Sirius Canada

Last updated
Sirius Canada
TypePrivate
Industry Broadcasting
FoundedJune 16, 2005 (2005-06-16)
DefunctJune 21, 2011 (2011-06-21)
FateMerged with XM Radio Canada
Successor Sirius XM Canada
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Key people
Mark Redmond, president and CEO
Products Satellite radio
Website Sirius Canada

Sirius Canada was a Canadian company, a partnership between Slaight Communications, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Sirius Satellite Radio, which was one of three services licensed by the CRTC on June 16, 2005, to introduce satellite radio service to Canada.

Contents

On November 24, 2010, following the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio in the United States, Sirius Canada and XM Radio Canada announced their own merger deal, subject to approval by shareholders and the CRTC. The CRTC approved the merger in April 2011, and thus paved the way for both services to take the name SiriusXM Canada. [1] The merger was subsequently completed on June 21, 2011. [2]

Canadian Satellite Radio, the former licensee of XM, will hold 30 per cent of the merged company, while Slaight Communications and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the owners of Sirius Canada, will each hold 20 per cent and the American Sirius XM Radio will hold 25 per cent. [1] Mark Redmond, the president and CEO of Sirius Canada, will retain an executive role in the new merged company.

Unlike XM Radio Canada, Sirius Canada was a private company, and was therefore not required to release quarterly financial result data.

Subscription package

The initial lineup was announced on November 2, 2005, [3] and included 100 channels, including 10 Canadian services. Ten more services, nine American and one Canadian, were added to the package in 2006.

The service's conditions of licence provide for a minimum of eight Canadian-produced channels, and a maximum distribution of nine American services per Canadian channel. Although Astral Media produced two French-language music channels for the service, Slaight's share in Sirius Canada was not part of Astral's 2007 takeover of Slaight's terrestrial radio assets.

CBC programming

Slaight Communications programming

Third party programming

In June 2006, Sirius also added an audio simulcast of The Weather Network, now found on Channel 138.

Initially, only five of these channels (Radio One, Radio 3, Première Plus, Bande à part and Iceberg) were also offered on the US Sirius network, although as of late 2006 all of the Canadian channels are now available in the United States (although not on all Sirius receivers).

Contrary to some initial expectations, CBC Radio 2 and Espace musique were not included, at least in part because, as their terrestrial CRTC licences [4] allow nearly 80% of "special interest" (i.e. classical, jazz) music to be foreign, they would not be in compliance with the CRTC's mandate that Canadian-produced satellite radio channels carry 85 per cent Canadian content.

Sirius Canada's licence prohibits them from broadcasting "localized" content such as local or regional newscasts, weather forecasts or traffic reports. As a result, the Radio One feed does not include local programs or weather forecasts. Instead, the network's local programming blocks are filled with repeat airings of other CBC programming.

The Canadian subscription package of 110 channels includes the 11 Canadian channels listed above and most, but not all of the US channels. List of Sirius Satellite Radio stations includes a graphic notation of which services are and are not available in Canada.

On April 24, 2006, it was announced that Sirius would become the exclusive satellite radio broadcaster for Canadian Football League games, beginning with the launch of the 2006 CFL season on June 16. [5]

Other differences

In addition to the differences in programming there are some other minor differences between Sirius Canada and the US.

When Sirius Canada launched, it did not offer signup over the internet; instead, new customers had to activate over the phone. Currently Sirius Canada offers activation over the phone, and internet activation with a reduced activation fee. As of October 2006, Sirius Canada allows internet streaming of material to subscribers.

The selection of Sirius-compatible radios sold in Canadian retail channels is limited to only the Sirius One, the Sirius Starmate, the Sirius Starmate Replay, the Sirius XACT XTR3CK, the Stiletto and the Sirius Sportster Replay. However, people report that Sirius Canada will allow receivers purchased in the US to be activated on the Sirius Canada system.

Recently on Sirius Canada's homepage, it started to offer the Stiletto 100 SL100 to its Canadian subscribers.

Also, it has been reported that receivers purchased in Canada can be activated on the US network. However, due to firmware differences, some Canadian channels may be missing from the line-up.

