Gazette Notice - SMBR-003-08

Department of Industry
Radiocommunication Act

Notice No. SMBR-003-08 - Changes to the Domestic Protection Criteria for FM Broadcast Stations

Industry Canada is hereby giving advance notice that the domestic protection criteria for FM stations as set forth in Broadcast Procedures and Rules, Part 3: Application Procedures and Rules for FM Broadcasting Undertakings (BPR-3), will be amended to promote a more efficient use of increasingly scarce FM broadcast spectrum.

The amended protection criteria will come into effect on January 1, 2011 and will address the following:

• existing stations will be protected to their 54 dBµV/m service contour as per the official coverage map or based on the interference criteria set forth in BPR-3, Section C-1.1.17, whichever provides the greater protection. When the service contour of the existing station is calculated using the propagation method as outlined in Section C-3.2.1(c) of BPR-3, it will be protected and interference from the incoming station will be calculated using the F(50,10) propagation curves.
• in cases where the 54 dBuV/m contour of the existing station extends beyond the distances given in Section C-1.2.2 of BPR-3, protection will only be based on the applicable distances for the station class.
• existing stations will retain the right to increase parameters to the maximum permitted for their class (unless limitations were applied when the technical certificate was issued) and the incoming station will be required to accept any additional interference that may occur under these circumstances as outlined in BPR-3, Section C-1.5. Until the abovementioned deadline, broadcasters are encouraged to increase the parameters of their stations to the maximum permitted. Applications filed prior to the deadline will be treated under the current criteria and this will be valid until the CRTC has rendered its decision on the application.
• most limitations on existing stations are currently predicated on protecting the other existing stations to the maximum parameters of their class. After the above deadline, the Department will entertain requests for limitation changes based on the new criteria on a case-by-case basis.  
• international protection of Canadian stations from U.S. stations will continue to be based on the 1997 revisions to the FM Working Agreement Between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States of America Relating to the FM Broadcasting Service. It must be clearly understood that the proposed changes apply to domestic protection between Canadian stations only.

Obtaining Copies

Copies of this notice and documents referred to herein are available electronically on the departmental website at http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/h_sf01841.html.

Official printed copies of Canada Gazette notices can be viewed on the Canada Gazette website at www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/index-eng.html. Printed copies of notices can be ordered by telephoning the sales counter of Canadian Government Publishing at 613-941-5995 or 1-800-635-7943.

July 26, 2008

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Marc Dupuis
Acting Director General
Spectrum Engineering Branch