SOCAN DISAPPOINTED IN CRTC'S DECISION ON SATELLITE RADIO CNW On Thursday, June 16, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted broadcast licences to Canadian Satellite Radio and Sirius Radio Canada for satellite subscription radio services and to CHUM Limited (CHUM/Astral) for a terrestrial subscription radio service. In SOCAN's opinion, this decision fails to recognize the important provisions of the Canadian Broadcasting Act, and does not offer sufficient protection to Canada's composers, lyricists, songwriters, and publishers of musical works.
SOCAN's dissatisfaction with the decision is due to several factors, including:
the Canadian content requirements for satellite radio are inconsistent with existing regulations for commercial radio broadcasters and fail to respect the policy objectives of the Canadian Broadcasting Act
90 per cent of programming for two of the satellite services will be done outside of Canada and the existing content regulations will not apply to these channels as they do to other Canadian broadcasters
Canadians are being denied their right to reasonable levels of Canadian content on these new services, something that SOCAN consistently insists must apply to all broadcasters operating in Canada
SOCAN will continue to consider carefully the CRTC's decision for satellite subscription radio services, and will determine shortly what formal action to take, including the possibility of appeals. |