Proposing one-year trial for spoken word on FM
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Friday abolished radio licence renewal periods, thereby making licenses indefinite with regular compliance audits that it says will streamline the process and reduce the burden on both the industry and the commission itself.
The regulator said it was often processing over 300 licence renewal applications every year, with multiple rounds of information requested from each station. But it found that the vast majority of stations were in “full compliance at all times, and most of the non-compliance was minor and could be addressed easily.”
The new Broadcasting Act allows the regulator to grant licences for any period of time. While it contemplated elongating the licence period from seven to 10 and even 20 years, it elected Friday to make them indefinite across the board – with the exception of CBC/Radio-Canada, whose licence terms will be examined at a later date because of its unique status under the law.
“In light of the decoupling of the conditions from the licence, the Commission can now make orders imposing conditions on the carrying on of broadcasting undertakings at any time,” it said. “This increased flexibility gives the Commission the ability to be more nimble in responding to non-compliance. Among other things, the Commission could impose conditions of service relating to the filing of missing annual returns, proof of payment for CCD contributions, or impose conditions relating to programming.”
The CRTC said it will still need to renew existing licences in order to transition them to indefinite licenses, the process for which will be announced at a later date. The next big renewal period is August 2026.
Also gone are the short-term renewals that were used to buy the commission time to review compliance because the new rules will allow the CRTC to address those issues at any time. “The Commission considers that short-term renewals have not proved effective in reducing the instances of non-compliance and have added administrative burden on licensees and the Commission.
“The Commission will conduct regular audits of a licensee’s regulatory requirements, including programming and administrative requirements, both on a randomized and complaints-driven basis,” it said. “The Commission will also use annual returns to examine whether licensees have met their [Canadian content development (CCD)] and [National Public Alerting System] requirements. Should a licensee fail to meet a requirement, the Commission would address the issue swiftly.”
The commission said it is keeping with a non-compliance remedy of forcing the infringing station to pay into CCD an amount over and above what it traditionally would have paid. For more serious or recurrent non-compliance, the CRTC said it may use administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) to keep those players in line.
The CRTC is also looking at a gradual approach to getting a station in compliance. Under this framework, it will first send a warning letter notifying the licensee about the non-compliance. This would give them time to implement a fix quickly and guide them to prevent future non-compliance. Failing that, the CRTC said it can impose additional conditions of service, such as more CCD.
If that’s also unsuccessful, the CRTC said it could progress to additional measures including on-air announcements, AMPs, or mandatory orders. Finally, it can suspend or revoke the licence if all else fails.
The CRTC is also looking at imposing on exempt stations – those that don’t require a licence to operate – a separate set of conditions that are not tied to a need to have a licence.
The commission is also introducing new rules to encourage the entrance of developmental stations, including community, campus and commercial. It will no longer limit transmitter power to five watts or less, but will bump that up to 50 watts or less. They will also be afforded lower reporting and programming requirements and will be eligible for indefinite status after their initial five-year term, during which the CRTC will provide assistance.
The developmental stations will not be required to show availability of funding, presence of paid employees and specific programming plans at the outset, but are expected to show that nine months before their licence expires.
“Under the new process, developmental stations will still be open to all Canadians, but the Commission is of the view that these stations could encourage equity-deserving groups and OLMCs to quickly enter the broadcasting market and to test the waters, consistent with the policy objective of increasing the diversity of voices in the broadcasting system,” the CRTC said.
Finally, the CRTC is proposing to introduce a one-year trial period for commercial FM stations looking to devote more than 50 per cent of their broadcast week to spoken word content. After that initial period, if the licensee wishes to continue broadcasting that amount of content, it will need to apply for a permanent condition of service requiring it to do so.
The company must notify the commission by letter within 30 days of the end of the broadcast week that it has participated in the trial and whether it intends to continue and for how long. If before the end of one year, the station stops broadcasting the requisite amount of spoken word content during the week, it cannot re-start without CRTC approval.
“The objective of this measure is to support news and other community information, while making sure that communities do not lose access to spoken word content, consistent with the policy objective set out at subparagraph 3(1)(i)(ii.1) of the Act to ensure that news programming that reflects the viewpoints of Canadians is included in the Canadian broadcasting system,” the CRTC said.
“The Commission is of the view that the production of spoken word content is essential as it helps maintain diversity in the broadcasting system and is in the public interest. Accordingly, the Commission considers it appropriate for FM stations that currently operate under the specialty (spoken word) format to keep their condition of service relating to spoken word content.”
This particular proposal is open to comments, due October 20.
Both Rogers and Corus recently pitched the idea at a recent hearing and in submissions to the regulator. They noted that electric vehicles are leaving the lot without AM functionality – where spoken word is traditionally contained – and asked for the flexibility to transition spoken word to the FM dial.
At the same hearing, Rogers proposed simulcasting spoken word content on both AM and FM bands in a common market at the same time.
The CRTC said it will introduce a similar one-year trial period for that, as it fears that removing all such restrictions “would go against encouraging a diversity of programming in a market and … is not the best use of frequencies.”
The regulator will require that licensees submit an application for a temporary condition of service allowing for that simulcasting. After the one-year period, licensees will either have to revert to their original programming and cease simulcasting, or submit an application to revoke the AM licence, the CRTC said.
“When combined with the temporary authority to broadcast more than 50% spoken word programming for a period of one year, licensees wishing to test out their AM spoken word programming on their FM station could be eligible to do so,” it said.
