While the merger of XM and Sirius is being described as a "merger of equals," it doesn't seem that their Canadian counterparts share the same mentality.

Sirius Canada (which is a private company owned by the CBC, Standard Broadcasting and Sirius), feels that with 300,000 paying subscribers they're the larger entity, and should get a larger piece.

"It's not a business of equals in Canada, we're significantly ahead of them," Sirius Canada CEO Mark Redmond said.

"I'm not saying what a potential Canadian deal would look like because we're not even remotely close to that yet. But we are the market leader in Canada by a significant margin and we have no plan of letting up. You can't use the same equation.”

But XM Canada feels they bring a key asset to the table: the $69-million deal with the National Hockey League for the rights to broadcast thousands of games over the next eight years. The NHL contract represents more than one-fifth of the present market value of Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., the publicly traded company operating XM Canada.

"We paid a lot," said John Bitove, CEO of Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. "These are some of the ramifications that we'll have to take into account if we decide to pursue the road as they are in the U.S.... If we even have a choice."

If the merger goes ahead in the US, there may be little Canadian regulators can do to block the consolidation, since one company will likely relinquish its licence as the assets are combined.

[Globe and Mail]

XM Canada and Sirius Canada each issued called the satellite radio merger both "exciting" and "great" news in statements issued today, though in separate interviews they indicated that it was too soon to know what would happen next.

Sirius Canada's official statement:
"With the exciting news coming from SIRIUS and XM in the U.S. today, SIRIUS Canada’s 300,000 subscribers will continue to receive the best news, talk, sports, entertainment and commercial-free music programming available,” said Mark Redmond, President and CEO, SIRIUS Canada Inc. “SIRIUS Canada’s board of directors and senior leadership team is working closely with SIRIUS Satellite Radio in the U.S., CBC and Standard Radio Inc. here in Canada to ensure the Canadian operation continues to deliver the best entertainment available."

XM Canada's official statement:
“This is great news for the satellite radio industry in North America and could offer further benefits to consumers, retailers, partners and shareholders,” said John I. Bitove, Chairman of Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. “As Sirius and XM seek U.S. government approval, we will diligently review the possible alternatives available to Canadian Satellite Radio to benefit our customers and shareholders.”

In separate interviews, Sirius Canada president Mark Redmond and chairman of Canadian Satellite Radio, John Bitove, both said this of the possible merger of the two Canadian companies:

"Obviously the U.S. companies have had numerous talks as it relates to this, so we're going to have to wait and see how that plays out and what kind of talks, if any, we need to have with Canadian Satellite Radio," Redmond said.

Bitove said XM had kept CSR "apprised" of the discussions they've had with Sirius but "obviously there was a limit to how much detail they could tell us."

"There's lots of options for Canada," Bitove said. "We have to wait to get more details from the States before we can decide what is the next step."

[CBC News]

The CRTC has granted Canada's fourth largest cable company, Cogeco Cable, the right to distribute satellite radio services on digital cable.

Currently Cogeco distributes two pay audio services, Galaxie and Max Trax, but this decision means that Cogeco customers will be able to subscribe to Sirius Satellite Radio or XM Satellite Radio over their digital cable service.

This is similar to the CRTC's decision with Rogers Cable, though neither Rogers or Cogeco have made any announcements about when satellite radio would be made available.

[Digital Home Pipeline]