ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Procedural Letter addressed to Edward Torres (Torres Media Ottawa Inc.)

Ottawa, 25 February 2016

BY EMAIL

Mr. Edward Torres
CEO
Torres Media Ottawa Inc.
380 Hunt Club Rd.
Suite 203
Ottawa, Ontario
K1V 1C1
Email: etorres@skywords.com

Re: CIDG-FM Ottawa – Part 1 licence renewal application 2015-0993-6 and Part 1 licence amendment application 2015-0994-4

Dear Mr. Torres,

This is in reference to the above-mentioned applications to renew and amend the licence of the English-language commercial radio station CIDG-FM Ottawa.

Regarding licence renewal application 2015-0993-6:

On 14 December 2015, Commission staff sent you a letter detailing the results of its monitoring analysis of the programming broadcast by CIDG-FM for the week of 23-29 August 2015.  As stated in this letter, it appeared that CIDG-FM was in non-compliance with condition of licence 3(c) requiring that it devote a minimum of 40% of its musical selections from content category 2 (Popular music) to Canadian selections between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday to Friday.   
At the time, staff estimated your Canadian content level for category 2 music to have been 36.7% during the relevant period.

On 4 January 2016, you filed a response letter^{Footnote 1} in which you commented on the circumstances of this apparent non‐compliance, the measures put in place to ensure future compliance with CIDG-FM’s conditions of licence relating to Canadian content, and the possibility of the imposition of sanctions or regulatory measures as detailed in Update on the Commission’s approach to non-compliance by radio stations, Broadcasting Information Bulletin CRTC 2014-608, Ottawa, 21 November 2014.

You also submitted updated musical lists (on 7 December 2015) and further information (on 4 January 2016) to prove that some of your musical selections were indeed Canadian. As a result, staff has revaluated the Canadian content levels for category 2 and category 3 music aired by CIDG-FM, as well as the level of Hits broadcast. Staff now estimates that the Canadian content level for category 2 music during the week to have been 44.1% and 39.2% between 06h00 and 18h00 Monday through Friday, and the Canadian content level for category 3 music to be 24.8% for the week the level of hit material is estimated to be 8.9% for the same period. It is also estimated that 28.6% of the musical program was dedicated to music drawn from Content Category 3.  For further details regarding staff’s analysis and results in that regard, please see Appendix 1 to this letter.

In light of the updated monitoring results for CIDG-FM Ottawa (39.2% Canadian content for category 2 music during prime time):

1. If you wish, please update your comments filed on 3 January 2016 regarding this apparent non-compliance, the circumstances surrounding it, the measures put in place to address it and the potential measures that could be imposed by the Commission as a result.

Regarding licence amendment application 2015-0994-4

On 27 August 2015, you applied to amend the conditions of licence for CIDG-FM Ottawa set out in Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2009-481.

In particular, CIDG-FM requested that conditions of licence 2 and 3(a) related to the broadcast of Category 3 musical selections be deleted, that conditions of licence 3(b) and 3(c) related to Canadian content for Category 2 musical selections be amended in order to lower the Canadian content levels to those specified in the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the Regulations)and that conditions of licence 4 and 5 related to over-and-above Canadian content development contributions be deleted.^{Footnote 2}  

2. As stated in Broadcasting Information Bulletin CRTC 2014-608, “when considering applications for licence amendments, the Commission will take into account the quantity, recurrence and seriousness of the non-compliance, as well as the relationship between the application for amendment and any instance of non-compliance. For example, the Commission could deny an application for an amendment to programming requirements by a licensee that is in non-compliance with its required level of Canadian musical selections”.

   In light of this, please comment on the apparent non-compliance with condition of licence 3(c), noted above, in the context of your licence amendment application. In particular, please comment on the possibility that the requested licence amendments may be denied, in part or in whole.  Please also include details on the impact (financial and other) that a denial could have on the station.

Timeline changes

The information requested herein should be received at the Commission no later than 1 March 2016.

Commission staff notes that, as communicated in a letter from the Secretary General, also issued today, the Commission has extended the deadline for filing interventions for the proceeding related to your licence renewal application 2015-0993-6 to 11 March 2016.

Considering the above, the deadline for filing interventions for the proceeding related to your licence amendment application 2015-0994-4 is hereby changed as follows:

With respect to both proceedings, the licensee will be provided with an opportunity to file a reply to the document of an intervener with the Commission within 10 days after the deadline for intervening (by 21 March 2016). 

Additional information:

It is important to note that in the absence of a response on your part to questions 1 and 2 by 1 March 2016, the licensee will be in a situation of apparent non-compliance with section 9(4) of the Regulations which requires licensees to respond to Commission requests for information relating to adherence to their regulatory obligations. 

