TORONTO — The Canadian Association of Broadcasters has been clamoring for it. The nation’s ownership groups have lamented how their collective business has been hurt by it. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission rules regarding AM/FM “radio processes” — including mandatory Canadian content rules as it pertains to recorded music — have been under fire from fiscally challenged publicly traded companies that have been selling properties or, in some cases, shutting down stations altogether.
It now appears the CRTC is ready to consider a “modernization of radio processes.”
Indeed, a “deadline for submission of interventions” has been set for January 20, 2025, with reply comments due on February 4, 2025, in a Broadcasting Notice of Consultation designed to give Canada’s broadcasting regulatory body a clear indication of what to do with respect to its rules governing Radio.
“Radio is in a period of transition,” the CRTC acknowledges. Yet, it adds, “Despite the challenges faced by a part of the industry, radio remains very important for entertaining, informing, discovering new artists and ensuring that local voices are heard, offering a proximity that as of yet has no real alternative.”
Sirius XM’s Canadian subscriber rolls comprise perhaps 6% of all audio content consumption nationwide.
“Overall, traditional broadcast services continue to represent a major part of Canadians’ listening habits,” the CRTC says. “However, the revenues and profitability of the radio sector are steadily declining.”
That could be an understatement, with Bell Media and Corus Entertainment taking the brunt of press coverage focused on financial strain, radio segment challenges and a lack of regulatory policy on “Big Tech” and foreign companies that have siphoned Loonies and Twonies away from traditional media. Even North American media titan Rogers has been a seller of broadcast radio stations, with three Ontario FMs going to locally owned My Broadcasting in a newly crafted deal. Two of those FM stations have signals covering much of London, Ont., while the third serves an area immediately southwest of Ottawa-Gatineau, the national capital region of Canada.
The CRTC continues, “Given the emergence of online undertakings in the Canadian broadcasting landscape and the Commission’s new power to regulate these undertakings, the Commission is of the view that the regulatory processes need to be reviewed to reduce the regulatory burden on radio undertakings operating in Canada. By streamlining its processes and requirements, the Commission wishes to ensure that radio remains culturally dynamic and competitive, while ensuring that programming continues to serve the public interest and responds to market specificities.”
The timing of the Notice of Consultation could attract attention from those in Washington, as the pending Carr Commission at the FCC may be chomping at the bit to incorporate this very language in its own Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
The CRTC’s notice of consultation “also aims at soliciting comments on the ways the Commission could provide existing and prospective broadcasters with more flexibility, while continuing to support Canadian and Indigenous creators and meet the objectives of the Broadcasting Act.”
This signals that stations including CFPT “106.5 ELMNT” in Toronto have Ottawa’s support — even as the FM is among the lowest-rated operations in the market, Numeris data have shown since the station’s launch six years ago. In May, station operators noted that advertising revenue since the pandemic has led to extremely painful staff cuts.
With the Notice of Consultation also designed to attract comments on how the CRTC could promote “the sustainability of broadcasters, particularly in underserved markets,” the Canadian equivalent of the FCC spells out objectives to the proceeding — directed primarily at radio station operators. Don’t expect a “CanCon” review.
“This proceeding will not address issues related to the contributions of traditional broadcasters, including regulatory requirements for programming,” the CRTC says. “These issues, along with the issue of online audio undertakings and their implications, such as the discoverability of Canadian audio content and news, will be considered later in a separate audio content proceeding scheduled for 2025.”
“More specifically, this proceeding will allow the CRTC to determine the best ways” to do the following:
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- reduce the barriers to entry for new radio operators, potentially through broadened exemption orders
- reduce reporting requirements, if applicable, while ensuring support for Canadian and Indigenous creators
- review the current compliance measures and introduce new measures, including new incentive measures
- streamline processes to harmonize them with requirements, where possible
- promote the sustainability of broadcasters, especially in underserved markets
- identify barriers faced by equity-deserving groups obtaining broadcasting licenses, and ways these barriers could be removed
To this end, the CRTC solicits comments on the following issues:
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- license terms
- potential exemption orders
- streamlining certain licensing processes
- current non-compliance measures and the possibility of implementing new compliance measures, including incentives
- the license renewal process
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The comments would largely be based on CRTC conclusions, on a preliminary basis, of the following options (with some proposals being mutually exclusive):
- indeterminate license terms for all stations, regardless of the type of license
- indeterminate license terms for all AM radio stations
- 20-year license terms for community and campus radio stations
- 15-year license terms for commercial radio stations with annual revenues of less than $2 million
- 10-year license terms for commercial radio stations with annual revenues of more than $2 million
A flurry of potential exemption orders are also being considered by the CRTC. Lastly, there is an AM Radio consideration.
“In recent years, many AM stations have gone off-air,” the CRTC says. “These stations, like many FM stations, have generally experienced lower audiences and revenues in recent years. In addition, their operating costs are higher than for FM stations. For these reasons, the Commission is seeking comments on the possibility of providing AM stations with additional flexibility.”
— With reporting from RBR+TVBR in Vaughn, Ont.
