Speech
Opening remarks
by David Colville
Vice-Chairman, Telecommunications
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
at the public hearing to take place in St. John's, Newfoundland
St. John's, Newfoundland
December 10th, 2002
(CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY)
Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this hearing. We will start by
examining two applications for new FM radio services for St. John's. After that,
we will hear from CJON-TV St. John's concerning the renewal and amendment of the
licence for that station and its transmitters.
I am David Colville, Vice-President of Telecommunications for the CRTC and
Regional Commissioner for the Atlantic Region.
I will be chairing this hearing, and am joined on the panel by my colleagues,
Andrée Noël, Regional Commissioner for Quebec, and National Commissioner Stuart
Langford.
Commission staff assisting us at this hearing will be:
- Steve Parker, Hearing Manager
- Peter McCallum, Legal Counsel
- Mike Amodeo, Chief Advisor for Radio and Television
- Steven Harroun, Senior Analyst
- Pierrette Ladouceur, responsible of the Public Examination Room
- Donna Shewfelt, Manager of our Dartmouth, Nova Scotia regional office, and
- Pierre LeBel, Hearing Secretary. Pierre will be pleased to answer any
questions you might have about this hearing.
We are very happy to be here in St. John's, particularly because as much as
possible, the Commission tries to hold public hearings in the regions that are
directly concerned with the applications it is studying.
Competing FM applications
The Commission issued a call for FM applications for this market on December
21st, 2001, following the receipt of an application to carry on a
radio programming undertaking in St. John's. In response, a second application
was submitted to the Commission which will also be reviewed at this hearing.
We will first hear from Andrew Newman and Andrew Bell, who are proposing to
operate an English-language FM commercial radio station in St. John's. The
station would use the 101.1 MHz frequency, and would offer an adult contemporary
music format.
The second application we will examine was submitted by the Newfoundland
Broadcasting Company Ltd., which also wishes to operate an English-language FM
commercial radio station in St. John's. The applicant is proposing an
easy-listening adult contemporary music format, with a focus on contemporary
music from Newfoundland. The station would operate on the 95.7 MHz frequency.
Criteria for evaluating FM radio applications
The Commission will use several criteria for evaluating the two FM radio
proposals, notably how the service will contribute to the objectives of the
Broadcasting Act, particularly with respect to the production of local and
regional programming. Applicants should demonstrate that there is a demand and a
market for their proposal. Other issues that we will study include the following:
- The competitive state of the market
- The quality of the applications
- The diversity of editorial voices in the market
- The potential impact of one or more new entrants
- Proposed initiatives for promoting the development of Canadian talent,
particularly local and regional talent
- Market analysis and potential advertising revenue, and
- The availability of the necessary financial resources to carry out the
project
Renewal of CJON-TV
The hearing will continue with a presentation by Newfoundland Broadcasting
Company Ltd.. Newfoundland Broadcasting wishes to renew the licence of CJON-TV
and its transmitters, which expires on February 28, 2003.
Newfoundland Broadcasting is also requesting the deletion of the following
condition of its licence, which reads as follows:
The licensee shall operate this broadcasting undertaking as part of the
network operated by CTV Television Inc.
Finally, the Commission will discuss methods of calculating Canadian content
for the upcoming term of its licence, with the licensee.
Process
As this hearing should take about a day and a half, we expect to continue
tomorrow morning. We will break for lunch between 12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., and
will also take a break in the morning and afternoon. We will inform you of any
changes in the schedule as they arise.
I ask you to please turn off your cell phones and beepers when you are in the
hearing room, as they are an unwelcome distraction for the participants and the
Commissioners.
Before we start, I will invite the Secretary, Mr. Pierre LeBel, to explain the
procedures we will be following. Mr. LeBel .
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Contact: Denis Carmel,
Tel.: (819)
997-9403, TDD: (819) 994-0423, Fax: (819) 997-4245
e-Mail:
denis.carmel@crtc.gc.ca
Toll-free #
1-877-249-CRTC (2782)
TDD -
Toll-free # 1-877-909-2782
This document is available in alternative format upon request.
Date Modified: 2002-12-10 |
