GATINEAU – Shrinking the authorized contour of an FM station so that buying the station won’t violate the CRTC’s common ownership policies, is no way for a station to be acquired, the Commission ruled on Friday when it denied Jim Pattison Broadcasting’s second request to purchase CIGV FM in Penticton from Great Valleys Radio.
This is the second time Pattison has been turned down in its request to buy this country station with repeaters in Keremeos and Princeton.
The first time, back in February, the Commission said that letting Pattison buy the station (Giant FM) would violate its policies against companies owning too many stations in a given market since the signal overlap between Giant and Pattison’s Kelowna FMs B-103 (Country) and Power 104 (Rock) would give the company too many stations in the region.
So Pattison re-applied, saying it would make Giant far less of one, turning down the power of the transmitter from 6,300 watts to 3,100. That way, the FM contours of its Kelowna stations and this one would not overlap, clearing it from a common ownership point of view.
The Regulator was not impressed. “While the Commission acknowledges that Pattison’s modifications to CIGV-FM’s contour would make the proposed acquisition consistent with the Common Ownership Policy, it is concerned that the substantial decrease to the contour would not constitute an effective use of the frequency,” reads the decision.
“FM frequencies are public property and a scarce resource. For these reasons, the Commission must ensure that they are used effectively. The Commission concludes that the ERP reduction is significant as it represents a reduction in the coverage currently provided by CIGV-FM and would result in an unacceptably large reduction in the number of households and individuals served by the station. Consequently, the Commission is of the view that the public interest would not be served by such a reduction in the coverage and, furthermore, that this application does not represent an effective use of the frequency spectrum in the area.”
