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Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2025-19

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Reference: Part 1 application posted on 13 September 2024

Ottawa–Gatineau, 27 January 2025

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Ottawa, Ontario, and L’Isle-aux-Allumettes, Quebec

Public record: 2024-0361-6

CBOF-FM Ottawa and its transmitter CBOF-FM-9 L’Isle-aux-Allumettes – 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 an application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to amend the technical parameters of CBOF-FM-9 L’Isle-aux-Allumettes, Quebec, a rebroadcasting transmitter of the French-language radio programming undertaking CBOF-FM Ottawa, Ontario, which broadcasts the programming of the national, French-language network service ICI Première. In its application, the CBC proposed to change the class of the transmitter from A to C1, to increase the maximum effective radiated power (ERP) from 2,300 to 75,148 watts, to increase the average ERP from 2,300 to 30,124 watts, to replace the existing circular non-directional antenna with a new elliptical directional antenna, to increase the effective height of the antenna above average terrain (EHAAT) from 91.5 to 93.9 metres, and to relocate the transmitter to another site in Pembroke, Ontario. All other technical parameters will remain unchanged.
  1. The Commission received an intervention from an individual in regard to this application. The intervener suggested changing the frequency from 88.7 MHz to 91.7 MHz to avoid interference with the English-language community radio station CKAR-FM Huntsville, Ontario, and the English-language commercial radio station CKYM-FM Napanee, Ontario. The CBC did not reply to the intervention.
  2. Following a technical analysis, the Commission considered that maintaining the use of frequency 88.7 MHz does not pose any risk of interference with the above-mentioned stations.
  3. When a licensee 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 proposed technical amendments are necessary since CBOF-FM-9’s antenna is timeworn and that the population served is at high risk of signal loss.
  4. To maintain coverage in the L’Isle-aux-Allumettes area, the CBC proposed to relocate the antenna to the Pembroke site.Footnote 1 It also indicated that the proposed technical amendments will increase the number of listeners served, without allowing it to enter a new market. Therefore, 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 27 January 2027. 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 CBOF-FM-9 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 CBOF-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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