Connie Thiessen

Whiteoaks Communications Group President Matt Caine Third generation broadcaster Matt Caine is among the independent radio group owners grappling with where the industry is headed. Caine is the president of Whiteoaks Communications, which recently moved two of the company’s heritage AM stations to HD Radio to expand the reach of another heritage AM – CKTB St. Catharines – one of four stations it acquired in the Bell Media divestiture.

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) and media advocacy group Friends of Canadian Media are among the groups expressing concern over a lack of clarity from Ottawa on what obligations foreign streamers might face going forward. A Federal Court of Appeal filing earlier this month confirms the Liberal government plans to completely eliminate the CRTC’s online streaming contribution framework for U.S. streamers, replacing the levy with $600 million in previously-announced taxpayer funding.

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) says the CRTC has chosen to “preserve the status quo” despite the policy failure of a move to allow broadcasters to introduce spoken word programming on the FM dial for a one-year trial period. The commission notified the CAB via a letter last week that it will not consider its request to eliminate the one-year trial period for spoken word programming on FM and for AM-to-FM simulcasting.