GATINEAU – The CRTC told the CBC on Wednesday that it could not rent a multiplex of its Toronto radio signal to launch a Tamil-language radio station in that city.
In regulatory-speak, the CBC asked for “authority to use the subsidiary communications multiplex operations channel of CBL-FM Toronto” to launch the station, which would have been owned by TIME FM based out of Scarborough, whose plan was to leased the frequency (this is an update of an earlier version of this story which did not include the TIME FM plan). However, such a station would certainly have an impact on small, independent local stations already serving the Tamil-speaking population in Toronto.
CJRK-FM Scarborough and Geethavaani FM, a Tamil-language SCMO service serving the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) intervened against the application, as did CJSA-FM Toronto, a multicultural FM radio station serving primarily South Asian communities in the GTA.
The Commission’s policy regarding services using the SCMO channel of FM stations says that any new station can’t cause “an undue negative impact on existing over-the-air broadcasters”, although the Regulator generally looks in favour on multicultural media applications.
However, given that CJRK-FM is still establishing itself in the market, (it only launched in September of 2016), the Commission determined that approving this application would not be in the best interest of the market and denied CBC’s request.
