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Decision
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Ottawa, 14 September 1984
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Decision CRTC 84-798
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Newfoundland Broadcasting Company Limited
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St. John's, Argentia, Bonavista Clarenville, Grand Bank, Lawn, Marystown, St. Albans, Swift Current, Grand Falls, Gander, Twillingate, Glenwood, Corner Brook, Deer Lake, Red Rocks, Stephenville, Pasadena and Irishtown, Newfoundland - 833024300 - 833026800 - 833025000 - 832643100 - 840452700 - 840450100 - 840451900
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Following a Public Hearing in St. John's on 22 May 1984, the Commission renews the broadcasting licence for CJON-TV St. John's, CJAP-TV Argentia, CJWB-TV Bonavista, CJCV-TV Clarenville, CJOX-TV-1 Grand Bank, CJLN-TV Lawn, CJMA-TV Marystown, CJST-TV St. Albans, CJSC-TV Swift Current, CJCN-TV Grand Falls, CJGN-TV Gander, the rebroadcasting stations at Twillingate and Glenwood which do not yet have call signs, CJWN-TV Corner Brook, CJLW-TV Deer Lake, CJRR-TV Red Rocks, CJSV-TV Stephenville, CJWN-TV-5 Pasadena and CJWN-TV-6 Irishtown from 1 October 1984 to 30 September 1989. The licence will be subject to the conditions of licence specified in this decision and in the licence to be issued.
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At the last licence renewal hearings in 1979, Newfoundland Broadcasting Company Limited (NTV) proposed a detailed five-year plan of capital expenditures designed to upgrade and extend its CTV-affiliated service throughout Newfoundland (Decision CRTC 80-129). The Commission is pleased to note that many of the licensee's commitments with regard to this five-year plan have been implemented, notwithstanding the costs of improved television service in a large province with a relatively small and dispersed population. These include, the establishment of a new transmitter, office building and production equipment in St. John's; the installation of new transmitters at Twillingate, Glenwood and Corner Brook; and major technical improvements at Grand Bank and Stephenville.
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Applications were also submitted and considered at the 22 May 1984 hearing to improve the technical facilities at Grand Falls, Stephenville and Bonavista. At the hearing, the licensee stated that approximately 91% of Newfoundland's population now receives NTV service.
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Some commitments were not met, however. With regard to the licensee's plan to upgrade production facilities in Corner Brook, the Commission notes the licensee's statement that NTV was forced to close the Corner Brook studio in 1981, in view of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's local advertising practices. Also, to date it has not been able to extend service to Springdale and communities located on the Great Northern Peninsula and Labrador, including Fox Harbour, Mount St. Margaret and St. Anthony. NTV advised that the provision of service to these communities is predicated on the power increase proposal for Grand Falls, considered at this hearing, and, with respect to the Great Northern Peninsula, upon the economic feasibility of such an enterprise. Mr. G. Stirling, President of NTV, assured the Commission that, if the task could be accomplished in a cost-efficient manner, it was still NTV's intention to extend service to the Great Northern Peninsula communities. The Commission expects the licensee to proceed with this commitment.
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The CJON-TV signal is broadcast throughout eastern Newfoundland by means of a series of rebroadcasting stations at Placentia, Marystown, Grand Bank and Bonavista, relayed via microwave and rebroadcast at more distant locations in Newfoundland, specifically Grand Falls, Corner Brook, Stephenville and Red Rocks. Because of distance, terrain, climate and aging equipment, the system has experienced a number of technical problems over the years. Reports received by the Commission have indicated that insufficient maintenance has also been a significant problem. In this regard, the Commission acknowledges the interventions received from some of these communities complaining of poor signal quality.
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At the hearing, the licensee admitted that "there are still a number of communities of considerable population density that do not receive NTV or have poor NTV reception", but specified a number of proposals to improve the quality and reliability of the NTV stations. The licensee has installed a new building and transmitter in Grand Falls, and requested approval to increase the power of that undertaking. The final cost of the Grand Falls project, according to the licensee, will exceed $650,000, and will enable NTV to implement service at Springdale and possibly at Fox Harbour, Mount St. Margaret and St. Anthony. It should also result in more reliable signal quality at Gander and Glenwood. The licensee has also carried out improvements to its transmitters in Marystown and Grand Bank, with the latter increasing the quality of the Lawn signal.
