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Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2024-5

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Reference: Part 1 application posted on 27 October 2023

Ottawa, 10 January 2024

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Québec and Fermont, Quebec

Public record: 2023-0487-2

CBVE-FM Québec and its transmitter CBMR-FM Fermont – Technical changes

  1. The Commission has the authority, pursuant to subsection 9(1) of the Broadcasting Act (the Act), to issue licences for the carrying on of broadcasting undertakings as well as to amend those licences.
  2. Consistent with this authority, the Commission approves the application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to change the authorized contours of CBMR-FM Fermont, Quebec, a rebroadcasting transmitter of the radio programming undertaking CBVE-FM Québec, which broadcasts the programming of the national, English-language network service Radio One. Specifically, the licensee proposed to increase the average effective radiated power (ERP) from 16 to 78 watts (maximum ERP from 16 to 249 watts), increase the effective height of the antenna above average terrain (EHAAT) from 69.0 to 88.7 metres, replace the existing non-directional antenna with a new directional antenna and amend the existing coordinates of the transmitter site. All other technical parameters will remain unchanged.
  3. The Commission did not receive any interventions in regard to this application.
  4. When a licensee of a radio station files an application for technical changes, the Commission generally requires the licensee to present compelling technical or economic evidence justifying the requested technical changes. The CBC stated that the requested changes will permit it to optimize its broadcasting infrastructure by combining its ICI Radio-Canada Première and Radio One services on the same antenna while also maintaining excellent Radio One coverage in Fermont and its vicinity. The Commission is satisfied that the licensee has demonstrated a technical need for the requested technical changes.
  5. Pursuant to subsection 22(1) of the Act, this authority will only be effective when the Department of Industry (also known as Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada) notifies the Commission that its technical requirements have been met and that a broadcasting certificate will be issued.
  6. The licensee must implement the technical changes by no later than 10 January 2026. To request an extension, the licensee must submit a written request to the Commission at least 60 days before that date, using the form available on the Commission’s website.
  7. As set out in section 16 of the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the Regulations), licensees have obligations relating to the broadcast of emergency alert messages received from the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System. In regard to the changes to the authorized contours of CBMR-FM resulting from the implementation of the technical changes approved in this decision, the Commission reminds the licensee that continued compliance with section 16 of the Regulations may require that any alert broadcast decoders (e.g., ENDEC) used for the purposes of broadcasting emergency alert messages on CBVE-FM, or on any rebroadcasting transmitters that may appear on the broadcasting licence for that station, be reprogrammed to properly account for the new authorized contours.

Secretary General

This decision is to be appended to the licence.

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