January, saying its intention for HITS since its launch was always to offer a pop music video clip service for the French market and that it has always targeted a Francophile audience. “Stingray stated that in the absence of a French-language designation, it would struggle to benefit from access rules as an independent programming undertaking not associated with a broadcasting distribution undertaking,” the CRTC’s Wednesday decision said. The CRTC noted that Stingray did not indicate the intended broadcast language of the proposed service when it applied for the licence last year, but did state that it was for the Francophone market. In addition to its decision to approve the switch, the CRTC is imposing a new condition on the licence requiring that French video clips make up at least 50% of those broadcasted by the service each year. All other programming elements including advertising, station identifiers, and other content has to be in French as well, all of which Stingray said it would agree to in its application, according to the decision. By imposing this condition, the CRTC “will ensure that the service broadcasts majority French-language programming, thereby justifying the service’s French-language designation,” it said.

Stingray gets French designation for HITS service

Brief | June 2, 2021

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Stingray gets French designation for HITS service

Brief | June 2, 2021

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