MONTREAL – Canadian Satellite Radio and Sirius Canada have announced they will each carry an equal number of English and French stations when they launch.
As part of their conditions of licence, each satellite radio service is required to launch with at least eight Canadian channels, one-quarter of them in French. Both services said today they will voluntarily increase that to half.
Also, if they add any new Canadian services in the first 24 months of operation, they pledge to add an equal number of English and French.
“It has always been our intent to ensure satellite radio further strengthens Canadian culture and Canadian broadcasting,” says Michel Tremblay, Vice President, Strategy and Business Development with the CBC, a partner in the Sirius Canada venture. “We believe the commitment of equal French and English Canadian channels is a positive step in addressing the concerns of the Quebec cultural community about satellite radio.”
The services say they heard concerns from Quebec’s cultural community and are working to address them. “We are within 100 days of launching the service,” says John Bitove, CSR chairman and CEO. “Since the CRTC decision came out, we have listened closely to the concerns expressed by the minister of Canadian heritage and the Quebec minister of culture and communications and other Quebec MPs on how to make our service better for Canada and our artists. We are particularly sensitive to the needs of French language artists so we have responded appropriately with these changes.”
“The time is critical for satellite radio, the benefits for Canadians and Canadian artists are important and exciting,” Bitove added.
The announcement was made at a joint news conference in Montreal today.
Two of CSR’s initial four French-language channels will be music, while Sirius stated that three of its four will be French.
The services have banded together in the face of a possible move by the federal cabinet to ask the CRTC to reconsider or rescind the licences it awarded in June. “Quebec artists will now have an opportunity to be featured throughout North America to the 300 million potential satellite subscribers,” said Tremblay. “If cabinet turns this back for reconsideration, we may lose this opportunity forever.”
Tremblay pointed to recent survey results showing that two-thirds of Quebecers support the CRTC’s decision to licence the two satellite-based services.
