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Decision
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Ottawa, 17 November 1989
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Decision CRTC 89-850
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Télémédia Communications Inc.
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Trois-Rivières, Quebec - 880305800
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Following a Public Hearing in the National Capital Region commencing on 27 June 1989, the Commission approves the application for a licence to carry on a French-language FM radio broadcasting undertaking at Trois-Rivières. The Commission will issue a licence subject to the conditions set out in this decision and in the licence to be issued, which will expire on 31 August 1993. This term will enable the Commission to consider the renewal of this licence at the same time as that of other radio stations in the area.
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The Commission notes that the new radio station will be operated in the Group I musical format. Until now the Trois-Rivières area has been served by CIGB-FM, another local Group I FM station. However, in Decision CRTC 89-849, also released today, the Commission has approved the applications by Légerbourg Inc for authorization to transfer control of CIGB-FM to Radiomutuel Inc and amend its Promise of Performance to reflect a change in the station's musical format from Group I to Group IV.
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Télémédia Communications Inc (Télémédia) is one of the largest broadcasting undertakings in the province of Quebec. In addition to holding the licence for the Télémédia network, it is the licensee for radio stations CKAC and CITE-FM Montreal, CITF-FM Quebec City, CHLT, CKTS, CITE-FM-1 and CITE-FM-2 Sherbrooke, CKCH and CIMF-FM Hull, as well as CHLN Trois-Rivières, with which the new FM station authorized herein will be operated on a joint basis. In addition, the licence for CKCV Quebec City is held by Entreprises Télémédia Inc, a wholly owned Télémédia subsidiary. Télémédia also holds controlling interests in CFIX-FM and CJMT Chicoutimi.
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Télémédia maintained at the hearing that the Trois-Rivières region is capable of absorbing a new radio station and that the implementation of its new FM station in Trois-Rivières would have minimal effect on the listenership of the existing radio stations, especially the AM stations CHLN and CJTR Trois-Rivières and CKSM Shawinigan.
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Based on the data of a market study which it sponsored and its experience in similar Quebec markets, it predicts that the new FM station will derive its advertising revenues from three sources: mainly from the allocation of new local and national advertising budgets as a result of increased competition, from a broader range of services directed at all age groups, and to a lesser extent from the redistribution of funds currently going to existing radio stations and local advertising budgets that are now used for printed advertising material.
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Although the weakness of some economic indicators--including personal disposable income in 1988 in the Trois-Rivières area and the growth of revenues and the profitability of radio from 1982 to 1988--dampens the applicant's forecasts to some extent, the Commission considers that Télémédia has the expertise and resources required to implement this project. The operation of the new FM station on a joint basis with station CHLN, and the fact that CIGB-FM and CJTR will also constitute a joint operation, should cushion the impact on the Trois-Rivières radio stations, improve the balance between the organizations represented in the market, and provide more diverse musical formats. The Commission believes, however, that the effects may be more acutely felt by stations that are not members of Télémédia or Radiomutuel, namely CKSM Shawinigan and the Réseau des Appalaches stations, as evidenced by the interventions of the licensees concerned.
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In a written intervention, the Compagnie de Radiodiffusion Shawinigan Falls Ltd, licensee for station CKSM, requested that the new FM station be prohibited, by condition of licence, from soliciting advertising in the central area served by CKSM. In its reply, Telemedia stated that Shawinigan, Shawinigan-Sud and Grand-Mère are located within the official 3mV/M contour of the new FM station and are therefore included in its primary coverage area, which it is entitled to rely on for its development.
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As the communities in question are located very close to Trois-Rivières and in the centre of Télémédia's proposed coverage area, the Commission concurs with the applicant that it would not be practical to grant the intervener's request and ensure compliance with such a condition of licence. For the same reasons, the Commission notes that it is technically impossible to restrict the new FM station's signal in the area concerned.
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With regard to the opposing intervention by the Réseau des Appalaches at the Public Hearing, this intervener said it had provided local AM radio services for several years in Thetford Mines, Victoriaville, Plessisville, Lac Mégantic, Asbestos and Disraeli, and it is about to implement station CFJO-FM in Thetford Mines and a rebroadcaster in Lac Mégantic, which will primarily serve the Bois-Francs and Asbestos areas. It argued that the implementation of a powerful FM station in Trois-Rivières as proposed by Télémédia could adversely affect the profitability of CFJO-FM.
