Practical guide to radio licence renewals

We have grouped together the policies and regulatory requirements applicable to radio stations in order to simplify the licence renewal process. This will help you find the requirements and conditions of licence that apply to you, meet your deadlines and avoid non-compliance.

The expiry date of your radio licence

In June of each year, the CRTC publishes a list of all stations for which the licences are expiring in the coming year in a notice of consultation and reminds licensees to file licence renewal applications by 31 August of the current year. Don’t forget that your licence will expire the following year and that the processing of licence renewal applications begins one year before the expiry date.

Services and information

Renewal of your radio licence

Steps and dates for renewing your radio licence

How to comply with the requirements related to your radio licence

Requirements, monitoring and consequences of non-compliance with radio licence obligations

Relevant definitions

The following definitions are from the Broadcasting Act and the Radio Regulations, 1986.

Licence: Means a licence to carry on a broadcasting undertaking issued by the Commission under this Act.
Network: Includes any operation where control over all or any part of the programs or program schedules of one or more broadcasting undertakings is delegated to another undertaking or person.
Licensee: Means a person licensed to operate an A.M. station, F.M. station, digital radio station or radio network.
Broadcast day: Means the total number of hours devoted to broadcasting for a period beginning at six o’clock in the forenoon and ending at midnight on the same day.
Broadcast week: Means seven consecutive broadcast days, beginning on Sunday.
Content category and content subcategory: Means a content category or subcategory of broadcast matter that is described in the appendix to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2022-333, Revised content categories and subcategories for radio.
Montage: Means a compilation of one minute or more in duration containing excerpts from several musical selections but does not include a medley.
Medley: Means a compilation of one minute or more in duration in which artists or musicians combine excerpts from several musical selections within a single performance.
Spoken word content: Content category 1 (subcategories 11 and 12) (CRTC 2022-333)