Cogeco calls on CRTC to issue ruling on Montreal radio station in Federal Court of Appeal filing

Cogeco Inc. has filed a mandamus application with the Federal Court of Appeal asking the CRTC to hasten its ruling about effective control of a Montreal radio station. A mandamus application is a call for a court to force a lower judicial body to implement or to block a certain action. The case arises from Leclerc Communication Inc. of Montreal broadcasting content from QUB Radio, a division of Quebecor Inc., on radio station CJPX-FM, known popularly as 99.5 FM. In an announcement about the content distribution agreement between the two in 2024, Quebecor said QUB would go live Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on 99.5 FM. The station has been using the QUB material for more than a year now, Cogeco states. “We're alleging that there’s two rules of the CRTC that are being violated by the fact that Quebecor now de facto controls 99.5 FM which is the Leclerc radio station in Montreal,” Cogeco vice president of regulatory and corporate affairs Paul Beaudry tells The Wire Report. “So we’ve alleged that Quebecor and Leclerc have violated the radio regulation by effectively not getting the CRTC approval for effecting a change in control of 99.5 FM.” The second issue involves the commission’s cross-ownership policy, which Cogeco alleges Quebecor is violating. If it is found that Quebecor is in effect controlling CJPX, it would mean the conglomerate runs a radio station, the TVA television station, and the newspaper Le Journal de Montréal. That is too much corporate concentration in one area under current CRTC rules, Cogeco alleges. Cogeco and BCE Inc. filed a part 1 application with the regulator over the matter on Nov. 20 of last year. All parties filed responses and the CRTC closed its proceedings in March. No decision has yet been issued. Beaudry took the matter up with the commission. “We recently wrote to them in August asking that they issue a decision as soon as possible and indicated that we would file a mandamus application to the Federal Court of Appeal, which is what we did last week,” he states. “But we gave them an opportunity to issue a decision and on Aug. 18 they replied to our letter indicating that a decision would be issued, and I quote ‘in the coming weeks’. It’s been a month and half and there’s been no decision.” The commission would not respond to the Cogeco filing when asked by The Wire Report. “As this matter is before the Federal Court of Appeal, it would be inappropriate for the CRTC to comment,” a spokeswoman wrote The Wire Report. Quebecor did not reply to a request for comment by deadline. In its response to the application before the CRTC, Quebecor maintained Leclerc continues to control the radio station. According to a translation of the company’s response, Quebecor accused Cogeco and Bell of being motivated more by their desire to maintain their strength in the market than a legitimate concern about the diversity of voices. ppark@thewirereport.ca

Cogeco calls on CRTC to issue ruling on Montreal radio station in Federal Court of Appeal filing

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By Paul Park
|October 8, 2025

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Cogeco calls on CRTC to issue ruling on Montreal radio station in Federal Court of Appeal filing

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