Minister goes radio gaga over lack of French content
By SIMON BECK
Globe & Mail
Saturday, September 3, 2005 Page B2
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050903/RTHEWEEK03/TPBusiness/General
Celine and Mitsou, au secours! Reluctant as we are to call on you for help,
Canada needs you to save its satellite radio service.
It transpired this week that federal Heritage Minister Liza Frulla was not
content with the already onerous Cancon rules imposed on the two companies
poised to beam radio into Canadian homes from the heavens.
Even though each of the two companies -- Sirius Canada and Canadian
Satellite Radio -- agreed to the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission's requirements that eight of their channels
will have to be dominated by Canadian content, it appears they had not
fully realized that cultural protectionism comes in more than one language.
In fact, the desire to beat American culture back from the door is one of
the few things that the two solitudes agree on.
So it is that Ms. Frulla, a Quebec MP under huge pressure from her Liberal
colleagues from the province, believes there's not nearly enough
French-language programming in the proposal; so she's urging cabinet to
send the issue back to the CRTC so it can waste another two years in
deliberation, by which time Canada could be the only country in the solar
system without digital radio.
Even though the Canadian music industry would rather Sirius and CSR carried
nothing but Cancon round the clock, the thought of another long period sans
satellite radio royalties was enough to rally it behind the corporate
cause. It urged cabinet to let the CRTC decision stand, while the two
companies sweetened the pill by promising that they would increase the
francophone quotient to half of all the Cancon channels.
An unscientific survey of the Quebec press this week displayed ambivalence
on the matter. Observers understandably were upset at the prospect of each
licensee providing only two francophone channels out of 100, but sentiment
hardly seemed heading toward another October Crisis.
Will the firms' offer of a classic 50-50 compromise get the matter past the
guardians of national unity? In any case, if more Roch Voisine means less
Jann Arden -- tragic though that would be -- surely English Canada can pay
the price.
================================
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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