Satellite radio benefits Quebec, survey says
By JACK KAPICA
Thursday, August 4, 2005 Updated at 11:00 AM EDT
Globe and Mail Update
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050804.gtcrtc0804/BNStory/Technology/
In what seems to be emerging as a public-relations war, Canadian Satellite
Radio has posted results of a survey saying that an overwhelming majority
of Quebeckers think subscription radio will have a positive impact on the
province's culture.
CSR and Sirius Canada were granted licences to operate satellite
digital-radio systems in Canada in late July. Yesterday, a coalition of 10
Quebec arts organizations and associations asked the federal government to
rescind those licenses, arguing that Quebec will be short-changed with
satellite radio.
The Quebec groups argued that the terms under which the Canadian
Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission granted the licences
conflict with the country's broadcast policy, and that Canada would not
have any effective control over the transmitters, which are U.S.-owned
satellites. They also say that there is nothing in the licence terms that
requires French channels to have music the licensees could fill up their
French-channel quota using only talk.
In rebuttal, CSR's survey stated that nine out of 10 Quebeckers said the
proposed satellite radio service would have a positive or neutral affect on
French culture in Quebec, and 55 per cent believe satellite radio will have
a positive impact.
CSR dismissed the charges Thursday.
"CSR is a Canadian-controlled company," compoany president Stephen Tapp
told Globetechnology.com today. "All of our programming decisions are made
by CSR. From the content and production of our 100-per-cent originally
produced English, French and multilingual channels produced from Toronto
and Montreal studios to the selection of what XM channels we carry."
The survey, conducted from July 14 to July 19 by Omnitel Omnibus, was
designed to survey Quebec residents to gauge their interest in satellite
radio services, assess interest levels in various types of station formats
and to understand perceptions of how satellite radio will affect the
province's culture.
"A mere 5 per cent of Quebeckers think satellite radio could have a
negative affect," André DiCesare, French talent and industry relations for
CSR, said in a statement. "CSR is eager to launch our service and bring
Quebeckers the French content they are asking for."
The survey shows that 22 per cent of Quebec residents would be interested
in subscribing to a Canadian satellite radio service at a cost of $12.99
per month. Also, two-thirds of Quebec respondents agreed that they would
like to be able to listen to French radio stations when they travel outside
of the province.
While traditional radio stations are struggling to hold on to a younger
audience, respondents under age 35 expressed higher levels of interest in
satellite radio, the survey said.
Satellite radio applicants have estimated that the service will infuse the
Canadian economy with about $2-billion in economic activity over the next
decade, including are artists' royalties and development funding, retailer
revenue, auto manufacturing, marketing costs, shipping and distribution,
production fees, installations, salaries, subscription fees and various
government taxes.
CSR has announced plans to invest $35-million throughout its first
seven-year licensing term to support the growth of the Canadian music and
entertainment industry, reserving 50 per cent for francophone artists,
including nearly $7-million to key organizations such as MusicACTION and ADISQ.
Yesterday, ASDIQ president Yves-François Blanchet told Globetechnology.com
that "90 per cent of the content will be decided in the United States, but
I think it will be 100 per cent. Canadian Satellite Radio and Sirius will
make a show of making those decisions, but I just don't believe it."
The CSR-sponsored survey was conducted via telephone using a randomly
selected sample of Canadians aged 18 or over. Only the Quebec portion of
the sample was asked to respond to custom questions about satellite radio.
With a Quebec sample size of 501, the results are considered accurate to
within plus or minus 4.38 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
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