CRTC satellite radio decision to stand
By Adnews Staff
The cabinet has decided not to send back the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's recent decision on subscription radio services in Canada. In June the CRTC granted licences for satellite subscription radio services to Sirius Canada and Canadian Satellite Radio. CHUM Limited and Astral Media received a licence for a subscription service that would use only terrestrial transmitters. In July, CHUM and Astral filed with the government to appeal the decision on the grounds that the conditions of these licences do not place enough emphasis on the use of Canadian content and the multicultural nature of Canadian society. The notice also claimed that the Sirius and CSR services will not be effectively owned and operated by Canadians, owing to the ownership interest in each of them by U.S.-based satellite radio companies. With the cabinet's decision on Friday, the licences will stand as they are. Sirius Canada and Canadian Satellite Radio have released statements to the effect that they will proceed to bring their services into operation as soon as possible.