RADIO COMPETITOR FOR XM AND SIRIUS? Barbara Shecter – National Post CTVglobemedia picked up a licence to operate a subscription radio service with the acquisition of CHUM Ltd. last year, and has been quietly testing the appetite for a rival for the XM and Sirius.
But the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission may have put the kibosh on the project Thursday, giving CTV a three-week extension to launch its terrestrial radio service -- until Dec. 31, 2007 -- rather than granting the broadcaster's request to keep the door open until June of 2009.
"We are still reviewing our options," said Paul Sparkes, who is in charge of regulatory affairs for CTVglobemedia.
In a letter to the Commission this spring, executives of CHUM/CTV said the prospect of competing with subscription satellite radio services Sirius and XM became more compelling with the proposed merger of their U.S. counterparts.
XM Canada and Sirius Canada have pulled in some 800,000 subscribers in their first two years of operations, according to Digital Home. They receive the bulk of their programming from the U.S. services, which also own minority interests in the Canadian companies.
If the Canadian companies were forced to team up, it could lead to a review of their operating conditions, which would affect the viability of an alternative service run by CTV/CHUM, executives told the Commission.
CHUM won its licence at the same time as XM and Sirius but did not launch a subscription radio service because a heavy commitment to Canadian programming and steep startup costs would have made it difficult to compete with the likes of XM's Oprah Winfrey and shock jock Howard Stern on Sirius. |