SATELLITE SUBSCRIPTION RADIO UNDERTAKING - QUEBEC'S CULTURAL COMMUNITY DISMAYED BY GOVERNMENT DECISION CNW The coalition of ten organizations of authors, artists and cultural enterprises who appealed the CRTC decision in the subscription radio undertaking issue are profoundly disappointed that the federal government has ultimately sided with the CRTC's position.
Last Friday, the Canadian Ministry decided to uphold the CRTC decision to grant 7-year licences to Sirius Canada and CSR to operate satellite subscription radio undertakings in Canada. This decision puts an end to an intensive lobbying campaign in which the interests of the companies involved - not only the two satellite radio broadcasters, but also manufacturers and retail chains, not to mention the automobile industry - were in blatant opposition to the concerns expressed by the Quebec and Canadian cultural communities.
Like the CRTC did before them, the government simply accepted the claims made by the two radio broadcasters regarding the urgency of offering satellite radio in Canada, and rejected the delay of several months requested by the cultural community to put a relevant regulatory framework into place prior to granting licences.
"Some thirty years' worth of regulatory work in the broadcasting sector has just been thrown out the window," says Yves-François Blanchet, ADISQ President. "The requirements for adequate Canadian content and control, which are the foundations of the broadcasting system in Canada, have been completely waived for these two companies. This opens the door for other broadcasters who will want to follow their lead."
The Quebec coalition maintains that the promise made by the two companies to increase their Canadian and francophone content beyond the requirements set out in their licences is insufficient, and more in the realm of wishful thinking than actual commitment. "Since this promise was made subject to the technological capacities of the two broadcasters, it shows no meaningful intent to promote the presence of Quebec and Canadian culture on their new services," says Gérard Masse, GMMQ President. The cultural community feels that the CRTC should at least incorporate, a posteriori, the meagre promises made by CSR and Sirius into their licensing conditions.
Alain Lauzon, General Manager of SODRAC, argues that "it is completely paradoxical for Canada to be the all-around champion of cultural diversity in international forums while granting special treatment to companies whose business plans rest principally on American infrastructures and the erosion of our most fundamental policies in terms of Canadian content and cultural control."
The members of the Quebec coalition would like to thank the deputies (within and outside the province) and Ministers who supported their position despite the accusations of "outdated cultural nationalism" made against them. They remain profoundly convinced that the CRTC decision blatantly contradicts the founding principles of Canada's Broadcasting Act and sets a precedent whose ultimate consequence could be the complete marginalization of Canada within its own radio broadcasting industry.
They intend to continue their lobbying effort in the hope of convincing the Canadian government to redo its study and establish strong cultural policies that address the accelerated technological progress to which the Canadian broadcasting industry is being exposed. |