Satellite radio approved in Canada

June 16, 2005

Canada's communications regulator, the CRTC, has approved three applications for subscription-based satellite radio services. The three applicants are Canadian Satellite Radio Inc, SIRIUS Canada Inc, and CHUM Limited.

Two of the applicants, Canadian Satellite Radio and SIRIUS Canada are both required to offer at least eight original channels (10% of all channels) produced in Canada. Also, 85% of the music and spoken programming broadcast on the "Canadian channels" have to be Canadian, and 25% of the Canadian channels must be broadcast in French.

The lobby group, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting publicly opposes this decision, saying that it creates a pipeline for U.S. radio programs into Canada.