OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The run-down transmitter serving the 2,000 people in Saint Fulgence, Quebec, must stay, the CRTC ruled today.
Cogeco Inc.-controlled broadcaster TQS had petitioned the Commission for the removal of transmitter CKTV-TV-1 Saint-Fulgence, which broadcasts CKTV Saguenay (an affiliate of CBC’s French-language sister, SRC), on the grounds that the site needed extensive repairs and that most people in the region were already getting the TV signal by cable and satellite anyway.
The Commission denied the application by TQS inc. to remove the transmitter from its license.
TQS told the Commission that its agreement with the CBC, “per se did not include any clause whatsoever that prevented a reduction in the coverage area served by our affiliate station,” says the backgrounder in today’s decision.
However, the Commission received a resolution adopted by the council of the Municipality of Saint-Fulgence stated that it "radically objects" to any action by TQS to remove the transmitter at Saint-Fulgence.
And, in its comment, the CBC contradicted what TQS had told the Commission, indicating that the affiliation agreement currently in effect with TQS “requires the affiliate station to maintain, for the life of the agreement, i.e., until 31 August 2008, a certain standard of broadcast quality in the territory covered by the transmitters and retransmitters for which the affiliate held a licence at the time the agreement was signed. The CBC added that it does not renounce, in any way, its rights with respect to the affiliate under the affiliation agreement,” reads the decision.
TQS did not respond to the interventions and the Commission noted in its decision the contrary information on the CBC deal given by TQS.
“TQS justifies its application by explaining that the approximate number of viewers able to receive the CKTV-TV-1 Saint-Fulgence signal is, at most, 1,500 and that, according to its information, most residents in the area receive the signal from CKTV-TV Saguenay via cable or satellite. Therefore, according to the licensee, at most about 100 homes receive the TQS signal over the air from CKTV-TV-1,” said the Commission in its ruling.
TQS argued that removal of the transmitter would not decrease the area presently served by CKTV-TV since the coverage area of the Saint-Fulgence transmitter is completely within the coverage area of the CKTV-TV transmitter at Monts-Valin. However, TQS added that the sole purpose of the Saint-Fulgence transmitter was to improve reception of the CKTV-TV signal in this valley where reception was weaker because of geographic considerations.
“The Commission considers that this information is ambiguous at best and is not enough to determine the actual impact that the removal of this transmitter would have on the reception of the French-language service of the CBC by residents of the area,” it said.
TQS also did not inform the Commission just how much renovation work is required and therefore denied the request to demolish the antenna.
