The federal regulator has turned down fast-food magnate John Bitove's application to start a high-definition television station that would serve all of Canada.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission issued a decision on Thursday denying applications for both Bitove's HDTV Networks and a high-definition station proposed for Toronto and area by Yes TV Inc.

Bitove, who has backed XM satellite radio in Canada, had proposed a nationwide network within a year, saying other Canadian networks are moving too slowly to offer HD programming.

The new network would have broadcast to Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax.

The CRTC said it rejected the proposal in part because of the plan to air only two hours of local programming a week, 20 hours less than conventional broadcasters are required to air.

The regulator criticized the format proposed by Bitove for providing little regional programming on a national network.

"HDTV Networks sought to launch a television station that would be the Canadian equivalent of a [U.S.] superstation," Michel Arpin, the CRTC's vice-chairman of broadcasting said in a statement.

"We have never granted a licence for such a conventional television station in the past and did not find any compelling reason to do so at this time."

Yes TV plan not viable, CRTC says

The regulator was also unhappy about Bitove's plan to broadcast in both analog and digital formats for the first two years, saying it would not advance the goal of moving to full digital broadcasting in Canada.

Allowing HDTV Networks to broadcast in analog format would also put it in competition with conventional English-language television broadcasters, when one of the main justifications for a new service was to provide high-definition programming, the CRTC said in its judgment.

The company issued a statement thanking the CRTC for considering its application but did not comment on the decision.

The application for Yes TV, a new Toronto station targeting a youth audience, including marginalized and aboriginal youth, was rejected because the CRTC said its business plan was not viable.

The regulator also questioned its strategy of providing a daily newscast that was 30-40 per cent user-generated content, saying there would not be enough high-quality material to meet that condition.

Yes TV had proposed 126 hours a week of HD programming, with a high percentage of Canadian content, another commitment the CRTC did not believe it would be able to meet.