Appeal of CRTC Decision Threatens Canadian Satellite Radio

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Appeal of CRTC Decision Threatens Canadian Satellite Radio

10:14 pm on August 27, 2005 | Category: Wireless Technology

Canadian Satellite Radio, one of two companies that were licensed by the CRTC to operate subscription based satellite programming is now facing a major threat.

The licensing approval, which was approved unanimously by the CRTC on June 16 is now being appealed by several other organizations, including the Recording Industry Association, the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, and CHUM-Astral. The last of these is another company that received a license to conduct subscription based radio service on June 16, but not for satellite programming.

John Bitove, the president of Canadian Satellite Radio, says that if the appeal goes through, his company will lose the approximately $8 million that has been invested in the project. He says that the 20 full-time employees and 20 full-time consultants that have been hired will also lose their jobs.

Ian Morrison, a representative of the watchdog group, Friends of Canadian Media, says that when all the US partner channels that are made available to subscribers are taken into account, only about 9% of the content on the network is Canadian. This falls well short of the 35% minimum requirement for conventional radio stations.

Bitove, however, says that these concerns are invalid, since CSA’s own stations greatly exceed the 35% requirement, and will actually help broadcast Canadian content more effectively over other parts of North America. He claims that the CRTC has no jurisdiction over his partnerships with American stations.

In addition to the direct costs incurred by the companies, the Canadian economy could lose up to $2 billion over the next ten years if the appeal is successful.

Links: Canada, Satellite, Radio, Wireless, Satellite Radio.

3 Comments »

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The ruling is made and from my observations sound. This lobby is from a powerful group of dinosaur broadcast operators who should have been more visionary and embraced this wonderful new technology. I am one of tens of thousands of Canadians who are patiently waiting for CSRadio to announce service start-up, when I shall subscribe.

Comment by John Ondrack — September 1, 2005 #
[…] The federal Liberal government decided on Friday to uphold the CRTC’s decision to legalize subscription-based satellite radio. After a heated two hour meeting, a federal committee rejected a controversial appeal to the ruling, which was launched by the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, and the Canadian Recording Industry Association last month. […]

Pingback by Telecommunications Industry News » Canadian Satellite Radio Ruling Stands — September 12, 2005 #
[…] […]

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