Login:
Password:
Lost Password?
Print this article  |  E-mail this article  |  Comment on this article

Satellite Radio to Expand into Canada

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

June 17, 2005, 10:53 AM

XM and Sirius both received approval this week to market their satellite radio services directly to Canadians, thanks to a ruling handed down by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission - Canada's equivalent of the FCC.

Both companies agreed to follow certain stipulations in order to provide service in the country.

Americans with either XM or Sirius have been able to receive satellite radio over much of Canada since the services launched four years ago. However, neither company could market satellite radio directly within Canada.

As part of the deal, both services must produce 1 out of every 10 channels in Canada, with a quarter of the content on those channels in French.

Neither XM nor Sirius has provided a launch date for any possible satellite radio services.

Add a Comment (15 Comments)

BetaNews reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Foul language and personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Name (required):

E-mail (required):

Enter Your Comment:

By andysz2222

edited Oct 7, 2005 - 10:20 AM

Sirius has been approved to go ahead in Canada, but no date has been set.
Of course theCanadian government has to put their pathetic attempt toprotect our heritage by imposing many
ridiculous rule and Canadian Content.
Does any one know if Canadians can just drop over to Buffalo, get a system, put the account on Visa, and come back and enjoy the American version of the feed?
Will that work?

Score: 0

By Yukonite

edited Oct 4, 2005 - 11:56 PM

Love Sirius. Used it in the desert of Baja California, diagonally across the US, in southern Ontario, and enjoy it in my home in Teslin, Yukon Territory.

What a magnificent concept and how well it was executed. Thank you, David Margolese, for your grand vision and for seeing it through. The elliptical orbits favor reception in Canada. Had no drop-outs all the way from Toronto to Teslin.

Score: 0

By venditel

edited Sep 4, 2005 - 11:21 PM

So both Future Shop and Best Buy have launched information stating that XM and Serius radio is comming to Canada. I am still waiting and I have heard that our government has put the red light on that. This I heard through 680 news here in Toronto. Does anybody know what is going on????

Score: 0

By hmongmnradio

posted Jul 22, 2005 - 2:05 AM

Can I get my own broadcast channel Radio on my
own language. How much it cost per month?

Score: 0

By hmongmnradio

edited Jul 22, 2005 - 12:08 AM

Can we broadcast foreign language?

Score: 0

By cousinkix1953

posted Jun 18, 2005 - 2:35 AM

We already have stereos, TVs and VCRs with synthesized tuners. It's easy to delete channels and stations from your tuner. I got rid of the "foreign language" radio and TV stations a long time ago.

Something tells me that better satellite receivers can program your favorites, skip the French stations and prevent the kids from getting too much of Howard Stern.

Score: 0

By ajsaragosa1979

posted Jun 18, 2005 - 4:31 PM

howard would be the only reason that i get satellite, that is if sirius does go through with plans, and even plays him up here.
i see the usefullness of satellite radio but for others, not so much for me, especially with the crtc ruling of the more "cdn" content.
if i wanted to listen to celine dion, i would. but i don't so i won't, just as an example of course...

Score: 0

By ThaCHEESE

posted Jun 19, 2005 - 2:24 AM

bleh howard is stale... gotta have XM with Opie and Anthony!

Score: 0

By crimz

posted Jun 17, 2005 - 1:05 PM

so soon I can remove myself from my buddies family plan who lives in the US and get my own service.. wow I thought this would take many more years to happen :) EH! stupid french crap.. maybe I should just stay on the US account..

Score: 0

By Kramy

posted Jun 17, 2005 - 2:57 PM

Have you ever watched muted french movies? Some of them are really weird. For a fun saturday night get 5 guys together, add beer, and watch a muted french movie - it can get very funny. :D

Score: 0

By drumcat

posted Jun 17, 2005 - 11:41 AM

The stipulation was that sentences must end in "eh". ;)

Score: 0

By ajsaragosa1979

posted Jun 18, 2005 - 4:34 PM

and most commercials must consist of canadian made dog sleds instead of american made cars, eh?

Score: 0

By TheRecklessWanderer

posted Jun 17, 2005 - 11:06 AM

Sign me up. I got the XM radio already. Whew hew!!!!

Can we block the french content?

Score: 0

By Kramy

posted Jun 17, 2005 - 2:55 PM

No, but you could just not listen to it...

Score: 0

By TheRecklessWanderer

posted Jun 20, 2005 - 2:51 PM

I would rather block it.

Score: 0

Nov 21 - 6:51 PM ET Coalition urges better laws for e-mail and cell phone privacy

Nov 21 - 6:42 PM ET How is Internet advertising faring in this bad economy?

Nov 21 - 6:15 PM ET From out of the Amazon Cloud, an AWS winner emerges

Nov 21 - 5:20 PM ET Mufin music finder enters public beta, adds widgets

Nov 21 - 5:01 PM ET Google launches its SearchWiki semantics plug-in

Nov 21 - 4:57 PM ET Asus previews a slimmer, less costly Eee PC

Nov 21 - 4:32 PM ET New Adobe Media Player ushers in AIR 1.5

Nov 21 - 2:11 PM ET AT&T to add Pantech's low-cost C630 phone to 3G lineup

Nov 21 - 1:11 PM ET iPhone gets firmware 2.2 update

Nov 21 - 11:51 AM ET The Dell surprise: Higher earnings on lower revenue