CRTC Hearing Letter Jim Ronback

8/9/2019 CRTC Hearing Letter Jim Ronback

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2014 September 6

To:

Secretary General and Commissioners

Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)

Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2

Re: CRTC Hearing in Gatineau, Quebec - Oct 15, 2014

Subject: Rogue radiobroadcasteroperating without a licence in Canada, plus

- Investment in and profiting from the use of foreign transmission facilities for Canadian market by a

rogue radio station operating without a licence in Canada.

- Use of US/Canada border to evade the population density codes of Industry Canada and FCC for

siting radio towers.

- Alleged discrepancies, misrepresentations, lack of candor, alien ownership and control, and abuse

of process by Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting Incorporated (Sher-E-Punjab) of Canada, in collusion

with BBC Broadcasting Incorporated (BBC Inc) of US, to broadcast via KRPI 1550 AM to larger market

in Metro Vancouver, Canada by relocating KRPI from Ferndale, WA to Point Roberts, WA.

- The fundamental purpose of deterrence in our lawfully society.

As a retired Canadian engineer living in Tsawwassen, BC, and a member of the Cross Border Coalition, I claim

that the unlicensed Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting Inc., who has been operating with impunity for many

years is violating, in particular, Sections 3(1) and 4(2) of the Canadian Broadcasting Act, namely:

3. (1) It is hereby declared as the broadcasting policy for Canada that

(a) the Canadian broadcasting system shall be effectively owned and controlled by Canadians;

(b) the Canadian broadcasting system makes use of radio frequencies that are public property ;

(t) distribution undertakings

(i) should give priority to the carriage of Canadian programming services and, in particular, to

the carriage of local Canadian stations,

4. (1) This Act is binding on Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province.

(2) This Act applies in respect of broadcasting undertakings carried on in whole or in part within Canada

This includes a situation where a Canadian or a U.S. citizen or corporation broadcasts on a US transmitter

from Canadian studio facilities.

Sher-e-Punjab collects domestic Canadian advertising dollars using US transmission, putting local legitimate

Canadian radio stations which follow the rules in undue competition, all in a blatant contempt of the

Canadian Broadcasting Act. Figure 1, attached, depicts this nefarious unlawful cross border relationship.


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CRTC must enforce the Act to protect Canadian interests and the community of Tsawwassen which will be

impacted by harmful blanketing interference as shown in Figure 2.

Sher-e-Punjab and the Badh family compact appear to be:

1.

an unlicensed radio broadcaster in Canada,

2.

co-owner of BBC Inc,

3.

co-owner of the BBC Incs broadcasting facility land in US,

4.

owner of the illegitimate Canadian radio station broadcasting from US to the Canadian market,

5.

beneficiary of the domestic Canadian advertising dollars.

These colluding relationships need to be investigated by CRTC and answered by Sher-E-Punjab at the

hearing.

It is wrong for Mr. Sukhvinder Badh to have been involved in this Sher-E-Punjab operation, and for many

years owning and collecting rent from the broadcasting facility land in Ferndale, WA and profiting from

unfair competition to the hardship of other legitimate Canadian stations, and yet, be awarded a CRTClicense. Not only it is offensive, it does not promote general deterrence.

To quote from Mr. Mark Robbins Informal Objection:

In a dissenting opinion (also contained in the above-referenced Decision, dated August 6, 2014), one

CRTC commissioner, Mr. Raj Shoan, agreed with the majoritys decision not to award the 600 kHz

frequency to Sher-E-Punjab (or any other applicant) but disagreed with the majoritys decision to award

an FM frequency to South Fraser Broadcasting, a corporation wholly-owned and controlled by

Sukhvinder Singh Badh. According to his own testimony before the CRTC, Sukhvinder Badh is the owner

of BBC Holdings Inc., a Washington state corporation, which owns the property and transmitters in

Ferndale used by BBC Broadcasting Inc. and its radio station KRPI-1550 AM to broadcast Sher-E-Punjab

programming to Canada. Sukhvinder Badhs brother, Gurdial Badh, is the Chief Operating Officerof Sher-

E-Punjab minority owner of BBC Broadcasting Inc; and he is the owner (along with his wife) of the Point

Roberts property where KRPI plans to relocate. Sukhvinder Badhs other brother, Jasbir Badh, is the

Operating Manager of Sher-E-Punjab. Sukhvinder Badh acknowledges that he was previously directly

involved in managing KRPI but claims that he no longer has any involvement.