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Télémédia had originally proposed to operate its new FM station on a frequency of 94.7 MHz (channel 234) at an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts. In view of the concerns of the intervener and those expressed by the Commission at the hearing, the applicant informed the Commission that it had provided the Department of Communications (DOC) with modified technical parameters for the station, which would reduce the effective radiated power in the direction of Thetford Mines, Victoriaville and Lac Mégantic.
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Even though the Commission has approved Télémédia's application, it has not accepted the technical parameters proposed. The applicant is required to submit within the three months following the date of this decision, after consultation with DOC and CRTC staff, a request for a licence amendment in order to modify the technical parameters so that they satisfactorily respond to the concerns expressed above, and in particular, such that the official 500 uV/m contour excludes the communities of Thetford Mines, Victoriaville, Plessisville, Lac Mégantic, Asbestos and Disraeli.
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In accordance with paragraph 13(1)(b) of the Broadcasting Act, the Commission will issue a licence to the applicant after modified technical parameters, which meet the above-mentioned requirements, have been approved by the Commission and DOC and the latter has confirmed in writing that it will issue a Technical Construction and Operating Certificate for those technical parameters.
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In addition, following a discussion of the issue at the Public Hearing and given the commitments by Télémédia, it is a condition of licence of the new FM station that the licensee not solicit commercial advertising in the area served by the Réseau des Appalaches, particularly in Thetford Mines, Victoriaville, Plessisville, Lac Mégantic, Asbestos or Disraeli.
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With regards to programming, the applicant committed to broadcast a minimum of 15% foreground programming including a weekly total of 4 hours of local productions and 16 hours of programs acquired from other Télémédia FM stations, at least 50% combined foreground/mosaic programming, and a minimum of 65% French-language vocal music.
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The Commission notes that the Promise of Performance indicates a minimum commitment to Enrichment material. In this regard, as reiterated in Public Notice CRTC 1984-151 entitled The Review of Radio - Simplification of the FM Policy, the provision of high quality Foreground and Mosaic programming is an integral part of the FM policy and the applicant will be required to ensure that the minimum levels of Foreground and Mosaic programming set out in its Promise of Performance are maintained at all times. The Commission also expects foreground programs to be broadcast at appropriate times during the broadcast day.
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Télémédia also undertook to broadcast 4 hours 2 minutes of news programming weekly, including an average of 50% local or regional news. The Commission expects the licensee to ensure that news is adapted specifically to the FM station at all times in accordance with the FM policy and the commitment in that regard made by Télémédia at the Public Hearing. The licensee is further expected to provide adequate weekend coverage of local and regional news.
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The applicant said at the Public Hearing that the musical programming proposed for the new FM station, which includes an 80:20 ratio of vocal to instrumental music and 49% hits, is consistent with the evolution of music formats at its FM stations in response to the musical trends of recent years and the shortage of instrumental and popular music recordings. The Commission has also noted the applicant's commitment to maintain a level of 20% Canadian content for Category 5 music and 2% new selections for which popularity has not been established. The licensee is encouraged to play more non-popularized music. In light of the rectification submitted at the hearing, the Commission approves the Promise of Performance so rectified in order to extend the weekly time allocation for advertising (Category 8) material from 17 hours to 17 hours 30 minutes and decrease the time devoted to Category 5 music by a like amount.
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Télémédia pointed out that its direct budget allocations for the development of Canadian talent will total $25,000 annually, including $20,000 to cover the station's participation in the province-wide Télémédia program to discover and promote young classical musicians and a $5,000 contribution to one or more organizations in the St Maurice region involved in training musicians or vocal artists.
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The Commission took into account the favourable written interventions received from the Corporation économique de développement industriel et commercial de Trois-Rivières et de Cap-de-la-Madeleine Inc, the Conservatoire de musique de Trois-Rivières, and SIDAC Centre-Ville Trois-Rivières, as well as the opposing intervention at the Public Hearing by Cogeco Inc.
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It is a condition of licence that the authority granted herein be implemented within twelve months of the date of receipt of written notification from the DOC that it will issue a Technical Construction and Operating Certificate or, where the applicant applies to the Commission and satisfies the Commission that it cannot implement its authority before the expiry of this period and that an extension is in the public interest, within such further period of time as is approved in writing by the Commission.
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It is a condition of licence that the licensee adhere to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' (CAB) self-regulatory guidelines on sex-role stereotyping, as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission.
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It is also a condition of licence that the licensee adhere to the provisions of the CAB's Broadcast Code for Advertising to Children, as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission.
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Fernand Bélisle
Secretary General
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