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Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2025-173

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Reference: Part 1 application posted on 8 January 2025

Gatineau, 4 July 2025

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Matane and Rivière-au-Renard, Quebec

Public record: 2024-0488-8

CBGA-FM Matane and its transmitter CBGA-3-FM Rivière-au-Renard – Technical amendments

  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 technical parameters of CBGA-3-FM Rivière-au Renard, Quebec, a rebroadcasting transmitter of the French-language radio programming undertaking CBGA-FM Matane, Quebec, which broadcasts the programming of its national, French-language network service ICI Première. Specifically, the CBC proposed to change the class of the transmitter from A1 to A, to increase the effective radiated power (ERP) from 40 to 226 watts, to decrease the effective height of the antenna above average terrain (EHAAT) from 234.5 to 232.2 metres, and to amend the coordinates of the transmitter. All other technical parameters will remain unchanged.
  3. The Commission received an intervention co-signed by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and HonestReporting Canada, raising concerns over the programming broadcast by the CBC, which lie outside the scope of the present application for technical amendments. In its reply, the CBC specified that such issues can be addressed by the CBC’s Office of the Ombudsman, which is responsible for examining complaints relating to journalistic content.
  4. 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 these amendments. In this case, the CBC indicated that the requested technical amendments are necessary given that CBGA-3-FM’s antenna is timeworn and the population served is at risk of losing the signal. The new FM transmitter would allow the CBC to provide a better-quality signal and greater geographic coverage in Rivière-au-Renard and surrounding areas, without allowing the station to enter into a new market. In light of the above, the Commission is satisfied that the licensee has demonstrated a technical need for the requested technical amendments.
  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 amendments by no later than 4 July 2027. To request an extension, the licensee must submit a written request to the Commission at least 60 days before that date, using Form 300 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. The implementation of the technical amendments approved in this decision could result in changes to CBGA-3-FM’s authorized contours. 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 CBGA-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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