After Passing the Untenable Bill C-18, the CRTC Halts Its Work On Restricting Radio

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The federal broadcast regulator won’t deal with any new radio applications or complaints for the next two years — a move that took radio broadcasters by surprise.

Many radio stations “are facing really urgent challenges,” said Kevin Desjardins, president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.

“At this point, they’ve basically been told that no, you can’t raise any issues until we’re done with this process of implementing the Online Streaming Act…. It creates some concern for the members.”  Barry Rooke, executive director of the National Campus and Community Radio Association, said several of the association’s members “are already well into the process where this is going to cost them a lot of money.” There are about a half dozen new stations aiming to apply with the CRTC who will now find it “very difficult to be sustainable,” he said. The CRTC, which receives hundreds of radio filings each year, said in a notice it “foresees significant delays in examining them during the modernization of its regulations” under the Online Streaming Act. It will still process applications involving changes of ownership. The regulator said it has decided to “defer” dealing with any new radio application or complaint “during the implementation of its regulatory plan for modernizing the Canadian broadcasting system, for a period of approximately two years.” The CRTC has been tasked with implementing the Online Streaming Act, which requires streamers like Netflix to contribute to the Canadian content system. As Bill C-11, it drew controversy over putting user-generated content under the CRTC’s regulatory authority, though the CRTC has now been instructed to exclude posts from digital creators and everyday Canadians.