News release

July 16, 2002

CRTC AWARDS A RADIO LICENCE TO COGECO, RENEWS CHOI-FM'S LICENCE FOR TWO YEARS AND DENIES AMENDMENTS TO CKNU-FM'S LICENCE

OTTAWA-GATINEAU - The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is releasing three decisions today pertaining to the Greater Québec City area.

The first decision awards Cogeco Radio-Television Inc. a licence to operate a new FM radio station in Québec City.

The second decision renews the licence of CHOI-FM Québec for a two-year period, attaches a number of conditions to the renewal, and will monitor the licensee's respect for the conditions and its conduct during this period.

Finally, the third decision reiterates that the licence granted to CKNU is intended to serve the residents of the Portneuf region. In light of the circumstances with respect to this application, the Commission denies Genex Communications Inc. the permission to move its main antenna in order to access the Greater Québec City area market.

New COGECO station

The Commission received four applications that each proposed a new radio station at 91.9 MHz, which was the last available frequency in Québec City.

After an in-depth comparative analysis, the Commission concluded that Cogeco's proposal represented the best alternative and it best responded to the expectations of residents and the objectives of the Canadian broadcasting policy as set out in the Broadcasting Act.

The residents of Québec City will therefore have access to a new radio service by tuning into 91.9 MHz.

Highlights

The new station will offer:

• Contemporary adult music, composed mainly of hits from the 70s and onward.
• Local programming totalling 77.5 hours per week, of which 2.5 hours will be local news.
• Programming aimed in particular at women aged 25 to 54, whose market is less well served by existing radio services.
• 45 per cent Canadian content, which greatly surpasses the CRTC's regulatory requirement of 35 per cent.
• Investments of more than one million dollars over seven years for the development of French-language Canadian artists.

Renewal of CHOI-FM

Background

On February 18, 2002, Genex Communications appeared before the CRTC to renew the licence of CHOI-FM and to discuss its apparent failure to comply with the Broadcasting Act, the Radio Regulations, and the conditions of its licence, as well as the quality of the spoken-word programming broadcast by the station.

Over the course of four analyses of the programming broadcast by CHOI-FM, the Commission found that the regulations had not been respected with respect to the amount of vocal French-language music played and the provision of logger tapes.

In addition, CHOI-FM has been the subject of numerous complaints from the public over the term of its licence with respect to the broadcasting of spoken-word content.

Corrective measures

The Commission has decided to limit the term of the licence renewal to two years instead of the usual seven. It has also decided to impose as conditions of licence certain corrective measures, to use the means at its disposal to closely monitor CHOI-FM programming and to ensure that the breaches of conduct are not repeated.

During this period, the CRTC intends to closely monitor the licensee's performance. If it believes that Genex is once again breaching the Radio Regulations or one of its conditions of licence, it could, as provided for under the Act, use all of the enforcement measures at its disposal, including issuing orders and suspending or revoking the licence.

Genex's application to amend the licence of CKNU-FM

In addition to its application with respect to CHOI-FM in Québec City, Genex also sought the Commission's permission for a technical alteration to allow its station in Donnacona/Portneuf, CKNU-FM, to access the Québec City market.

The Commission has denied this request. Despite the argument put forward by Genex with respect to the station's financial difficulties, the Commission examined its financial results and is not convinced that the owners have successfully explored all the possibilities for its development.

It has also concluded that if Genex decreased local programming for listeners in Portneuf in order to meet the expectations of the residents of the Greater Québec City area, it would risk weakening the only local radio service available to Portneuf.

CKNU-FM and Cogeco were competitive to the extent that they were addressing the same demographic in the Québec City market. In licensing Cogeco, the Commission has concluded that it would better address that demographic.

Furthermore, when the Commission studies the merits of an application, it cannot disregard the previous conduct of a broadcaster.

In light of its conclusions, the Commission does not believe that at this time, the approval of CKNU-FM's application would serve the interests of the community, or the objectives of the broadcasting policy set out in the Broadcasting Act.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is an independent public authority that regulates and supervises broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada.

Reference documents: Broadcasting Decisions CRTC 2002-189, 2002-190, 2002-191

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Media Inquiries:
   Denis Carmel, Tel: (819) 997-9403, eMail: denis.carmel@crtc.gc.ca

General Inquiries:
   Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2
   Tel: (819) 997-0313, TDD: (819) 994-0423, Fax: (819) 994-0218
   Toll-free # 1-877-249-CRTC (2782), eMail: info@crtc.gc.ca
   TDD - Toll-free # 1-877-909-2782

Copies of today's documents are available through our Internet site (http://www.crtc.gc.ca) or by contacting the public examination room of any CRTC office. These documents are available in alternative format upon request.

Date Modified: 2002-07-16

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