Media

Satellite radio scrambles CRTC rules

Last fall, two Canadian broadcasting companies, XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, requested authorization from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to offer Canadians the type of satellite radio services already offered for television. This seemingly innocuous project, however, has come up against some major financial, technological and legal obstacles, with major implications for Canadian broadcasting independence.

Both companies are actually branches of American companies. They would use American satellites and offer in Canada only 4 out of 101 possible channels, in the first instance, and 4 out of 78 in the second. Pay-radio is not subject to Federal Communications Commission regulations, raising a number of problems. As with television, CRTC regulations stipulate that broadcasting infrastructure must be Canadian-owned and the stations, or the packages they offer, must present a 35 percent minimum of Canadian content. Should the CRTC change its regulations to accommodate satellite radio? “That would be a mistake,” states Prof. Pierre Trudel of Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Law. “Canadian control over broadcasting is an important principle that has always existed and must be preserved. Without this principle, we would be at the mercy of private American broadcasters who could decide at any time to close down our networks. And Canada would be powerless to apply its own laws regarding the content of shows broadcast on its territory.”

According to Trudel, who holds the L. R. Wilson Chair of Information Technologies and Electronic Commerce Law, the principle of Canadian predominance has worked very well for the country up until now. “It stimulated Canadian production and catalyzed the production of more national programs than anywhere else in the world, without limiting access to foreign networks. Quebec produces, per capita, more programming than France!”

If we were to use American satellites, legal steps would have to be taken to ensure that Canadian production is maintained—something the projects currently on the table fail to do. According to Trudel, an expert in media law, this is a classic case of a business plan put together with a complete disregard for the law. “If those proposing the project, including the CBC, had taken the law into consideration, they never would have proposed this model,” says Prof. Trudel.

One alternative would be to increase the number of digital channels using land-based audio broadcasting. Network owner Astral Radio already proposed this type of 100% Canadian-owned initiative to the CRTC. Prof. Trudel insists that the desire to preserve Canadian content should not be seen as an expression of xenophobia or anti-Americanism.

Trudel concludes that if Canada decided to develop this type of broadcasting satellite today, it would cost between $800 million and $1 billion, without any guarantee of more channels. “We would have to negotiate this with the United States,” states the professor. He offers a cautionary note that this debate should not be so focussed on technology and adds that other considerations should be taken into account. “Just because it’s possible to do something from a technological standpoint, doesn’t mean we have to do it.”

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