The CRTC has decided to hold off licensing any more radio stations in Toronto after receiving assurances from Industry Canada that it will issue a report soon on how to deal with frequency congestion in the country’s largest market. A May 9 letter from Industry’s deputy minister Peter Harder to CRTC chair David Colville saying "we expect to announce the details of our findings in the near future" prompted the commission to release PN 2001-39-1 on May 15, which shelved its earlier call for applications for radio licences in the Greater Toronto Area (CCR, March 29/00).

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Most Decima Publishing subscribers (55%) responding to an informal online poll this month indicated that they favored an amalgamation of Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) into a single production fund for film, television and multimedia. In contrast, 16% responded no to a merger, while 29% remained undecided. Canadian Heritage renewed the CTF for a transitional year when it expired in March. It has not decided what to do with the CTF, despite soliciting industry comments on the future of the fund before the election last November (CCR, Oct. 13/00).

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Senior political forces within the federal government have decided to rely on MPs, rather than Senators or political appointees, to head a broad review that could lead to changes in how broadcasting is regulated in Canada. The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage unveiled plans May 10 for an 18-month study to assess whether the 1991 Broadcasting Act remains relevant in an era of increased media concentration and globalization.

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The CRTC has ordered Rogers Broadcasting Ltd to file bi-monthly reports to ensure that two of its radio stations aren’t cream-skimming listeners and advertising revenue from larger markets outside their licensed territories. The decision (2001-257) stems from two complaints filed by rival Standard Radio Inc, which accused Rogers of using its smaller town stations in Chilliwack, BC and Smiths Falls, ON to reach larger markets in Vancouver and Ottawa.

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Canadian cable operators and other facilities-based carriers could become owned, depending on how the federal government responds to a soon-to-be-released recommendation by the National Broadband Task Force.

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