Speech
Opening remarks
by Charles Dalfen
Chairman, Canadian Radio-television
and Telecommunications Commission
at the public hearing in Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia
February 28th, 2005
(CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY)
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this public hearing.
My name is Charles Dalfen and I am the Chairman of the CRTC. I will be
presiding over this hearing. Joining me on the panel are my colleagues: Andrée
Wylie, Vice-Chair Broadcasting; Ronald Williams, Regional Commissioner for
Alberta and the Northwest Territories; and Commissioners Joan Pennefather and
Stuart Langford.
The Commission team assisting us includes Hearing Manager and Senior
Broadcasting Analyst Joe Aguiar; Alastair Stewart, Legal Counsel; and Pierre
LeBel, Hearing Secretary. Please speak with Mr. LeBel if you have any questions
with regard to hearing procedures.
The first part of the hearing will involve an examination of eight
applications for licences to operate ethnic radio services in Vancouver. We will
then move on to an application from Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. to acquire the
assets of two licenced television stations, one not yet in operation, and to add
a transmitter in Victoria. And finally, we will examine three applications for
licences to operate new radio stations in Kamloops.
Criteria for evaluating radio applications
The panel will review the applications for new radio stations in Vancouver and
Kamloops with a view to ensuring that they meet the cultural, economic and social
objectives set out in the Broadcasting Act, as well as various CRTC
policies such as the Commercial Radio Policy and the policy on ethnic
broadcasting.
Our criteria for evaluating the applications will include competition and the
diversity of editorial voices in the markets involved and, of course, the quality
of the applications.
We will also be looking at the ability of the Vancouver and Kamloops markets
to support new radio stations, the financial resources of each applicant, and
proposed initiatives for Canadian talent development.
Applications for ethnic radio stations for Vancouver
On July 21, 2004, the Commission issued a call for applications for licences
to operate ethnic radio stations in Vancouver. Applicants were required to
indicate how their proposed programming would reflect Vancouver’s linguistic
diversity as well as its multicultural and multi-ethnic reality. The Commission
notes that Vancouver is one of the most diverse markets in Canada, with 40
percent of its population composed of people whose mother tongue is neither
English nor French.
This proceeding falls within the framework of measures being undertaken by the
Commission to increase the choice and diversity of services aimed at ethnic
communities in Canada, consistent with paragraph 3(1)(d)(iii) of the
Broadcasting Act. That paragraph declares that the Canadian broadcasting
system should "…serve the needs and interests, and reflect the circumstances and
aspirations, of Canadian men, women and children, including … the multicultural
and multiracial nature of Canadian society …"
The applicants will be heard in the following order:
- Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. and Radio 1540 Ltd.
- Sukhvinder Singh Badh
- South Asian Broadcasting Corporation Inc.
- Radio India (2004) Ltd.
- Chum Ltd.
- I.T. Productions Ltd.
- Mainstream Broadcasting Corporation, and
- Newlife Communications Inc.
Applications by Rogers Broadcasting Ltd.
We will then review the applications by Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. to acquire
from Trinity Television Inc. the assets of English-language religious television
stations CHNU-TV Fraser Valley and CIIT-TV Winnipeg, which is not yet in
operation. The applicant is also proposing to add a transmitter at Victoria in
order to broadcast the programming of CHNU-TV Fraser Valley.
The applicant has valued the transaction at $13 million, and is proposing
tangible benefits totalling 10 percent of the value of the transaction, or $1.3
million.
Radio applications for Kamloops
Finally, we will study the applications for licences to operate new
English-language FM commercial radio stations in Kamloops, in light of the
criteria which I have previously stated. This process is pursuant to the call for
broadcasting applications issued by the Commission last July. We will hear the
applications in the following order:
Standard Radio Inc.
Evanov Radio Group Inc., and
NL Broadcasting Ltd.
Procedure
The hearing should take one week. Our days will begin at 9:00 a.m. and will
conclude around 6:00 p.m., except for Tuesday and Wednesday, when we expect to
finish later. We will inform you of any changes in the schedule that may occur.
We ask you to please turn off your cell phones and pagers when you are in the
hearing room as they are an unwelcome distraction for participants and
Commissioners. We would appreciate your cooperation in this regard throughout the
hearing.
I will now ask the Secretary, Mr. Pierre LeBel, to explain the procedures that
we will be following. Mr. LeBel …
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This document is available in alternative format upon request.
Date Modified: 2005-02-28 |
