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Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2025-141

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Reference: Part 1 application posted on 10 April 2025

Gatineau, 13 June 2025

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Sept-Îles and Port-Menier, Quebec

Public record: 2025-0008-2

CBSI-FM Sept-Îles – New transmitter in Port-Menier

  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 and to amend those licences.
  2. Consistent with this authority, the Commission approves the application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to amend the broadcasting licence for the French-language radio programming undertaking CBSI-FM Sept-Îles, Quebec, in order to operate a new FM rebroadcasting transmitter in Port-Menier, Quebec. The new transmitter (CBSI-FM-23) will replace the existing low-power AM transmitter (CBSI-23) and will rebroadcast the programming of CBC’s national French-language network ICI Radio-Canada Première (ICI Première). The transmitter will be installed on a new transmission site owned by Radio Anticosti.
  3. The new transmitter will operate on the frequency 99.9 MHz (channel 260A) with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 270 watts (non-directional antenna with an effective height of antenna above average terrain [EHAAT] of -4.3 metres). The CBC also provided amended coordinates for the new transmitter.
  4. The Commission did not receive any interventions with regard to this application.
  5. When a licensee of a radio station files an application for technical amendments, the Commission requires the licensee to present compelling technical or economic evidence justifying the requested amendments. In this case, the CBC indicated that the proposed changes will allow it to offer an FM service that will improve the signal quality of ICI Première in Port-Menier and its vicinity. Further, the CBC indicated that the municipality of Port-Menier wishes to recover the land on which the current AM broadcasting facilities are located. The Commission is satisfied that the licensee has demonstrated a technical need for the requested technical amendments.
  6. 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.
  7. The transmitter must be in operation by no later than 13 June 2027. 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.
  8. 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 authorized contours of the new transmitter CBSI-FM-23 resulting from 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 CBSI-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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