OTTAWA – The CRTC announced today that its revised commercial radio and digital Radio Policies will come into force this September 1 and will force the country’s radio stations to pay millions more to support the development of Canadian talent.
The levies for the support of Canadian talent had been based on the size of the market served by each station, but the new Canadian content development (CCD)system now calculates fees according to revenues.
Stations at the low end, with revenues of $625,000 or less, will pay a flat $500; those who make between $625,000 and $1.25 million will pay a flat $1,000 fee; and the biggest stations who bring in more than $1.25 million will play $1,000 plus 0.5% of revenues over $1.25 million.
The commission estimates that, if the new CCD system were applied to the 2005-2006 broadcast year, total contributions from radio broadcasters would have risen by between $3.5 million to $4 million when compared to the previous year.
The new radio policy also raises the minimum level of Canadian concert music (subcategory 31) to 25%, up from 10% and raises the amount of Canadian jazz and blues music (subcategory 34) to be aired each broadcast week to 20%, up from 10%.
The commission also announced as of September 1, it will implement changes to broaden the definition of Local Management Agreement (LMA) as defined in paragraph 178 of the Commercial Radio Policy 2006; and extend the regulatory framework for FM analog services to licensees operating in the L-band as determined in the Digital Radio Policy.