A copy of this letter and your reply will be added to the record of the relevant applications to be made available for public examination.

We also ask that you repeat each question in your reply.

The Commission requires that your response and/or other documents be submitted electronically by using the secured service “My CRTC Account” (Partner Log In or GCKey) and filling the “Broadcasting and Telecom Cover page” or the “Broadcasting Online Form and Cover Page” located on this web page. Also on this web page you will find information on the submission of applications to the Commission “Submitting applications and other documents to the CRTC using My CRTC Account.”

Should you need further information concerning your application, please do not hesitate to contact me by telephone at 819-997-9310 or by fax at 819-994-0218.

Yours truly,
Catherine Arguin
Senior Radio Analyst
Radio Applications and Policy

c.c. Interveners in application 2015-0994-4:

Susan Wheeler
VP Regulatory Media
Rogers Media Inc./ Corus Entertainment / Bell Media
333 Bloor St E, Toronto, ON
M4W 1G9
susan.wheeler@rci.rogers.com

Stuart Johnston
President
Canadian Independent Music Association
30 St. Patrick Street, 2nd Floor, Toronto, ON
M5T 3A3
stuart@cimamusic.ca

Appendix 1:
Canadian category 2 music aired by CIDG-FM Ottawa
Updated monitoring analysis and results

Revised performance evaluation summary – CIDG-FM – 23-29 August 2015

In order to produce the final amended performance evaluation report, Commission staff reviewed the music list as amended by CIDG-FM on 7 December 2015 and the proof of Canadian content for certain music selections received by the Commission on 4 January 2016.  Commission staff carefully reviewed and compared every music selection from the most recent music list with the originally submitted list, and confirmed there were no changes to the selections. Commission staff noted that no revised Station Self-Assessment Report (SAR) or cue sheets were re-submitted. For this reason, the original SAR and cue sheets submitted by the licensee in September 2015, along with the new music list, were used by Commission staff to prepare the final evaluation results. The monitoring evaluation was revised, and reflect changes as a result of the additional Canadian content information provided on 4 January 2016.  This constitutes the final Amended Performance Evaluation Report.

Commission staff confirms that the updated music list submitted by CIDG-FM in December 2015 matched the audio recordings for the broadcast week of 23 to 29 August 2015, so it was unnecessary to re-evaluate the audio recordings against the amended music list. Commission staff’s original determination for the category classifications for the music selections remains the same as the November 2015 evaluation.  Only music selections originally classified by Commission staff as Content Category 3 that aired on Wednesday 26 August 2015 (and these same selections, aired on other days of the week) were considered as Content Category 3 selections in the revised evaluation.

Any other music selections that CIDG-FM re-classified as Content Category 3 (which were originally claimed as Content Category 2) were still considered as Content Category 2 selections in this re-evaluation. Since most of the selections that apply in this situation were Canadian content selections, if Commission staff had re-classified these as Content Category 3 in the revised evaluation, then the final Canadian Content level for Category 2 music for both the entire broadcast week, and for the 06h00 to 18h00, Monday to Friday period, would have reflected even lower Canadian Content levels than the ones found in the initial evaluation report. This would have increased the gap between the original result determined by staff and the requirement stated in Condition of Licence 3(c) in Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2009-481 (Appendix 3):

• “3. The licensee shall, as an exception to the percentage of Canadian musical selections set out in sections 2.2(3), 2.2(8) and 2.2(9) of the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the Regulations), in each broadcast week: (…)

• c) devote, between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., in the period from Monday to Friday of the same broadcast week, a minimum of 40% of its musical selections drawn from content category 2 to Canadian selections broadcast in their entirety.”

In summary, by incorporating the additional proof of Canadian Content as furnished by the licensee in January 2016, and by maintaining Commission staff’s original determination of the category classification for certain music selections as Category 2, the result is that the station’s Canadian Content level for Category 2 has increased from 36.7% to 39.2%, thus improving, though still not quite achieving, the required level of 40% Canadian Content for Category 2 selections, as per Condition of Licence 3(c).

Information contained in the most recent music list submitted by the licensee resembles the originally submitted music list, with the exception of content category classifications for some selections; all “Canadian Content” and “Hit”-designated selections remain the same. Commission staff also notes that in the station’s revised music list, the licensee corrected the classification of some music selections (to Category 3), as reflected in the Commission’s initial performance evaluation report sent to CIDG-FM on 3 November 2015.

Note to interested parties: A true copy of the complete revised Performance Evaluation Report has been sent to the licensee, and a copy of this report has also been placed on the station’s public file.

Date modified:

2016-02-25