MONTREAL – Quebec authors, artists and cultural enterprises have demanded the federal government overturn the CRTC’s decision to license two satellite radio operators in Canada.
A group of 10 organizations submitted a request to the Privy Council on Friday, July 29, demanding that the governor-in-council reverse decisions 2005-246 and 2005-247 made on June 16 licensing Sirius Canada and Canadian Satellite Radio. Friday was the deadline to appeal.
They join some broadcasters and other Canadian cultural groups who all want the decision reversed. They say the decisions are contrary to the Broadcast Act and decades of Canadian content policy and should be dumped.
However, as reported by www.cartt.ca, not all broadcasters or artists groups are bothering the government with appeals.
The decisions grant seven-year licences to the two companies for satellite-based subscription radio services in Canada and call for eight of the audio channels to have 85% Canadian content. The two American birds offer many times that number of audio services.
“As the conditions of this approval blatantly contradict many principles and objectives of the Canadian broadcasting policy, ADISQ, APEM, APFTQ, ARRQ, GMMQ, SARTEC, SOCAN, SODRAC, SPACQ and Uda believe that the CRTC has made a grave error in judgement that threatens the foundations of the broadcasting system in Canada – the very system that the CRTC should be protecting,” says the release.
“They demand that the Governor in Council use the authority vested to her in the Broadcasting Act to render these two decisions null and void, and that she force the CRTC to hold a public hearing to establish an appropriate regulatory framework – one that takes the development of technologies into account and conforms to the principles of the Broadcasting Act – prior to granting new operating licences.”
– Greg O’Brien
