The CRTC has renewed for one year the licence for SunTV, cutting the station some slack on ethnic and aboriginal programming while upping its requirements for local shows.

The station, officially known as CKXT-TV, continues to struggle in the competitive Toronto market and had asked the federal regulator to remove many conditions from its licence, including its priority programming requirements and the various levels of ethnic programming it is expected to air. The station also sought to relax its local programming requirements.

In the end, SunTV saw its local requirements raised to 14 hours per week, up from 10, though the commission agreed to set aside its requirements for ethnic and aboriginal programming until its licence comes up again in early 2010.