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Mindful of the need to strengthen the quality and reliability of NTV's signals across Newfoundland, the Commission approves the applications to amend the broadcasting licences of the following stations as indicated below:
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Call Sign/ Location/ Current ERP/ Amended ERP/ Indicatif d'appel Endroit PAR actuelle PAR proposée
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CJOX-TV-1 Grand Bank 7,400 watts 4,670 watts
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CJWB-TV Bonavista 230 watts 12,700 watts
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CJCN-TV Grand Falls 26,000 watts 55,000 watts CJSV-TV Stephenville 775 watts 3,100 watts
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The Commission expects that, when these changes are implemented, many of the complaints received regarding the technical quality of NTV's service in these areas should be resolved. It also notes the licensee's statement that the use of outside antennas in some communities could further improve signal reception.
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With regard to the intervention submitted by the CBC regarding the proposed power increase at Grand Falls, the Commission notes that the Department of Communications has indicated its willingness to issue a Technical Construction and Operating Certificate.
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The Commission notes that, primarily for technical reasons, the licensee has been unable to provide service at St. Shott's, Ramea and Port Aux Basques, and has not requested that its licences to serve these communities be renewed. Accordingly, they will expire 30 September 1984. The Commission notes that an application by The St. Shott's Improvement Association for a broadcasting licence to continue the operation of CJSH-TV St. Shott's was considered at the 22 May 1984 hearing, and a decision on this application is also being released today. At Port Aux Basques, the licensee had been unable to ensure a quality signal. Therefore, following the introduction of cable service which distributes NTV to that community where cable penetration already exceeds 90%, it has decided to discontinue the over-the-air transmission of NTV service. In the case of Ramea, a small island off the Newfoundland coast, the licensee suggested that the establishment of facilities, to be operated by a licensed, local community group, would be the most practical and feasible method of providing NTV service to the island. In this regard, NTV indicated its willingness to provide assistance should an interested party or group apply for a licence in this or any other area lacking NTV service.
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With respect to Corner Brook, the Commission acknowledges the licensee's commitment to establish a maintenance centre for the west coast of Newfoundland, with a senior technician who will reside in the area on a permanent basis. The Commission expects the licensee to adhere to this commitment in order to improve maintenance of facilities throughout that region and ensure more reliable service.
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In order to provide the entire St. John's area with a quality signal, NTV has operated two, low-power, rebroadcast transmitters of CJON-TV in the same area, CJON-TV-4 and CJON-TV-5. At the hearing, the Commission asked the licensee whether or not it intended to maintain these rebroadcasters, given the establishment of CJON-TV's new transmitter in St. John's. The licensee responded that it would require time to conduct signal strength tests throughout the service area before it could determine if there is an ongoing need for the rebroadcasters. Accordingly, the Commission renews the broadcasting licence for CJON-TV-4 and CJON-TV-5 St. John's for two years only, to 30 September 1986. This licence will be subject to the conditions of licence specified in the licence to be issued. In the meantime, the Commission requires the licensee to discuss its technical requirements for serving the St. John's area with the DOC, and submit a report to the Commission by 31 December 1984 on the status of these rebroadcasters.
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The Commission acknowledges that the licensee has made a concerted effort during the last licence term to extend NTV service throughout Newfoundland, given the financial resources at its disposal, and notes NTV's ongoing commitment to provide more dependable service to all areas which have off-air NTV service, such as Placentia Bay and the Burin Peninsula. It also notes the licensee's commitment to provide a comprehensive plan for the improvement, replacement and maintenance of facilities during the new term of licence, following consultation with the DOC and the Commission this fall. The Commission expects to receive the final plan no later than 31 December 1984, and requests the licensee to submit annual progress reports thereafter on the implementation of this plan. Also, in view of the number of complaints from various communities concerning extended outage periods, the Commission expects the licensee to record all outages for each transmitter, and report them to the Commission on a semi-annual basis, specifying their cause and duration.
