CRTC approves three subscription radio services
By Adnews Staff
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has issued three licences for Canadian subscription radio services and established a licensing framework for satellite subscription radio services. Sirius Canada and Canadian Satellite Radio have been granted a licence for a subscription radio services that will be delivered by satellite and terrestrial transmitters. CHUM Limited and Astral Media have received a licence for a service that will use only terrestrial transmitters. These services must offer at least eight original channels produced in Canada. Nine foreign channels will be permitted for each Canadian channel. At least 85% of the programming broadcast on the Canadian channels must be Canadian. At least 25% of the Canadian channels must be in the French language. At least 25% of the music on Canadian channels must new Canadian music. Another 25% must be music by emerging Canadian artists. The licensees will also be required to contribute at least 5% of their gross annual revenues to initiatives for the development of Canadian talent. A maximum of six minutes per hour of national advertising will be allowed on each channel, but no local programming or local advertising will be permitted on the Canadian channels. Canadian Satellite Radio, which is 100% owned by John Bitove, will carry programming from US satellite radio company XM Radio. Sirius Canada is 40% owned by the CBC, 40% by Standard Broadcasting and 20% by Sirius USA, another US-based satellite radio company. The third service is 80.1% owned by CHUM and 19.9% owned by Astral. "We are extremely disappointed with the commission's decision," said Paul Ski, executive vice-president for radio at CHUM. "Though they have slightly raised the bar for the US supported applicants by requiring them to carry a 10% level of Canadian channels, this is a significantly lower threshold than recent regulatory precedents such as the licensing of pay audio services and direct-to-home satellite. The commission has offered unprecedented access to the Canadian market for entities whose content and infrastructure are effectively US controlled and originated, with a very nominal Canadian content requirement. It is unrealistic to expect that an all-Canadian service such as ours can compete with undertakings whose channels are 90% US originated. The licensing framework created by these decisions is clearly inequitable."