Tough Government Rules May Slow Satellite Radio in Canada
After Canadian regulators approved applications by XM and Sirius Satellite Radio to begin broadcasting in the country last Thursday, a complicated set of rules laid out by the Canadian government are making the companies think twice. According to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), 10 percent of the programming must be produced in Canada, 85 percent of the music on those channels must be Canadian, and 25 percent of those channels must be in French. Additionally, 5 percent of revenues must be used for Canadian talent development, and the providers must broadcast nine foreign channels for each Canadian channel, which could strain network capacity.
But while XM and Sirius decide their next move, as many as 100,000 “gray market” Canadians already subscribe to satellite radio. The signal covers all of Canada already, and anyone with a valid U.S. mailing address can buy a radio and listen to it across Canada.