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With respect to programming, NTV provides service throughout Newfoundland on a 24-hour-per-day basis, and is the only television station in Atlantic Canada to broadcast continuously. When the Commission previously renewed NTV's licence in Decision CRTC 80-129, it noted various commitments and concerns regarding the licensee's programming including local service, the scheduling and diversity of Canadian programming, the scheduling of local news, and the quality of children's programming.
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At the hearing, the licensee stated that NTV broadcasts approximately 14 hours per week of original, local productions, with an additional 7 hours of this programming repeated at other times. Also, during the course of the year, NTV produces special programs of local and regional interest which average 45 minutes per week.
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The licensee emphasized the importance of its evening, hour-long news service and the Commission notes NTV's commitment to introduce two, half-hour news-oriented programs on the weekend this fall. NTV Weekend Magazine was described by the licensee as a public affairs program, and "A Little Good News" will be "designed to highlight the more positive aspects of news, national, international, local and otherwise." The licensee indicated that it already has the talent and the material necessary for the production of these new programs.
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In the application submitted by NTV, the licensee proposed a program, "Newfoundland Today", which would provide news and information in a magazine format for two hours each morning. At the hearing, Mr. Stirling expressed the hope that additional staff could be acquired for news programming in the future, and that some of the programming thus produced including live interviews would be broadcast in the morning. At the same time he was reluctant to give a specific commitment in this regard, based on NTV's current financial capabilities and priorities. The Commission shares the licensee's interest in such a proposal, and expects NTV to expend every effort to introduce a first-run, locally-originated morning news and public affairs service to serve the needs of viewers throughout Newfoundland.
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The Commission also notes that, to ensure that NTV news programming reflects the concerns and lifestyles of the various regions of this large province, the licensee has assigned appropriate staff in Corner Brook to provide coverage of news and events of particular interest to residents of western Newfoundland.
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With respect to the quality of children's programming, the Commission notes that the licensee has improved its performance in this regard during the last term of licence, and concurs with Mr. Stirling's statement that programming for young people is one of the most important areas of broadcasting in Canada. The Commission encourages NTV to continue to improve the quality of this service.
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The licensee broadcasts a rock music video program entitled "NTV Rock Show" which NTV has claimed as a local production in its Promise of Performance. At the hearing, however, the licensee described the production elements of this program as follows:
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These are musical pieces which either come to us from film distributors in boxes as individual video clips, or they are lifted from video portions of other shows that we have on the air. They are put together by our people, an actual video producer in this case, who dedicates his energy precisely to this program, and there is character generation indicating the group that is coming, the group that is playing, before and after the breaks, who will be up next and who they have just seen.
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While the Commission recognizes that the licensee's staff may assemble the components of the program, it does not consider, based on the description above, that the program would qualify as a local or Canadian production. In this regard, the Commission reminds the licensee of its new criteria for the recognition of Canadian programs which became effective 15 April 1984 (Public Notice CTRC 1984-94). In another area, the licensee indicated that it no longer includes brief, scenic vignettes as Canadian content or local program content.
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As a result of the new criteria for Canadian program recognition, and the amended Television Broadcasting Regulations (Public Notice CRTC 1984-110), the licensee is required to file a new Promise of Performance by 31 December 1984. It is also a condition of licence that the licensee continue to provide a minimum of 10 hours and 25 minutes per week of first-run locally produced programming. In addition to this requirement, the Commission expects the licensee to implement the proposed news and public affairs programs, "NTV Weekend Magazine" and "A Little Good News", referred to earlier in this decision. At the same time, the Commission wishes to emphasize that, should there be improvement in the profitability of NTV, and/or the economy of Newfoundland, it would expect the licensee to enhance its local productions accordingly. In this regard, the licensee is required to submit a detailed progress report to the Commission on its local production activities by 30 September 1986, including the measures taken to implement the first-run morning news-magazine program. While not wishing to limit the scope of such report, the Commission would expect the licensee to address the feasibility of raising its local production commitments, and enhancing NTV's regional service so that all areas of Newfoundland are reflected in NTV's programming.
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The Commission considers that by improving and maintaining the technical quality of NTV's facilities, extending service to more outlying communities including Springdale and the Great Northern Peninsula, and providing programming that is sensitive to both local and provincial needs, the licensee can provide Newfoundland with a reliable and informative television service.
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Fernand Bélisle Secretary General
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