By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

THE Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) has come under fire for its plans to “standardise” FM radio broadcasting, with industry insiders accusing the regulator of making the sector “pay” for the organisation’s “mismanagement”.

Members of the radio broadcasting industry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said URCA’s proposal to impose standardised channel spacing between FM broadcast frequencies would create “hardship” in the industry.

This would force radio stations “to make a decision to either violate those regulations until they are forced to shut down or just shut down voluntarily, because it’s not economically viable for many of us as it is right now,” an insider told The Tribune.

Additionally, industry sources suggested that URCA’s “unilateral” proposal will “open a can of worms as far as litigation is concerned”, with some predicting numerous applications for injunctions to be made in an effort to prevent URCA from “forcing” them to change their frequencies.

The Tribune Media Group (TMG), the parent company of this newspaper and five FM radio stations - 100 Jamz, KISS FM, Joy FM, Y98.7 FM and Classical FM - is prepared to seek judicial review of URCA’s proposals.

URCA, in a consultation document entitled “Technical standards framework for FM radio broadcasting”, outlines its intent to reduce “undesirable interference” in FM radio broadcasting by standardising the channel spacing of frequencies in the frequency modulation band, which URCA admits would likely result in a “migration of certain FM radio broadcast stations from the existing frequency from which they now broadcast/transmit.”

This could have damaging effects on radio stations, industry insiders said, particularly those whose broadcasting frequency is fundamental to their respective branding and/or marketing endeavours, as is likely the case with well-known stations like 100 Jamz, More 94 FM and Love 97.

URCA has admitted in its document to assigning frequencies to some 37 FM radio broadcast stations between September 2009 and May 2013. There were only 10 FM stations in operation prior to URCA becoming the licensing authority and regulator for the FM radio broadcast market.

“(URCA was) handing out all these licences, but now we must pay to correct it,” one industry member told The Tribune. “It’s unfair. This is a problem that they created because they had the power to grant or deny any licence application. They should have done this before they issued any licences. Then you would come into the game knowing what it was that you’re faced with.

“What was their rush to get all these stations on the air without making sure that the framework was in place from the beginning to manage it? They mismanaged that process, and now it’s going to cost us.”

According to URCA, the FM band for the Bahamas lies between 88 MHz and 108 MHz, which it says is broadly consistent with the band utilised by other countries.

The Bahamas has non-standardised spacing in the FM band ranging from 400 KHz to 1400 KHz. As an illustration, the channel spacing that currently exists between 93.9 FM and 94.9 FM is 1000 KHz. The channel spacing between 94.9 FM and the next station, 96.1 (KISS FM), is 1200 KHz, according to URCA.

However, the regulator is proposing that there should be a standardised channel spacing of 600 KHz “for islands in the Bahamas that are greater than 17 miles wide,” and a channel spacing of 800 KHz for islands less than 17 miles wide.

URCA, in its document, seeks to validate the proposal by arguing that the channel spacing of the frequencies in the Bahamas’ FM band has developed “in what can be described as an ad hoc manner”.

URCA says this was due in large measure to the “absence of established technical standards” for FM radio broadcasting specific to the Bahamas at the time when it was given responsibility for the FM broadcasting industry, but was required to issue radio frequencies to FM radio broadcasters.

The regulator says the standards are necessary for New Providence-based stations because it would also “further the electronic communications policy objective to ensure optimal use of radio spectrum”.

TMG, which has submitted a written response to URCA, said the proposed standards and URCA’s “past actions in proliferating licences” fail to address the “proprietary rights of our broadcast frequencies and the millions that have been invested in the branding, goodwill and imaging of those frequencies”.

“Standardising future channel spacings may make sense,” TMG’s response said. “A retroactive reshuffling of stations to accommodate retroactive channel spacings does not make sense and fails to recognise a broadcaster’s established real property right in relation to its frequency.

“Stations develop millions of dollars on branding, goodwill and marketing instilled upon listeners the various benefits of going to a particular place on the dial. Listeners know where to go for music, news, severe weather reports and emergency communications. Moving existing (legacy) stations could cost lives in an emergency when seconds count.”

TMG suggested that the best way to deal with undesirable interference would be to deal with “insolvent” stations and “those that have been unable to pay broadcast fees, National Insurance payments and/or any other appropriate taxes, requirements and fees,” the likes of which it said should have been “removed from the airwaves years ago”.

“Many of the proposed changes contravene Bahamian broadcast law and the objectives set forth in the Communications Act and are detrimental to the interests of the Bahamian people,” TMG added. “Implementation of the proposed standards will drastically reduce station reach and the quality of signal for the consumer, and carve the Bahamian listening market into very small, economically unsustainable ‘mini’ signals.

“The result will be that many licensees will go out of business, the quality of services to the public will deteriorate and there will be little sustainable competition.”

An industry member told The Tribune that URCA’s proposed standards would likely force FM broadcast stations to take legal action to protect their investments.

“I’m not a lawyer but I can see applications for injunctions to prevent URCA from forcing me to change my frequency,” the industry member said. “As a regulator they have certain powers and we accept that. We know we need regulations and we need control in the industry, but how far should that go?”

URCA intends to issue a statement of results and final decision to the referenced consultation document within 30 days following the end of the consultation period “unless extenuating circumstances dictate otherwise”.

The final decision, URCA said, will be to notify FM radio broadcast licensees of and specify the regulatory and other measures, in the form of technical standards, required to be complied with “consequential to this consultation process”.

“Existing FM radio broadcast licensees will thereafter be expected to become fully compliant with the technical standards,” the regulator said in its document. “URCA proposes that all FM radio broadcast licensees in the Bahamas become compliant with the technical standards no later than 90 calendar days from the date of publication of the final decision.”