OTTAWA, (June 20, 2005) — Canuck truckers hooked to Howard Stern and other U.S. talk shows can now pay for satellite radio from their home address in Canadian dollars.

As expected, the CRTC finally gave the green light to pay-radio satellite services last week, approving all three licence applications before it. But this is still Canada — where the government likes to have a say on what you’re listening to and watching — so the approval will come with some tough, characteristically Canadian content rules.

The CRTC said two companies teamed up with U.S. satellite services must offer at least eight original Canadian channels — one-quarter of them French. The firms can offer nine foreign channels for every one Canadian channel. Under the CRTC rules, at least 25 per cent of the music on the Canadian channels offered by the satellite services must be new music and 25 per cent must be from emerging Canadian artists.

According to Canadian Press, the companies must also contribute five percent of gross revenues to initiatives for developing Canadian talent — three percent higher than the third, all-Canadian applicant will have to pay.

The Can-Am partnerships consist of U.S.-based Sirius Satellite Radio, teaming up with a Canadian consortium that includes the CBC; and XM Radio, which will partner with Canadian Satellite Radio. CHUM and Astral, the Canadian group promoting a heavy-Canadian lineup, said the CTRC’s restrictions didn’t go far enough, and is disappointed with the slice of the Canadian market the CTRC handed to foreign competitors.

“The commission has offered unprecedented access to the Canadian market for entities whose content and infrastructure are effectively U.S. controlled and originated, with a very nominal Canadian content requirement,” said CHUM executive vice-president Paul Ski in a statement. “It is unrealistic to expect that an all-Canadian service such as ours can compete with undertakings whose channels are 90 percent U.S. originated. The licensing framework created by these decisions is clearly inequitable.”

Don’t tell that to the thousands of Canadian truckers who’ve been waiting for U.S. satellite radio to be legalized in Canada. Many other truckers already have “grey market” service in their cabs — programming paid by credit card or U.S. PO box.

Ignoring such free market demand, a coalition of Canadian broadcasters says it will meet with other arts organizations to consider appealing the decision to cabinet or the Federal Court. , Ian Morrison, spokesman for the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said the CRTC erred in approving all three proposals. He told CP that the newcomers shouldn’t be allowed to undermine existing broadcasters.

Satellite radio offers superior digital quality sound and round-the-clock access to commercial-free music, information, sports, and entertainment programming. The service would be delivered by a string of satellites rather than on an FM or AM band and subscribers would pay about $12-14 a month.

In just a few short years, satellite radio has become a very popular feature for truckers. To date, there are an estimated four million satellite radio subscribers in North America, including approximately 600,000 commercial drivers.

— with files from Canadian Press