The CRTC announced the eight applicants on April 17, 2018, which included competing proposals by companies such as Bell Media, the "Corriere Canadese", and Ethnic Channels Group among others. Rogers proposed expansions of the Omni Regional service, including the addition of Arabic, Hindi, and Tagalog-language newscasts, local newscasts on the East, Pacific, and Prairies feeds in Mandarin and Punjabi, and in Italian on East (replacing the Italian national newscast, due to the concentration of Italians living in the region), and increased investment in original scripted and factual programming,