ARCHIVED - Decision CRTC 2000-281
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Decision CRTC 2000-281 |
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| Ottawa, 31 July 2000 | |
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The Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. Bracebridge, Ontario – 199807674 |
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Application processed by Public Notice CRTC 2000-34 dated 6 March 2000 |
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Change in frequency and power increase for CFBG-FM – denied |
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The Commission denies the application by The Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. to amend the broadcasting licence for CFBG-FM Bracebridge. The applicant had proposed to change CFBG-FM's frequency from 100.9 MHz (channel 265A) to 99.5 MHz (channel 258C1) and to increase its effective radiated power from 2,900 watts to 100,000 watts. |
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The applicant claimed that CFBG-FM cannot reach over 50% of its audience in Muskoka. It added that the proposed technical amendment would enable it to better serve the Bracebridge/Muskoka area. |
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Interventions |
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In its evaluation of this application, the Commission has taken into consideration the concerns expressed in the opposing interventions submitted by licensees of radio stations serving adjacent markets, namely, Muskoka/Parry Sound Broadcasting Ltd., licensee of CFBK-FM Huntsville, Playland Broadcasting Limited, licensee of CKLP-FM Parry Sound, and Telemedia Radio Inc., licensee of CICX-FM Orillia. The interveners argued that, if the technical changes proposed by the applicant were approved, CFBG-FM would reach all of Muskoka and would attract virtually all national advertising revenues away from their stations. They further claimed that the applicant did not demonstrate any evidence of coverage problems, nor did it consider other potential technical alternatives that would improve coverage without introducing a full power FM competitor into their markets. |
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Both Telemedia and Playland maintained that CFBG-FM is very successful at its current level of power. Telemedia stated that, since the applicant acquired CFBG-FM in 1997, its total hours tuned and weekly audiences have increased substantially. The intervener nevertheless claimed that there is still room for further growth locally within CFBG-FM's existing technical parameters. For its part, Playland stated that, since the original filing of this application in October 1998, CFBG-FM has fulfilled and even exceeded its revenues and profitability projections. |
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The applicant responded that there are no technical alternatives to 99.5 MHz in Bracebridge. It indicated that CFBG-FM would remain a local station and that it would not expand its sales efforts, nationally or locally. |
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The Commission's decision |
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In the Commission's view, the wording of the application indicates that the applicant considers CFBG-FM's market to encompass all of Muskoka. CFBG-FM, however, was originally licensed to serve south Muskoka, and Bracebridge and Gravenhurst in particular. The Commission, in 1987, awarded a licence for an FM radio station at Bracebridge to Telemedia Communications Inc. and Muskoka-Parry Sound Broadcasting Limited, on behalf of a company to be incorporated (Decision CRTC 87-166, confirmed in Decision CRTC 87-831). In approving Telemedia's application over a competing proposal, the Commission stated that Telemedia had demonstrated "a strong interest in minimizing the impact on existing stations to provide FM radio service to the underserved Bracebridge Gravenhurst area." The Commission, in that decision, also determined that a Class A frequency was more appropriate than the Class B frequency requested by Telemedia to achieve the desired coverage. The applicant, in the present application, proposed a Class C1 frequency which is significantly more powerful than the currently authorized Class A frequency. |
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The applicant acquired the assets of CFBG-FM from Telemedia in 1997 (Decision CRTC 97-671). Although the applicant did not put forward any tangible benefits for this transaction, the Commission noted, as an intangible benefit, the maintenance of CFBG-FM as a viable, local radio service to Bracebridge. |
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CFBG-FM's authorized service area has not changed since it was initially licensed. The Commission considers that, in the present request, the applicant is seeking to extend coverage to an area for which it is not licensed. In particular, the technical parameters proposed by the applicant would have resulted in a change in the station's status from a local service to a high power regional service. |
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CFBG-FM is currently considered to be operating in a single station market. It can, therefore, reduce its level of local programming and still be able to solicit local advertising. The Commission, nevertheless, expects CFBG-FM to maintain its local orientation. The Commission considers that becoming a high-power regional station would jeopardize CFBG-FM's local programming and would have an undue negative impact on stations in neighbouring markets. |
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Based on all of the foregoing, the Commission has denied this application |
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Related CRTC documents |
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Secretary General
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This decision is available in alternative format upon request, and may also be examined at the following Internet site: www.crtc.gc.ca |
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