I believe that Sher-E-Punjabs de facto control over KRPI has been well documented in the Point Roberts

Taxpayers Associations Petition to Deny and in Arthur Rebers Informal Objection. It is clear that the

CRTC has similar concerns, from a Canadian perspective, as indicated by the majority decisions

reference to their intent to examine such Canada-oriented broadcasting from outside of Canada; and

even more

explicitly in the dissenting commissioners concerns about the suitability of the owner of BBC Holdings

Inc. to hold a Canadian broadcast license.

I urge the [FCC] Commission to likewise take the time to thoroughly examine the convoluted

organizational structure surrounding KRPI, from BBC Broadcasting to BBC Holdings to Sher-E-Punjab, in


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order to determine with certainty who controls KRPI and for what purpose and whose benefit. I

maintain that BBC Broadcasting, which holds the KRPI broadcast license, is essentially a shell company

controlled by the Canadian owned company Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting, Inc.

Similarly I urge the CRTC Commission determine who actually owns the assets and who owns the debt

within the enterprises related to this Badh family compact who use hand-shake agreements to conduct theirbusiness.

There are serious tax implications for these rogue stations, from Canada and from the US.

a) In regard to section 19.1 of the Canada Income Tax Act do the unwitting buyers of air time realize

and/or have been informed by these rogue border blaster stations that their advertising expenses are not

tax deductible?

b) Who are these buyers so Canada Revenue Agency may audit these expenses?

c) In equity and in laws, does section 19.1 apply to both buyers and sellers of the illegitimate air time?There would be no demand when there is no illegitimate supply.

d) Every cent of these rogue border blaster stations illegitimate income is wholly dependent on the

American broadcast facility and its FCC license, and

e) There is also a question of source jurisdiction from the Internal Revenue Service of the United States.

The purpose of this letter is to also inform Industry Canada and CRTC to the existence of the formal Petition

to Deny renewal of the licence for KRPI that was to have expired on 2014 February 1. The petition was

prepared and submitted by the Washington, DC law firm, Venable, LLP, on behalf of the Point Roberts

Taxpayers Association to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and complemented by theInformal Objection submitted to the FCC by Dr. Arthur Reber on behalf of the Cross Border Coalition. There

is now a legal formal Petition pending against BBC Inc for misrepresentations, lack of candor, and abuse of

process. The purpose of the Petition to Deny and the Informal Objection is to deny the renewal of BBC Incs

FCC licence for KRPI 1550 AM in Ferndale, WA.

The issues described in the Petition to Deny and Informal Objection involve numerous discrepancies and

alleged misrepresentations, lack of candor and abuse of process by Sher-E-Punjab., of Canada and BBC Inc of

US. This is based on the analysis of information provided within four applications:-

(1)

Application to FCC by BBC Inc for a licence renewal. FCC File No: BR - 20130927AJAhttp://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1576309&Service=AM&Form_id=303&Facility_id=21416

(2)

FCC Construction Permit for a minor change requested by BBC Inc to relocate the broadcast towers

from Ferndale to Point Roberts and increase the nighttime power from 10,000 watts to 50,000

watts. FCC File No: BP-20090226AAFhttp://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1484673&Service=AM&Form_id=301&Facility_id=21416


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(3)

Application for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) filed by BBC Inc with Whatcom County Planning and

Development Services (PDS) to erect the tower array. CUP2013-00004

http://www.co.whatcom.wa.us/pds/plan/current/krpi-radio.jsp

(4)

Application filed with the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) by a

Canadian company (Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting, Inc.) for broadcast licences to operate up tothree stations in British Columbia, Canada. Application 2013-0889-1

https://services.crtc.gc.ca/pub/DocWebBroker/OpenDocument.aspx?AppNo=201308891

A key issue of the Petition to Deny and Informal Objection involves the planned relocation of radio towers,

from Ferndale, WA, to Point Roberts, WA, by BBC Inc. The Petition to Deny and Informal Objection provides

the main argument that BBC Inc, by allocating all programming, personnel, financial, editorial and

community outreach decisions to Sher-E-Punjab has violated the "alien ownership and control" regulations

of the FCC. The "misrepresentations, discrepancies, lack of candor and abuse of process" were all carried

out to disguise this illegal arrangement. Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting Incorporated, Richmond, BC, is

the leasee, sole operator and program provider of KRPI. This is revealed by comparing information withinthe FCC and Whatcom County applications required for the relocation of KRPI to Point Roberts, WA, plus the

information in the application by Sher-E-Punjab for up to three broadcasting licences from CRTC.

