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Ottawa, 22 June 1993
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Decision CRTC 93-212
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New Brunswick Broadcasting Co. Limited
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New Glasgow; Shelburne; Sydney; and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; and Buctouche and Moncton, New Brunswick - 921071700 - 921326500 - 912961000 - 921327300 - 920108800 - 911922300 - 911981900
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Approval of New TV Transmitters in Nova Scotia
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Following a Public Hearing in Moncton beginning on 17 February 1993, the Commission approves the applications submitted by New Brunswick Broadcasting Co. Limited (NBB) to amend the broadcasting licence of the programming undertaking CIHF-TV Halifax, the originating station, by authorizing the licensee to add transmitters at New Glasgow, Shelburne, Sydney and Yarmouth, operating with the technical parameters noted below:
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Effective Radiated Power/
Puissance apparente rayonnée
Location/Endroit Channel/Canal (watts)
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New Glasgow 34 12,100
Shelburne 10 1,800
Sydney 11 52,800
Yarmouth 45 23,600
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Denial of Proposed New TV Transmitter at Buctouche and of Frequency Exchange for CHMT-TV and CIHF-TV-3 Moncton, New Brunswick
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At the hearing, the Commission also considered NBB's application to change the transmitting channel of CHMT-TV Moncton from 7 to 27 and to amend the broadcasting licence for independent station, CIHF-TV-2 Saint John, the originating station, by changing the channel of its rebroadcaster CIHF-TV-3 Moncton, from 27 to 7. In addition, the Commission considered NBB's application to add a transmitter at Buctouche, to rebroadcast the programs of CHSJ-TV (CBC) Saint John via CHMT-TV Moncton, on channel 49 with an effective radiated power of 19,900 watts. NBB stated that the application to add a transmitter at Buctouche was predicated upon the Commission's approval of its related applications to exchange channels at Moncton. The Commission denies these three applications.
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Extension of MITV Service in Nova Scotia
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In 1987, the Commission authorized NBB to establish English-language television undertakings at Halifax, Saint John/Fredericton and Moncton to provide the independent television service now known as Maritime Independent Television (MITV) (Decision CRTC 87-59 dated 22 January 1987).
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The Commission stated that it:
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strongly expects NBB to implement [the original undertakings] and to further submit applications at the earliest feasible time for extension of the proposed service throughout New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
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Within one year of CIHF-TV's going on the air, NBB added transmitters at Truro, Wolfville and Bridgewater, Nova Scotia (Decision CRTC 88-841 dated 9 December 1988).
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In support of its present applications to extend MITV's service, NBB claimed that, in its efforts to attract regional advertising revenues, MITV faces a significant disadvantage in relation to its two principal competitors: the CBC and CHUM Limited (CHUM). CHUM owns and operates the CTV-affiliated television stations of the Atlantic Television System (ATV) as well as the independent satellite television service, Atlantic Satellite Network (ASN). Specifically, NBB stated that MITV is "unable to attract a number of key regional advertisers because of ... gaps in our coverage as compared with the CBC and ATV". According to NBB, the proposed service extension would "fill the gaps".
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In its evaluation of these applications, the Commission has taken into consideration the opposing intervention submitted by CHUM, claiming that the television market in the Maritimes does not have sufficient advertising revenues to support the proposed new transmitters. CHUM further maintained that there would be no increase in the total advertising revenues available in this market in the near future and expressed concern that allowing MITV access to advertising revenues from the Maritimes' regional market would result in a significant loss of advertising dollars to ATV, ASN and the CBC.
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The Commission has also noted the intervention submitted by Celtic Broadcasting Limited (Celtic), licensee of radio stations CJCB and CKPE-FM Sydney, opposing NBB's application to add a transmitter at Sydney. Celtic claimed that the introduction of a new commercial broadcasting service in Cape Breton would fragment available advertising revenues and would thereby cause financial harm to CJCB and CKPE-FM.
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In responding to CHUM's intervention, NBB submitted its own impact analysis, indicating, among other arguments, that television revenues from local and national sales in Atlantic Canada increased over the period of 1984 to 1991. NBB also projected growth in television revenues in the Maritimes for the period of 1991 to 1998.
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With respect to the concerns raised in Celtic's intervention, NBB also made a commitment at the hearing, to "neither solicit nor accept" local advertising at New Glasgow and Sydney. NBB also stated that it would not broadcast any separate, local advertising directed to all of Cape Breton Island from the Sydney transmitter. In addition, NBB stated, at the hearing, that it did not foresee carrying local commercials out of Shelburne and Yarmouth because they are small communities.
