Canadian regulators have given non-profit group U Multicultural Inc. permission to build new FM and TV stations in Winnipeg.
The FM station will transmit on 88.7 with 800 Watts with an antenna at 142 meters above average terrain, while the TV station will transmit on channel 14 with 2.4kW at 136 meters.
U Multicultural already operates an online radio station called U Radio and online video services.
The FM radio station will carry 126 hours of local programming per week with a focus on ethnic programming to serve newcomers, immigrants and refugees. Most of the programming will be in English and 20 minutes in French, but 40 hours per week will be broadcast in third languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Arabic, Urdu, and Bangla) and an hour will be devoted to Indigenous languages.
The radio station will air a wide variety of music, with the largest categories being folk (30%) and world beat/international (30%). It will also carry five-minute local newscasts every three hours between 9 a.m. and midnight.
UMI says the radio station will be primarily funded by government funding and fundraising, with limited local advertising. The CRTC concluded that the radio station would not have an undue economic impact on existing radio stations, which include Dufferin multicultural outlet CKJS-FM/92.7.
The TV station’s schedule will be at least 60% local, and no more than 20% non-Canadian. At least 68% of its monthly schedule will be ethnic programming. Like the radio station, most of the programming will be in English with some French and Indigenous programming and 39% third-language programming.
The TV station will be mostly financed by grants, with third-language advertising also providing a portion of the revenue.
As a condition of approval, the CRTC is requiring that UMI make changes to its bylaws to ensure that it complies with requirements for the governance of community radio and TV stations.