CRTC rejects CAB ask to eliminate trial periods for spoken word FM trial and simulcast

The CRTC informed the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) via a letter last week that it will not consider an application from the industry association requesting the elimination of one-year trial periods for spoken word programming on FM and for AM-to-FM simulcasting, which the regulator first proposed in October and finalized in January.

The CAB’s March 25 application had argued the rules applied to the CRTC’s one-year limit for trialling spoken word content on the FM dial and AM-to-FM simulcast were too restrictive and could discourage radio stations from experimenting with the policy changes.

In the letter, dated July 24, the CRTC said the CAB’s application asks the commission to revisit determinations and orders made in its radio modernization policy “only a short while ago”.

“The Commission notes that, in the Modernization Policy, the Commission weighed the pros and cons of introducing one-year trial periods for spoken word content and for AM to FM simulcasting,” reads the letter to the CAB. “In particular, the Commission noted that providing more flexibility to licensees willing to devote more than 50% of their broadcast week to spoken-word content would help ensure that communities don’t lose access to spoken word content, given that many stations devoted to this format have gone off-air. However, the Commission also emphasized that conditions of service are a way to ensure programming diversity and noted that it must ensure that this increased flexibility for all stations does not unduly impact those stations that are specifically licenced to operate in the specialty, spoken-word format.”

In terms of the one-year trial period for AM-to-FM simulcasting, “the Commission considered that increased flexibility would allow licensees to test their AM programming on their FM stations with minimal investments, but that removing all restrictions on simulcasting would go against encouraging a diversity of programming in a market and would not be the best use of frequencies,” the letter continues.

“These new flexibilities, which have only recently been granted by the Commission, have yet to be tested in practice, and the Commission is not aware of any licensees having yet taken advantage of either the spoken word or simulcast trial periods,” the letter says. “Given the recency of these new flexibilities, the application will not be considered by the Commission. However, the Commission will monitor the uptake and use of these new flexibilities as they develop.”

In a statement on Tuesday, CAB President Kevin Desjardins said:

“The CRTC’s response failed to meaningfully engage with the substance of the CAB’s Part I application, which proposed modest adjustments to its ‘modernization policy’ to increase the likelihood that commercial broadcasters would make use of the purported regulatory flexibility.

“The CAB had outlined in our application that our members were unlikely to undertake the effort and investment to move talk and spoken word content from AM to FM if they were constrained by a one-year trial period. This was based on our discussions with our members following the release of the modernization policy, and we believed it was constructive to share this with the Commission given that this had not been a meaningful part of the consultation process.

“The rationale for the one-year limitation was never a part of the public record, otherwise the CAB would have commented on it at that time.

“By the CRTC’s own admission, no broadcaster has taken advantage of these flexibilities, validating the concerns raised in the CAB’s Part I application and echoed by our members. The failure of the policy to achieve its stated objective should have prompted the Commission to reconsider its approach. Instead, it has chosen to effectively preserve the status quo at a time when Canada’s broadcasting system requires timely and meaningful regulatory reform.”