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Ottawa, 3 December 1986
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Decision CRTC 86-1178
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Bushnell Communications Limited
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Ottawa, Deseronto and Cornwall, Ontario - 861133700
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Following a Public Hearing in Toronto on 23 September 1986, the Commission approves the application for authority to acquire the assets of CJOH-TV Ottawa and its rebroadcasting stations CJOH-TV-6 Deseronto and CJOH-TV-8 Cornwall from Bushnell Communications Limited (Old Bushnell), and for a broadcasting licence to continue the operation of these undertakings.
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The Commission will issue a licence to Bushnell Communications Limited (New Bushnell) upon surrender of the current licence. The licence will expire 30 September 1987, subject to the conditions specified in this decision and in the licence to be issued.
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The Commission notes that this transaction involves no change of effective control but rather an intercorporate reorganization. Old Bushnell and New Bushnell are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Standard Broadcasting Corporation Limited (Standard), and ultimate ownership and effective control remain with Mr. Allan Slaight of Toronto through Slaight Communications Inc. (Slaight).
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The transfer of ownership and effective control of Standard to Slaight, as well as Standard's acquisition of Old Bushnell's assets, were approved in Decision CRTC 85-1146 dated 14 November 1985 following a Public Hearing held in Hull on 17 September of that year.
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In light of the magnitude of the 1985 ownership transaction, the significance of Standard's broadcasting holdings, and the broadcasting responsibilities to be assumed by Slaight through its purchase of a controlling interest in Standard, the Commission gave great weight in Decision CRTC 85-1146 to the benefits to be realized from the transactions, including the commitments made by Slaight in support of its applications.
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With respect to the production of new Canadian television programs, the Commission noted that:
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it is in the public interest to place strong expectations on Slaight which go beyond these commitments.
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In order to ensure that ... all of CJOH-TV's local productions are of adequate quality and to maximize their opportunity for exposure on other stations across the country, it is the Commission's strong expectation that Slaight increase the amount of the proposed new funding from $775,000 to $900,000 in the first year, as a minimum, so that at least $5,700,000 is invested in local television production in that year, and that this overall expenditure on local programming be increased in each subsequent year in proportion to the percentage increase in gross revenues achieved by CJOH-TV.
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In recent decisions, the CRTC has placed particular importance on Canadian programming and, in the case of Global Communications Limited (Decision CRTC 86-1086 dated 14 November 1986), it has imposed certain conditions of licence. The Commission considers that New Bushnell, with the backing of Standard and Slaight, can also play a leadership role in this regard.
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The Commission notes that the present applications are predicated on New Bushnell operating CJOH-TV and its rebroadcasting stations, in accordance with the current Promise of Performance and fulfilling the commitments set out in Decision CRTC 85-1146. Accordingly, the Commission has decided, to attach the following condition of licence:
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It is a condition of licence that New Bushnell invest $4,750,000 (10/12 of $5,700,000) plus an amount proportionate to the percentage increase in CJOH-TV's gross revenues for this year in direct local program production costs in the period from the date of this decision to the expiry of the licence to be issued, 30 September 1987.
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The Commission further expects the new licensee to file a report with its application for renewal outlining the extent to which this condition has been met.
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Fernand Bélisle
Secretary General
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