Howard Stern

On September 2, 1997, Canadian radio stations Q107 (Toronto) and CHOM (Montreal) began airing the Howard Stern Show. That day, Stern called the French "peckerheads" and said that "the French should bend over for me the way they did for Hitler". That broadcast, and others, led to thousands of complaints to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. As a result of the complaints Q107 continued to air the Stern show but with an eight-minute tape delay and some bleeping. CHOM stopped airing Stern in August 1998, and Q107 did the same in November 2001. Corus Entertainment's newly appointed program director John Hayes dropped Stern because he wanted to return Q107 to an all music, classic rock format. It was also problematic that Stern had been available since early 2001 on WBUF, Buffalo without the twenty-minute delay or onerous editing that was taking place on Q107. Stern later announced his move to Sirius, effective January 2006, as the U. S. Federal Communications Commission has no jurisdiction over content on subscription-based services such as cable television or satellite radio. However, the CRTC has always held content jurisdiction over content on cable services and is apparently able to regulate satellite radio content as well.

Sirius Canada's licence decision [6] made no explicit reference to Stern but does obligate the company to maintain the same standards (i.e. the CAB's Sex-role Portrayal Code) as for conventional stations. The decision also recognizes Sirius's ability to air "adult" programming in separate packages, but even these must comply with the Code. (By way of comparison, even adult content from Canadian pay-per-view providers is subject to review prior to broadcast, to ensure compliance with the Code.)

Sirius Canada later announced that Howard Stern's two channels, Howard 100 and Howard 101, would not be available to its Canadian customers. Naturally this has generated negative response from Canadian fans of Stern, some of whom have claimed that they would not subscribe to any service absent the two Stern channels. According to Gary Slaight, CEO of Standard Broadcasting:

The CRTC, who we are licensed to, would eventually force us to take Stern down, because we have standards we have to abide by in this country when you own a broadcasting licence. [7]

Nonetheless, pressure from fans, many of whom were reportedly continuing to purchase grey-market American Sirius receivers, continued to build. For instance, Josef Radomski, a Canadian writer, announced on the January 11, 2006 Howard Stern Show that he had started an online petition to bring Stern to Sirius Canada.

However, the CRTC had not in fact banned Stern's broadcast in Canada — Sirius Canada instead chose not to risk provoking an issue with the broadcast regulator. Nonetheless, there is some ambiguity in the licence conditions. Some media commentators suggested that Sirius Canada's reluctance to carry Stern had less to do with regulatory concerns and more to do with unwillingness to pay the American company's syndication fees for the program. Others might argue that Sirius Canada was simply trying to avoid the public relations and regulatory battle that would likely follow if it decided to carry Stern.

When Sirius Canada finally announced on February 1, 2006 — three months after the Canadian service's launch — that the Howard 100 channel would be made available to all subscribers effective February 6, [8] the announcement was covered by most media outlets but did not generate any significant backlash.

In May 2006, Sirius Canada announced that it would add Howard 101 to its lineup. The channel was made available to listeners on June 19, 2006, as part of a 10-channel addition to Sirius Canada's channel lineup.

Sirius Canada and Apple

On November 17, 2009, Sirius Canada announced that the company launched the first official satellite radio application for the iPhone and iPod touch users in the country. The application is free from Apple's App store. Subscribers can now have access to SIRUS Canada's programming content, and commercial-free music channels.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission</span> Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications regulator

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasting and telecommunications. It was created in 1976 when it took over responsibility for regulating telecommunication carriers. Prior to 1976, it was known as the Canadian Radio and Television Commission, which was established in 1968 by the Parliament of Canada to replace the Board of Broadcast Governors. Its headquarters is located in the Central Building of Les Terrasses de la Chaudière in Gatineau, Quebec.

Satellite radio is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as a broadcasting-satellite service. The satellite's signals are broadcast nationwide, across a much wider geographical area than terrestrial radio stations, and the service is primarily intended for the occupants of motor vehicles. It is available by subscription, mostly commercial free, and offers subscribers more stations and a wider variety of programming options than terrestrial radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">XM Satellite Radio</span> Company

XM Satellite Radio (XM) was one of the three satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable television. Its service included 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional traffic and weather channels, and 23 play-by-play sports channels. XM channels were identified by Arbitron with the label "XM".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Media of Canada</span> Overview of the media of Canada

The media of Canada is highly autonomous, uncensored, diverse, and very regionalized. Canada has a well-developed media sector, but its cultural output—particularly in English films, television shows, and magazines—is often overshadowed by imports from the United States. As a result, the preservation of a distinctly Canadian culture is supported by federal government programs, laws, and institutions such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of Canadians and overseas over the Internet, and through mobile apps. CBC Radio One is simulcast across Canada on Bell Satellite TV satellite channels 956 and 969, and Shaw Direct satellite channel 870.

Canadian content refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television broadcasters must produce and/or broadcast a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from Canada. CanCon also refers to that content itself, and, more generally, to cultural and creative content that is Canadian in nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sirius Satellite Radio</span> Satellite radio service owned by Sirius XM

Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CBC Radio 3</span> Canadian digital radio station

CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music.

