Re: [IRCA] Move of CHNS-960 Halifax NS to FM (89.9, 100kW) approved by CRTC

[Scott Fybush <scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Craig Healy wrote:
>> The move of CHNS-960 Halifax NS, to FM (89.9 MHZ, 100 KW)
>> has been approved by the CRTC:

> I wonder if it would be possible for the US station to
> "lease" this coverage from the Canadian station?  This lease could be a
> standard business arrangement that could be terminated by either party on
> appropriate notice.  The Canadian station would notify the CTRC of this.
> The US station would apply to the FCC for an STA to relax coverage toward
> the now-dark Canadian station.  If the lease were terminated, the STA would
> become null and void, and the US station would return to it's previous power
> and antenna configuration.  The Canadian station could make some money, and
> the US station could gain some coverage.  Win-win, from what I can see.

I'm thinking no, and here's why:

The Canadian licensing scheme is significantly weirder than ours (which 
is saying something!)

There are actually two agencies involved: the CRTC, which determines 
who's qualified to be a licensee and handles all programming-related 
matters, and Industry Canada, which is responsible for the spectrum. It 
is actually possible in Canada (indeed, it happened just last week) for 
the CRTC to license a station without granting it a frequency. (In last 
week's case, the CRTC granted a new FM signal in Toronto but rejected 
its proposed use of 98.7, sending the licensee back to Industry Canada 
to find another workable frequency, if there is one.)

Here's the fly in the "Healy Plan": When a station like CHNS moves to 
FM, what's really happening is that the CRTC is issuing a new license 
for what's considered a new FM station. At the end of the (usually) 
three-month transitional period, one of the conditions of the new FM 
license is that the AM license be returned to the CRTC for revocation. 
So the former AM licensee has no AM coverage to "lease" to a US station.

Once the old AM license is gone, Industry Canada continues to notify its 
former facilities to the FCC and other international regulators, and 
even though that notification (at least in the FCC's database) carries 
the former station's callsign, the old licensee has nothing at all to do 
with it.

Now, if Industry Canada wanted to work out some sort of arrangement, 
that might be feasible...

s
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