ARCHIVED -  Decision CRTC 94-929

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Decision

Ottawa, 19 December 1994
Decision CRTC 94-929
Angelo Cremisio (on behalf of a company to be incorporated)
Toronto, Ontario - 940563000

Acquisition of assets of CJCL Toronto - Denied

Following a Public Hearing in the National Capital Region beginning on 20 September 1994, the Commission denies the application by Angelo Cremisio (on behalf of a company to be incorporated) for authority to acquire the assets of CJCL Toronto from Telemedia Communications Ontario Inc.
Mr. Cremisio had proposed to provide an ethnic radio service directed primarily to the Chinese community of Toronto, and to ten other cultural groups the applicant iden-
tified as underserved.
In assessing this application, the Commission has taken into account the 58 supporting interventions received from the public. However, the Commission has also considered the arguments set out in the opposing interventions submitted by the licensees of several ethnic radio stations in the Toronto area, namely CJMR 1320 Radio Ltd./CHWO Radio Limited, licensees of CJMR Mississauga and CHWO Oakville, Radio 1540 Limited, licensee of CHIN and CHIN-FM Toronto, and CIRV Radio FM, licensee of CIRV-FM Toronto. An opposing intervention was also submitted by the Canadian Chinese Broadcasting Corp., which currently makes use of the Subsidiary Communications Multiplex Operations (SCMO) facilities of CKFM-FM Toronto, to provide an ethnic programming service to the Chinese community of Toronto.
The Commission's ethnic broadcasting policy requires each ethnic broadcaster to provide a broadly-based service to the ethnic groups within its station's coverage area, with a particular view to meeting the needs of underserved smaller ethnic communities.
In this regard, the interveners raised as a concern the fact that the applicant proposed to serve only eleven cultural groups in a total of twelve languages. The interveners felt that the number of ethnic groups to be served was inadequate.
The interveners also expressed the view that licensing another ethnic radio undertaking in Toronto would seriously impair the viability of existing services, all of whom offer programming directed to many of the cultural groups the applicant proposed to serve.
Regarding the number of cultural groups to be served, the applicant did not suggest that any increase in the number of cultural groups could be effected. With respect to the concerns about the potential negative effect of a new ethnic service, the applicant stated that the ethnic market is currently underserved, and that the content and scheduling of the proposed service would complement existing services.
The Commission has carefully considered the views of the applicant and of all of the interveners. It notes in particular the applicant's statement that the time it had to prepare this application was extremely limited. The Commission however, is not convinced that approval of the application, as presented, would be in the public interest. The Commission finds that the applicant has not demonstrated that adequate untapped advertising revenues or sufficient audience for the proposed ethnic service exists in the Toronto region at this time. The Commission therefore remains of the view that the licensing of a sixth ethnic radio station in the Toronto region could cause a negative impact on existing broadcasting services. In the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary, the Commission has denied the application.
Allan J. Darling
Secretary General
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