QUEBEC CITY – Genex Communications, owner of controversial CHOI-FM, has reached an agreement to sell CKNU-FM of Donnacona, just outside Quebec City, to Radio Nord Communications.
Terms of the deal, subject to CRTC approval, were not disclosed.
If the sale is approved, Radio Nord would have a presence in the greater Quebec City market for the first time. It currently operates 13 radio stations and five TV stations in other regions of Quebec and eastern Ontario.
Radio Nord, though, has another chance to break into the city. It already has an application before the CRTC for a license to…
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OTTAWA – Personalized media will take centre stage at next month’s Canadian Association of Broadcasters annual convention in Winnipeg, November 6 to 8.
This year’s plenary sessions examine the industry’s “big picture” issues, including the prospects for regulation in a broadband universe, and the future of advertising in a digital environment.
The concurrent sessions tackle such hot-button issues as the impact of new personal media devices; the prospects for Canadian HDTV; the new marketing imperative for broadcasters; the upcoming CRTC review of the Canadian radio industry; and the future of news.
On Tuesday November 8th, the ever-popular closing plenary…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC today turned down an application by Bayshore Broadcasting for a new FM radio station in Wasaga Beach – a popular summer hangout about 13 kms north of Toronto on Georgian Bay.
The proposed Classic AC station would have operated at 97.7 MHz (channel 249A) with an effective radiated power of 1,800 watts.
However, the Commission sided with the intervenors which said Wasaga Beach (pop, 12,400 – and which receives many radio stations already) could not support a dedicated local radio station.
“The Commission is concerned with the expanded principal marketing area that the applicant has…
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OTTAWA – Not every intervention filed with the CRTC over the four new pay TV license applicants were negative. Many were overwhelmingly supportive.
As reported previously, four groups are vying for new must-carry pay TV licenses from the Commission and will face a hearing on October 24th.
The applicants are: Spotlight TV, a bid led by former Alliance Atlantis executive George Burger (backed by Insight Media and now Bell ExpressVu); One from Allarco (backed by the Allard family, the former owners of WIC Broadcasting); another from a division of Quebecor Media for BOOM TV, and a unique…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC today granted a new FM radio license to The Haliburton Broadcasting Group today.
Serving, well, Haliburton, Ont., and region, the station – to be an adult contemporary rock format – will operate at 93.5 MHz (channel 228B1) with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 6,000 watts. Haliburton is about 220 kms northeast of Toronto, and over 100 kms north of Peterborough.
Haliburton Broadcasting operates the Moose FM franchise in nine middle and northern Ontario communities and now has 13 stations in total.
www.moosefm.com
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OTTAWA – The Canadian cultural and broadcasting communities say that the new wireless video services now in the market from Rogers Wireless, Bell Mobility and Telus are certainly a form of broadcasting and as such, should be subject to regulation under the Broadcasting Act.
Phase I and II comments were filed recently with the CRTC by all parties and while the wireless providers insist that the service falls under the CRTC’s 1999 New Media Exemption Order, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, its members, and cultural groups like SOCAN, CIRPA and even the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union all say…
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IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE THE CRTC undertaking a review of the radio industry at this particular point in time.
So much technological change. So much undecided. Such an unsettled market. And really, so much still working really well, too. Do a search on www.cartt.ca for the major Canadian radio companies and you’ll mostly find a story of an industry awash in strong revenues and profits.
But, the CRTC is on record saying it wants to review Canadian radio policy beginning this fall. It’s even been suggested that Canadian content levels should rise from the current 35% to 40% with…
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OTTAWA – TSN has applied to the CRTC to allow its digi-net ESPN Classic Canada to air live sports.
The Bell Globemedia-owned channel’s conditions of license say it can’t air any live games at all and TSN has asked the Commission to change that so that it can show live events in up to 15% of its broadcasting hours (about four hours a day, potentially).
TSN has come up against scheduling conflicts in the past where having an additional cable outlet in which to air games or other events would have been helpful. It has shifted some programming in…
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OTTAWA – TSN and RDS will now have the right to add a little drama and comedy programming to its schedule thanks to a pair of CRTC decisions rendered Thursday.
The two Bell Globemedia-owned all-sports channels had petitioned the Commission to let them add some beyond-the-niche programming and the request was granted, in part.
While they can air some shows from category 7, “(t)he licensee is required, by condition of licence, to ensure that programming from category 7 comprises no more than 5% of any broadcast week, that all category 7 programming is Canadian, and that all category 7…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC Wednesday extended the commentary process on the cable industry’s request to kill the mandatory carriage requirement of local FM radio stations.
As first reported by www.cartt.ca, the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association has asked the CRTC to repeal section 22 of the Broadcast Distribution Regulations which say that Class 1 and 2 cable systems must carry all local FM stations in their market on their cable plant.
The CCTA told the Commission that about 4% of cable subscribers listen to the radio over cable and that its members could better use the plant capacity to…
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