Bell Media is seeking an appeal of the decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to issue an administrative renewal of its broadcast licences into 2026.

The broadcaster has filed an application to the Federal Court of Appeal for leave to appeal the CRTC’s Aug. 8 decision, which saw hundreds of networks, discretionary channels and BDUs receive an administrative renewal of their broadcast licences until Aug. 31, 2026. Bell Media owns 66 of the platforms included in the decision, whose licences were originally set to expire in 2024.

At the time, the Commission said the administrative renewals would allow it enough time to “modernize its regulatory frameworks in response to the new Broadcasting Act and implement the appropriate changes in the future.”

Bell Media had previously filed an application to the CRTC on June 14 to remove licence conditions around local news programming quotas and reduce its Canadian programming expenditures, arguing that it needs further flexibility in the “current economic environment.”

In the filing to the Federal Court of Appeal, obtained by Playback Daily, the broadcaster argued that the CRTC “exceeded its authority” in issuing the decision, claiming that it was made without proper notice and without public consultations.

“The CRTC’s breach of this fundamental procedural requirement under the Broadcasting Act and of its common law duty of procedural fairness to Bell Media warrants a full review of the renewal decision.”

The broadcaster argued that the media and public interest elicited by its June 14 application merited a public hearing based on the Broadcasting Act, which stipulates that consultations must take place, unless the CRTC determines they are not of public interest.

Bell Media also alleges that the CRTC did not respond to a letter sent on Aug. 16, which protested the renewal decision and called on the Commission to make a decision on its June application before March 1, 2024.

A spokesperson for the CRTC told Playback it will not comment while the appeal is before a tribunal.

“The CRTC’s decision to extend our broadcast licenses for three more years without first dealing with our requests for financial relief is arbitrary and unfair,” said Robert Malcolmson, EVP and chief legal and regulatory officer at parentco Bell, in a statement. “The CRTC approved these conditions of license in 2017, which were set in a much different economic and competitive environment than what broadcasters face today.”