GATINEAU — Edmonton’s Akash Broadcasting today received approval from the CRTC to acquire the ethnic radio station CKER-FM (World FM 101.7) from Rogers Sports and Media and to obtain a new broadcasting licence to continue the station’s operation.
However, Akash’s request for an exception to the payment of tangible benefits resulting from the transaction, due to the economic impact of Covid-19, has been denied by the Commission in its decision today.
This will be Akash’s first radio station in Edmonton. It currently owns and operates CJCN-FM in Surrey, B.C., also a commercial ethnic radio station. The broadcaster has said it will be able to establish synergies between CJCN-FM and CKER-FM in the areas of research, programming, news, sales and production.
In its application to the CRTC, Akash proposed the purchase of CKER-FM’s assets would have a transaction value of a little more than $6.7 million, which included the purchase price and the cost of assumed 30-day leases for the station’s office and equipment, transmission services, and tower and transmitter equipment. However, because the Commission’s calculations of transaction values include lease costs calculated over five years, the Commission has revised the value of the transaction to just over $7.5 million ($7,564,803).
Based on that revised amount, the Commission has directed Akash to pay tangible benefits totalling $453,888, which is 6% of the value of the transaction, the customary tangible benefits percentage for radio service transactions.
During the proceeding, the Commission received a joint intervention in opposition to Akash’s request for an exception to the tangible benefits requirements from Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), Music Publishers Canada and Canadian Independent Music Association.
“The Commission acknowledges the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, it must balance the needs of other players in the broadcasting system and ensure that the benefits are commensurate with the assets being acquired. In this case, it must also ensure that eligible third-party Canadian content development recipients receiving tangible benefits can also continue to contribute to the broadcasting system,” writes the Commission in its decision.
The Commission determined the tangible benefits (6% of the value of the CKER-FM transaction) should be allocated this way: Radio Starmaker Fund or Fonds Radiostar (3%); FACTOR or Musicaction (1.5%); eligible Canadian content development initiatives at the discretion of Akash (1%); and the Community Radio Fund of Canada (0.5%).
To provide some short-term relief, the Commission is allowing Akash to make lower tangible benefit payments in the first two broadcast years and then requiring the broadcaster to make more significant payments in the subsequent five years, as set out in a schedule included in the Commission’s decision.
“The Commission is of the view that this modified payment schedule will help the station with its transition to new ownership by reducing Akash’s operating expenses while it is implementing the programming synergies it seeks to achieve,” writes the Commission.
The Commission has also made modifications to the terms and conditions of CKER-FM’s new broadcasting licence, which will expire August 31, 2026 (the expiry date of the current licence owned by Rogers). In modifying the licence’s terms and conditions, the Commission notes the current licence doesn’t adequately reflect CKER-FM’s status as a commercial specialty radio station broadcasting ethnic programming.
One of the modifications stipulates that CKER-FM operate within the specialty format as defined in A Review of Certain Matters Concerning Radio, Public Notice CRTC 1995-60, 21 April 1995, and in Revised content categories and subcategories for radio, Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010-819, 5 November 2010.
As part of its ongoing conditions of licence, CKER-FM is expected to broadcast ethnic programming directed towards at least 12 distinct ethnic groups in at least 12 different languages, during each broadcast week. In addition, the station is expected to devote a minimum of 84 hours and 30 minutes of the broadcast week to ethnic programs as defined in the Radio Regulations, 1986. The Commission also expects the station to reflect the cultural diversity of Canada in its programming and employment practices.
