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Ottawa, 18 April 1986
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Decision CRTC 86-371
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Multilingual Television (Toronto) Limited
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Toronto, Ontario - 851973800
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Following a Public Hearing in Toronto on 16 December 1985, the Commission approves the application to amend the broadcasting licence of CFMT-TV Toronto in accordance with the policy guidelines for ethnic stations set out in Public Notice CRTC 1985-139 entitled "A Broadcasting Policy Reflecting Canada's Linguistic and Cultural Diversity" and the Television Broadcasting Regulations as amended (SOR/86-192 dated 6 February 1986), subject to the provisions set out in this decision.
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CFMT-TV is currently authorized by condition of licence to devote, on a six-month basis, both in the overall period of 6 a.m. to midnight and the period from 6 p.m. to midnight, not less than 60% of its broadcast time to programs in third or native Canadian languages. The Commission notes that this condition of licence is inconsistent with the policy guidelines for ethnic stations and hereby authorizes its deletion.
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In Public Notice CRTC 1985-261 dated 4 December 1985, the Commission proposed amendments to the Television Broadcasting Regulations setting out levels to which licensees would be required to adhere with regard to the provision of ethnic programming. The Commission had proposed that such amounts be calculated on a weekly basis for television licensees, as is the requirement for ethnic radio stations.
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At the hearing, CFMT-TV argued that as an ethnic television station it required greater program scheduling flexibility than would be possible if its ethnic content were to be calculated on the basis of the broadcast week. In its application, the licensee proposed to devote at least 75.6 hours (60%) of the broadcast week, to be calculated on a six-month basis, to programs of Types A, B, C or D.
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Having given this matter due consideration and in accordance with Subsection 20.1 (1) of the Television Broadcasting Regulations, the Commission requires the licensee to achieve its 60% ethnic programming commitment on a monthly basis.
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Further, CFMT-TV is required by condition of licence to devote a minimum of 60.5 hours (80%) of its ethnic programming, calculated monthly, to programs of Types A and B. The Commission expects the licensee to devote, as a minimum, four hours per month to Type B programming.
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Further, consistent with the licensee's proposal, it is also required to provide ethnic programming devoted to a minimum of eighteen cultural groups in at least fifteen languages, as a condition of licence. CFMT-TV's programming proposals indicate that it intends to provide service to both large and small ethnic groups, including visible minorities. The Commission notes that advertising revenue to be derived from programming directed to such major cultural groups as the Italians, Portuguese and Chinese will permit CFMT-TV to provide programming to the smaller ethnic communities, including Greek, Ukrainian, Dutch, Arabic and Japanese.
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The licensee is also currently required to abide by a condition of licence that excludes programs which have been created for commercial U.S. networks and stations or third-language dubbed versions of such programs from qualifying as ethnic programming. The Commission notes that this condition of licence is inconsistent with the ethnic policy guidelines which permit "ethnic stations" to broadcast "any other type of conventional programming" during time other than that used to fulfill the 60% ethnic programming requirement. Accordingly, the Commission approves the deletion of this condition of licence.
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The removal of this restriction should result in increased revenues for CFMT-TV. The Commission expects that this improvement in its ability to generate revenue should enable the licensee to produce and/or acquire better quality domestic programs.
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The Commission notes that the ethnic policy guidelines and the changes in CFMT-TV's conditions of licence discussed above permit the station more flexibility in terms of both ethnic and non-ethnic programming than it had previously.
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The licensee also proposed to decrease the amount of Canadian programming that CFMT-TV is required to provide. In Public Notice CRTC 1985-139, the Commission stated that, while it recognized that it may be difficult for television stations broadcasting significant amounts of ethnic programming to meet the current Canadian content levels required by regulation, the current Television Broadcasting Regulations make no provision for an exception to the general requirements. However, it noted that the "issue of varying the Canadian content requirements for ethnic programs of Types A, B, C, D or E would be considered when the Commission studies the comments received on the amendment to the existing Canadian content regulation" which was issued for public comment in Public Notice CRTC 1985-82.
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Unless and until any such regulation is in place, however, CFMT-TV must maintain the current Canadian content requirements of 60% overall between the hours of 6 a.m. and midnight and 50% between the hours of 6 p.m. and midnight as required by the Regulations.
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In Decision CRTC 83-207 which renewed the licence of CFMT-TV until 30 September 1986, the Commission noted that the licensee "has provided the ethnic communities of Metropolitan Toronto with a service which accommodates many linguistic and cultural needs". The Commission also stated its expectation that the licensee would be receptive to the advice of the advisory council it has established, in line with its original commitment and Commission policy requirements.
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The Commission will review these and other matters when it considers the renewal of the licence of this undertaking at a public hearing to be held in the early fall of 1986. In order to allow the Commission time to process such an application, it renews the licence for a further six months until 31 March 1987.
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The Commission acknowledges the views expressed by Telelatino Network Inc. in its intervention urging the licensee to ensure that CFMT-TV's ethnic program schedule "or any ... subsequent change be only with the agreement and approval of the CRTC in consultation with all involved and not only at the discretion of the licensee". The Commission will consider these comments further within the context of the station's upcoming licence renewal hearing.
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Fernand Bélisle
Secretary General
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