In addition, based on the details provided in the Petition to Deny and the Informal Objection, it is both a

reasonable and a valid question to ask if Sher-E-Punjab (with no CRTC license in Canada), is hiding behind a

shell company BBC Inc. It is using the jurisdiction of the United States and the border between US and

Canada to evade the Industry Canada and FCC population density rules for siting powerful transmitting

towers away from densely populated areas to mitigate harmful blanketing interference. BBC Inc and Sher-E-

Punjab accomplish this by deliberately ignoring the densely populated town of Tsawwassen, BC just 300

meters across the US Canada border. Radio waves and harmful blanketing interference do not stop at the

border.

Thus, it is not only a question of BBC Inc evading FCC and Industry Canada guidelines for siting radio towers

away from densely populated areas. If the border was not there, the application for a construction permit

would not be approved by either FCC or Industry Canada. It is also a question of Sher-E-Punjab that leases

KRPI transmission facilities in Ferndale, WA, unfairly broadcasting in Canada without a licence.

Why would a FCC licensed broadcaster BBC Inc, co-owned by Sher-e-Punjab without a CRTC license, wants to

build five max power towers facing north to Canada, 330 meters outside the Canadian border, exposing

23,000 Canadians to harmful blanketing interference, and refuses to inform CRTC, IC, and FCC of this dense

population?

In view of these alleged serious offences, it is in the interest of all parties for Industry Canada and CRTC to

consider the Petition to Deny and Informal Objection as new, substantial, significant and lawful material

discovery and as such, CRTC must order Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting Inc., to cease and desist

broadcasting via KRPI 1550 AM or any other facility outside Canadas border. CRTC must not award any

future broadcasting licences to Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting Inc.


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Intentional evasion of the Canadian Broadcasting Act and Industry Canada population density rules for siting

towers are serious betrayals of the government's trust and constitute gross dishonesty. Denial of license

absolutely ensures no further recurrence of such conduct on the part of the collaborating applicants. This,

commissioners of CRTC, is the fundamental purpose of deterrence in our lawfully society.

Thus, it is incumbent upon the CRTC to enforce the Canadian Broadcasting Act and protect its citizens from

harm caused by rogue cross border radio stations flouting the CRTC regulations.

CRTC must also request that Industry Canadas Spectrum Management department withdraw its

concurrence to the FCC's having granted a construction permit for the KRPI owner to relocate to Point

Roberts (item 2 above) because FCC as well as Industry Canada officials had been misled by the applicant

deliberately ignoring the densely populated community of Tsawwassen, BC next to the proposed 50,000

watt radio towers in Point Roberts, WA only 300 meters from the border.

Please refer to following documents:-

(1)

Informal Objection (as submitted in Intervention #1 by Arthur Reber)

(2)

The Petition to Deny (as submitted in Intervention #1 by Arthur Reber)

(3)

Informal Objection (by Mark Robbins) - attached

I, and a vast number of Tsawwassen residents, would like to attend the hearing if it was moved to Metro

Vancouver. That is where all of the 23,000 people in Tsawwassen affected by the CRTC decisions of this

hearing are located.

Yours truly,

James (Jim) Ronback, retired System Safety Engineer

1530 Kirkwood Road

Tsawwassen, BC

V4L 1G1

+1 604 948 1589

CC:

Kerry-Lynne Findlay, PC, QC, MP Delta Richmond East

Vicki Huntington, MLA Delta South

James Moore, Minister Industry Canada

Tom Wheeler, Chairman, US Federal Communications Commission

Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting Incorporated, Richmond, BCSuzanne Bosman, Whatcom County Planning and Development Services


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Figure 1. Cross border relationships of rogue Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting Inc


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Figure 2.Harmful Blanketing Interference depicted by the 1 Volt/ meter contours

Documents

CRTC Hearing Letter Jim Ronback