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The Commission notes that NBB has experienced substantial financial losses since 1989. In 1991, CIHF-TV alone experienced a $2.7 million loss before interest and taxes. While CHUM has also experienced revenue declines since 1988, it is still profitable and still maintains a dominant position in the television market in the Maritimes.
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Having evaluated all of the information at its disposal, the Commission is satisfied that there will be cumulative real growth in the amount of advertising revenues available in the Maritimes television market and that this expected growth should support the extension of the MITV service approved herein without undue impact on the existing services of ATV and the CBC. The Commission is, therefore, prepared to approve the new transmitters at New Glasgow, Sydney, Shelburne and Yarmouth.
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Approval of the new transmitters in Nova Scotia is subject to the requirement that construction of the transmitting facilities be completed and that they be in operation within twelve months of the date of this decision or, where the licensee applies to the Commission and satisfies the Commission that it cannot complete implementation before the expiry of this period and that an extension is in the public interest, within such further periods of time as may be approved in writing by the Commission.
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Should the Commission refuse to approve an extension of time requested by the licensee, the authority granted shall lapse and become null and void upon the termination of the last approved extension period.
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The new transmitters approved herein represent a further step in the extension of MITV's service in response to the Commission's expectation, first stated in Decision CRTC 87-59 and reiterated in Decisions CRTC 88-376 and 88-841, that NBB extend MITV's service at the earliest feasible time. The Commission notes that approval of these new transmitters will make a third, over-the-air television service available to residents of the communities of New Glasgow, Shelburne, Sydney and Yarmouth and of the surrounding areas.
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The Commission further notes that, in accordance with the Cable Television Regulations, 1986 (the regulations), MITV's signal will become priority carriage on the cable systems serving New Glasgow, Shelburne, Sydney and Yarmouth. NBB indicated that it will take advantage of the simultaneous signal substitution provisions of the regulations, which should enable it to repatriate substantial audiences and revenues now flowing to U.S. stations whose signals are distributed on these and other Maritime cable systems.
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The Commission has noted the concerns expressed in the intervention submitted by the National Association of Broadcast Employees & Technicians (NABET) on behalf of its members employed by CJCB-TV Sydney, with regard to the Sydney application. Among other things, NABET expressed the view that NBB should be required to "commit to local programming and the employment of local talent". The Commission is satisfied with NBB's response to the concerns raised in NABET's intervention.
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As noted earlier in this decision, NBB does not propose to provide local programming in Sydney and will not solicit or accept local advertising in that market. This is consistent with the Commission's policy set out in Public Notice CRTC 1988-31 which allows television stations to benefit from local advertising revenues only if they broadcast local programs.
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Nevertheless, in view of the expansion of MITV's service approved herein, the Commission expects the licensee to ensure that its programming adequately reflects the needs and interests of viewers resident within the geographic area it is licensed to serve.
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Moncton/Buctouche Applications
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For close to forty years, NBB has operated as the licensee of the CBC's affiliate CHSJ-TV Saint John and its rebroadcasters. This undertaking remains, to date, the only source of English-language CBC television network programming available to residents of New Brunswick. In numerous decisions and notices over the years, the Commission has expressed serious concern regarding the fact that New Brunswick remains the only province in which the CBC does not own and operate English-language television broadcasting facilities.
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At the 1986 public hearing of its application for the MITV service, NBB announced that it had reached an agreement with the CBC whereby, upon commencement of MITV's third television service in Halifax, Saint John/Fredericton and Moncton, NBB would increase the amount of CBC programming broadcast on CHSJ-TV and its rebroadcasters by approximately thirty hours each week. The ten-year agreement between NBB and the CBC came into effect on 1 September 1988, effectively ensuring that CHSJ-TV would continue to provide CBC English-language television network programming to New Brunswick residents for at least ten years.
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Currently, NBB uses VHF channels almost exclusively to provide CBC English-language television network service to New Brunswick through CHSJ-TV and its rebroadcasters. NBB is requesting authority to exchange the transmitting channels for CIHF-TV-3 (MITV) and CHMT-TV (CBC), so that the CBC service would be provided on UHF channel 27, and the MITV service on channel 7. In addition, NBB proposes to add a new transmitter at Buctouche to rebroadcast CHSJ-TV's service on channel 49, with the objective of replacing coverage to the north in Kent County, that would otherwise have been lost as a result of the switch of the CBC affiliate at Moncton from VHF channel 7 to UHF channel 27. The CBC submitted an intervention expressing its opposition to the proposed exchange of channels between CHMT-TV and CIHF-TV-3 and the proposed transmitter at Buctouche. The CBC indicated that approval of these applications would have a serious negative impact on the provision of CBC English-language television network service to New Brunswick.
