Broadcasting - Secretary General Letter addressed to Kevin Desjardins (Canadian Association of Broadcasters)
Gatineau, 24 July 2026
Reference: 2026-0108-8
BY EMAIL
Kevin Desjardins
President
Canadian Association of Broadcasters
770-45 O’Connor Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1A4
kdesjardins@cab-acr.ca
Subject: Part 1 application by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, on behalf of its radio members, to simplify and extend the flexibilities granted in Broadcasting Regulatory Policies 2025-265 and 2025-265-1
Dear Kevin Desjardins,
Thank you for your application dated 25 March 2026, requesting that the Commission modify two policy determinations made in the recent Modernization of radio processes, Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2025-265, 10 October 2025, and partly implemented in Modernization of radio processes – Finalization of conditions of service, Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2025-265-1, 9 January 2026 (collectively, the Modernization Policy), namely, the one-year trial periods for spoken-word content and for AM to FM simulcasting.
The Commission considers that the application asks it to revisit determinations and orders made in the Modernization Policy only a short while ago.
The Commission notes that, in the Modernization Policy, the Commission weighed the pros and cons of introducing one-year trial periods for spoken word content and for AM to FM simulcasting. In particular, the Commission noted that providing more flexibility to licensees willing to devote more than 50% of their broadcast week to spoken-word content would help ensure that communities don’t lose access to spoken word content, given that many stations devoted to this format have gone off-air. However, the Commission also emphasized that conditions of service are a way to ensure programming diversity and noted that it must ensure that this increased flexibility for all stations does not unduly impact those stations that are specifically licenced to operate in the specialty, spoken-word format.
In terms of the one-year AM to FM simulcast trial period, the Commission considered that increased flexibility would allow licensees to test their AM programming on their FM stations with minimal investments, but that removing all restrictions on simulcasting would go against encouraging a diversity of programming in a market and would not be the best use of frequencies.
These new flexibilities, which have only recently been granted by the Commission, have yet to be tested in practice, and the Commission is not aware of any licensees having yet taken advantage of either the spoken word or simulcast trial periods.
Given the recency of these new flexibilities, the application will not be considered by the Commission. However, the Commission will monitor the uptake and use of these new flexibilities as they develop.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Rachel Marleau, Director, Broadcasting, at Rachel.Marleau@crtc.gc.ca.
Sincerely,
Marc Morin
Secretary General and Executive Vice-President
c.c.:
Scott Shortliffe, Vice-President, Broadcasting, CRTC, Scott.Shortliffe@crtc.gc.ca
Rachel Marleau, Director, Broadcasting, CRTC, Rachel.Marleau@crtc.gc.ca
Lenore Gibson, Assistant General Counsel, Bell Media Inc., bell.regulatory@bell.ca
Eve Paré, Directrice Générale, ADISQ, sclaus@adisq.com
Susan Wheeler, Vice President, Regulatory, Broadcasting, Rogers Communications Inc., Susan.Wheeler@rci.rogers.com
Monica Auer, Executive Director, The Forum for Research and Policy in Communications, execdir@frpc.net
Matt Thompson, Vice President and General Counsel, Corus Entertainment Inc., corus.regulatory@corusent.com
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