CRTC turns down Multivan request for looser language requirements
The CRTC has denied a request for a licence amendment by Multivan’s multilingual Vancouver over-the-air ethnic station Channel M that would have restricted the number of hours it can broadcast in any one third-language (Broadcasting Decision 2005-485). Its current conditions of licence require the channel to broadcast more than 20 hours per week (between 6 a.m. and midnight) in South Asian languages, and more than 20 hours during the same time period in Chinese-language programs. Multivan wanted to replace these two conditions with one stipulating that it would not devote more than 15% of the total number of hours programming broadcast during each month to shows in any one third-language. Multivan told the CRTC that no other multilingual station, other than Rogers’ OMNI.2 Toronto, has restrictions on the airing of programs in a particular language. The CRTC noted that it imposed conditions of licence that "reflect the particular circumstances of the market it would serve," observing that the South Asian and Chinese communities in Vancouver are the largest ethnic groups in that city.