<i>The Howard Stern Show</i> American radio show

The Howard Stern Show is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 and Howard 101, Stern's two uncensored channels on the subscription-based satellite radio service SiriusXM, since 2006. Other prominent staff members include co-host and news anchor Robin Quivers, writer Fred Norris and executive producer Gary Dell'Abate, along with former members Jackie Martling, Billy West, John Melendez, and Artie Lange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">XM Radio Canada</span>

XM Radio Canada was the operating name of Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., a Canadian communications and media company, which was incorporated in 2002 to broadcast satellite radio in Canada. Following the merger of Sirius XM Radio in the United States, XM Canada and its competitor Sirius Canada reached a deal in late 2010 to merge into SiriusXM Canada, which was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on April 11, 2011 and completed on June 21, 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faction Talk</span> Radio station

Faction Talk is a subscription-based channel on the satellite radio service Sirius XM Radio. The channel first aired on XM on August 6, 2004, as xL High Voltage in preparation for the launch of the American radio show Opie and Anthony several months later, and required subscribers to purchase the channel as a premium, until 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard 100 and Howard 101</span> Satellite radio channels

Howard 100 and Howard 101 are two uncensored channels on Sirius XM, a satellite radio service that broadcasts programming affiliated with Howard Stern and The Howard Stern Show. Though the channels were first broadcast on September 29, 2005 with the former company Sirius Satellite Radio, Stern could not officially broadcast until January 1, 2006, as Stern was still at WXRK, the terrestrial radio station where he had to finish his FM radio contract. A merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio occurred in the summer of 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sirius XM NHL Network Radio</span> Radio station

SiriusXM NHL Network Radio is SiriusXM's talk channel dedicated to the sport of hockey and the National Hockey League. It features hockey talk during the day and play-by-play at night. It is the only Canadian-produced satellite radio channel available to both subscribers of XM and Sirius Radio in the United States. The director of programming on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio is Peter Berce, while daily on-air contributors include Scott Laughlin, Jim "Boomer" Gordon, Steve Kouleas, Mike Johnson, Mick Kern, Nick Alberga, Jake Hahn, Tyler Madarasz, and Gord Stellick. Former contributors include Jamie Shalley, Mike Ross, Shawn Lavigne, and Gary Green.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">'60s Gold</span> Sirius XM satellite radio channel

'60s Gold, formerly known as The '60s on 6 or The '60s, is a commercial-free, satellite radio station on the Sirius XM Radio platform. It plays music from the 1960s. Airing on XM since 2001, the channel became available to Sirius subscribers replacing '60s Vibrations on November 12, 2008, following the merger of the two companies. The station currently broadcasts on channel 73 of both services, as well as on Dish Network channel 6073.

This is a list of former channels on XM Satellite Radio, in addition to information on format changes of existing channels. Also included is information on temporary channels and seasonal channels.

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, merging them into SiriusXM Radio. The company also has a 70% equity interest in Sirius XM Canada, an affiliate company that provides Sirius and XM service in Canada. On May 21, 2013, Sirius XM Holdings, Inc. was incorporated, and in January 2020, Sirius XM reorganized their corporate structure, which made Sirius XM Radio Inc. a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Sirius XM Holdings, Inc.

This is a timeline of the history of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Stern television shows</span>

Howard Stern is an American radio personality who is best known for his radio show The Howard Stern Show. Stern describes himself as the "King of All Media" for his successes in the radio, television, film, music and publishing industries.

Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. is a Canadian radio broadcasting company, which operates as a Canadian affiliate of Sirius XM Radio. The company received approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on April 11, 2011 to merge the formerly distinct XM Radio Canada and Sirius Canada services, following the merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio in the United States. The merger was subsequently completed as of June 21, 2011.

References

  1. 1 2 CRTC Decision 2011-240.
  2. ↑ "Sirius Canada and XM Canada Complete Merger" Archived 2014-08-10 at the Wayback Machine . Broadcaster, June 21, 2011.
  3. ↑ http://www.cnw.ca/en/releases/archive/November2005/02/c9599.html
  4. ↑ CRTC Decision 2000-1
  5. ↑ "TheStar.com - Sirius to provide satellite radio coverage of CFL". Toronto Star . Archived from the original on 2006-04-30.
  6. ↑ CRTC Decision 2005-247
  7. ↑ http://www.torontosun.com/News/Canada/2005/11/16/1309135-sun.html [ dead link ]
  8. ↑ http://www.cnw.ca/en/releases/archive/February2006/01/c2581.html
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.