The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission opened a hearing today into domestic satellite radio licence proposals. This will spark a complicated debate about how to impose Canadian content rules on technologies that know no boundaries, who controls the airwaves, and how best to support and promote Canadian performers.
There are three players in this debate:
Canadian Satellite Radio Inc. - a joint venture with the largest U.S. satellite radio firm XM Satellite Radio.
Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Standard Radio Inc. - joined with Sirius Satellite Radio.
CHUM Ltd. - partnered with Astral Media. The CHUM Subscription Radio Canada differs from the others because it plans to distribute signals from land-based transmitters, and it would be available only in the larger Candian cities.
To add to the confusion, the CHUM Subscription is different in that the technlogy isn't the same approach as XM Radio or Sirius. CHUM signals will be received on radios equipped to pick up digital radio transmissions - different from those designed for satellite signals.
Part of the debate is the growing Candian "grey market" with satellite radio - Canadian residents who use U.S. based postal address to gain access to satellite radio. Brian Sharwood, a principal at communications consultant Seaboard Group in Toronto, said the grey-market threat is, in fact, significant, and he predicts there will be many illegal users of the U.S. Sirius and XM services if they don't get a Canadian licence.
?Right now, XM and Sirius are playing nice,? he said
One issue that is bound to be raised at the hearing - of course - is the control and monitoring of questionable or offensive content. With Howard Stern coming to Sirius in 2006, and Opie & Anthony already shocking the XM Radio waves, this is bound to be a heated aspect of consideration for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
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