Canadians can’t decide on sat radio
I’ve been avoiding the topic of Canadian Satellite Radio broadcasts until now because I didn’t want to report where there was as of yet nothing to report; however, as the Canadian cabinet group has recently come to a major impasse on the topic, I figured I would be remiss if I didn’t at least comment on the developing issue.
As you may recall from my July post on the topic , Canadian radio groups like CHUM and Astral have been blocking the entry of American companies Sirius and XM from entering the Canadian market. The law applied to terrestrial radio is that 35% of all material broadcasted in Canada must be produced in Canada as well.
Of the two major Satellite North American companies, Sirius is closest to a Canadian launch. Sirius has recently announced a subsidiary group, Sirius Canada, that will be broadcasting Canadian material including four French- language channels. However, some are saying that this is not enough and still does not meet broadcasting quotas. Sirius Canada’s initial launch aims to give 4 French channels and 4 English channels, an even split.
On the other hand, Canadian auto-makers are pulling for the American Satellite Radio giants. Manufactures are currently planning on including Sirius equipment in new automobiles, and thus MPs who wish to honor standing alliances with the auto manufacturers are supporting the sat-radio companies as well.
And then there’s the bigger issue of the validity of Canadian broadcasting laws. Do they need them in the first place?
“I think this is fair to say this has become a highly politicized file,” Peter Miller, CHUM vice-president, said. “For those of us that are part of the appeal or advocating appeal, it’s a fundamental issue of ‘Cancon’ regulation and whether we believe it should continue or whether we believe that new technologies should be used . . . as an excuse to do away with [Canadian content regulations]. . . . “
So you can see from whence comes the impasse. More on this as it develops.
October 12th, 2005 at 3:06 pm
[...] First they tried to blockade the American companies, claiming they did not meet French-language and Canadian national broadcasting quotas. Now they’re trying to get those same quotas relaxed when applied to them? Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em I guess. Maybe Canadian broadcasters should try to get parliament to force XM and Sirius to include commercial interruptions in their music. That might level the playing field a bit more. [...]