Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2024-313

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Reference: Part 1 application posted on 13 September 2024

Ottawa, 2 December 2024

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Ottawa, Ontario

Public record: 2024-0339-3

CBOX-FM Ottawa – Technical amendments

  1. The Commission has the authority, pursuant to subsection 9(1) of the Broadcasting Act (the Act), to issue licences for the carrying on of broadcasting undertakings and to amend those licences.
  2. Consistent with this authority, the Commission approves the application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to amend the authorized contours of the French-language radio programming undertaking CBOX-FM Ottawa, Ontario, which broadcasts the programming of the national, French-language network service ICI Musique. Specifically, the licensee proposed to replace the existing non-directional antenna with a circular non-directional antenna, and to decrease the effective height of antenna above average terrain (EHAAT) from 323.0 to 318.3 meters. All other technical parameters will remain unchanged.
  3. The Commission did not receive any interventions with regard to this application.
  4. When a licensee of a radio station files an application for technical amendments, the Commission requires the licensee to present compelling technical or economic evidence justifying the requested amendments. In this case, the CBC indicated that the requested technical amendments are necessary for it to replace the old existing antenna, and will allow the CBC to maintain a quality signal in Ottawa and its vicinity. The Commission is satisfied that the licensee has demonstrated a technical need for the requested amendments.
  5. Pursuant to subsection 22(1) of the Act, this authority will only be effective when the Department of Industry (also known as Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada) notifies the Commission that its technical requirements have been met and that a broadcasting certificate will be issued.
  6. The licensee must implement the technical amendments by no later than 2 December 2026. To request an extension, the licensee must submit a written request to the Commission at least 60 days before that date, using the form available on the Commission’s website.
  7. As set out in section 16 of the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the Regulations), licensees have obligations relating to the broadcast of emergency alert messages received from the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System. In regard to the authorized contours of CBOX-FM resulting from the implementation of the technical amendments approved in this decision, the Commission reminds the licensee that continued compliance with section 16 of the Regulations may require that any alert broadcast decoders (e.g., ENDEC) used for the purposes of broadcasting emergency alert messages on CBOX-FM, or on any rebroadcasting transmitters that may appear on the broadcasting licence for that station, be reprogrammed to properly account for the new authorized contours.

Secretary General

This decision is to be appended to the licence.

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