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Re: [IRCA] Applications by CKBD-600 and CBU-690 both
Patrick Martin wrote:
What about dual citizenship? I know of Americans that have moved to
Canada that have both now as the US would not allow them to drop their
US citizenship. But again, I have never heard of a U.S. or Canadian
station moving across the border......
And with good reason - it's simply not done, as such. US-licensed
stations must operate on frequencies allocated to the US by
international treaty, and must be owned, at least 51%, by US citizens.
Canadian-licensed stations must operate on frequencies allocated to
Canada by international treaty. I believe (but cannot say for certain)
that they must be owned entirely by Canadian citizens.
The closest we've ever come to a station "moving" across the border
happened in Winnipeg in the seventies. There was an independent US-based
station, KCND-TV 12, operating from Pembina, ND with a tall tower right
on the border, aiming its signal at Winnipeg. Then the CRTC opened a
third TV allocation in Winnipeg, on channel 9. Izzy Asper, a Canadian
citizen, was granted that channel 9 allotment. In order to reduce the
amount of competition his new station would face in Winnipeg, Asper
bought the "non-license assets" of KCND-TV - the programming, the
equipment, even the tower. The KCND license was returned to the FCC. The
new Winnipeg channel 9 signal was given the calls CKND, took the same
cable dial position KCND had used, picked up KCND's old programming, and
so effectively, to Canadian viewers, KCND "moved" across the border.
But the channel 12 allotment remained in Pembina, and was eventually
reactivated, a decade or so later, as a relay of Fargo's Fox station.
So how does this apply to 1550 and 1600 in Ferndale and Blaine,
Washington? The frequencies themselves can't move across the border, nor
can the current ownership of the Washington stations hold a Canadian
license.
If a Canadian citizen were to apply for a new station on the vacated 600
frequency in Vancouver, the CRTC would open a call for competitive
applications. Here's what would happen next:
The CRTC considers several factors when it evaluates competing
applications. It looks at the economics of the market - can it support a
new station at all? It looks at the proposed format - would it duplicate
programming already available in the market? In border markets like
Vancouver, it looks at cross-border listenership, and it strongly favors
proposals that would "repatriate" listeners who currently tune in to
US-based signals.
So it's not impossible that a consortium of programmers who now operate
on 1550 and 1600 could apply for, and even be granted, a new license on
600. But it's also not a slam-dunk, and it wouldn't (and couldn't) stop
1550 and 1600 from continuing to do what they do, with new programmers.
And of course there are good reasons to want to program from across the
border - all sorts of content restrictions that apply to Canadian
licensees, including requirements for specific numbers of hours in
specific languages, logging of programs, religious content balance, and
so on - don't apply if you're operating from the US side.
s
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