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In its intervention, the CBC stated that it is committed to providing CBC-owned-and-operated facilities in New Brunswick no later than 1 September 1998, but stressed that the establishment of this service is predicated on the use of the television channels currently assigned to NBB for CHSJ-TV and its transmitters. The CBC added:
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Use of these VHF channels, which have, since the beginning, formed the basis under which CBC service has been distributed in New Brunswick, will ensure that the CBC English television service continues to be distributed without loss of service or audience dislocation.
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The CBC also disputed NBB's claim that use of UHF channels 27 at Moncton and 49 at Buctouche to deliver CHSJ-TV's CBC-affiliate service would result in an overall gain of signal quality for the population covered by these two transmitters, and that it would cause no appreciable loss of signal quality in any part of the area. According to the CBC's theoretical studies and field measurements, a substantial number of homes in southeastern New Brunswick and parts of Nova Scotia would receive a reduced level of signal and some communities would lose service entirely. The CBC based its theoretical analysis of realistic coverage using projections it obtained from the PREDICT computer program developed by the Department of Communications (DOC).
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Statistical propagation curves are adequate to approximate signal coverage. DOC's PREDICT program takes into account unusual topographic conditions (such as the mountainous terrain present in the areas involved in the Moncton/Buctouche applications) and enables a user to calculate a somewhat more precise estimation of signal coverage contours than do the usual F50/50 average terrain calculation methods.
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In response to the CBC's argument, NBB stated that it had conducted its own theoretical calculations of the same areas using PREDICT-2, an updated version of the DOC's original software. According to NBB, the realistic coverage projections obtained from the PREDICT-2 program indicate that approval of these applications would not cause any loss or reduction of CBC service. NBB further argued that PREDICT-2 provides more accurate projections than does the earlier version of the software used by the CBC.
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In a letter dated 26 February 1993, the Commission asked DOC to comment on the relative degree of accuracy of the two versions of the PREDICT program. The DOC responded in a letter dated 23 April 1993. Although the DOC did not state which version is more accurate, it did indicate that PREDICT, whether version 1 or 2, "is solely a tool", and that:
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it is not an absolute method for determining coverage accurately. This can be only done with long-term (i.e. a year or more) measurements at representative locations.
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With respect to the technical merits of the applicant's proposals, the DOC had previously indicated in a letter dated 13 May 1992 that the proposed transmitter at Buctouche would adequately fill the service gap between the present CBC English-language affiliate service of CHCN-TV Chatham on channel 6 and the CBC-affiliate service offered on channel 27 at Moncton, as proposed in NBB's applications. The DOC warned, however, that:
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the proposed switch of stations would reduce the present CBC service to the west, south and south-east of the Moncton transmitting antenna.
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The Commission acknowledges that approval of the proposed frequency exchange at Moncton would have permitted the extension of MITV's service to southeastern New Brunswick and to a portion of Prince Edward Island. However, the Commission does not consider that the NBB proposal represents the most efficient use of these frequencies. Switching CIHF-TV-3 (MITV) Moncton to channel 7 might have reduced the coverage overlap now existing between the CBC-affiliated transmitters at Saint John and Moncton, but would have also created a major overlap between the service contours of CIHF-TV-3 (MITV) Moncton and CIHF-TV-5 (MITV) Wolfville, Nova Scotia. The Commission further notes that, although CBCT Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and CBHT Halifax and CBHT-6 Middleton, Nova Scotia would provide CBC programming to some of the area previously covered by CHSJ-TV, the Charlottetown, Halifax and Middleton transmitters would not provide the same programming currently offered by CHSJ-TV.
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In light of the foregoing, including the concerns regarding the technical efficiency of the applicant's plans, the likelihood that some communities will lose the CBC service or receive a lower grade of signal, the implications of the proposed channel switch at Moncton with regard to the establishment of CBC-owned-and-operated facilities in New Brunswick, the disruption to present viewers who receive the CBC over the air, and the cost implications for those viewers who would have to obtain UHF receiving equipment, the Commission denies NBB's requests to exchange frequencies between CHMT-TV and CIHF-TV-3 and to add a transmitter at Buctouche to rebroadcast the programs of CHSJ-TV. The Commission reiterates its view, first stated in Decision CRTC 87-59 and repeated in Decision CRTC 89-150 that:
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should the CBC choose to terminate its agreement with NBB at some future point and establish CBC owned-and-operated facilities in New Brunswick, the Commission would not envisage renewing the licences for CHSJ-TV and its rebroadcasters for a further term and would, moreover, strongly expect NBB to surrender its licences for these services.
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The Commission acknowledges the interventions submitted by individuals, elected government officials and community leaders with respect to all of these applications.
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Allan J. Darling
Secretary General
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