Official Update:

"Sirius Announces Stern-less Canadian Line-Up

November 3, 2005

Sirius Satellite Radio revealed today that Sirius Canada will offer 100 channels of programming when it launches in December. While the channels will offer music, news, sports, and entertainment programming, Howard Stern's two U.S. channels will not be available on the Canadian outlet. Sirius Canada will, however, include ten Canadian music and information stations in both English and French. The monthly subscription rate will be $14.99 (CAD) a month."

So much for the "waiting to drop his name" theory.

Howard Stern's two U.S. channels will not be available on the Canadian outlet.

Maybe I'm just being hopeful, but the quoted story does not explain why he won't be available, so there may still be a very slim chance that it is just saying he will not be available at this time.

Or am I just being an optimist here?

I'm still waiting to see an actual list of all the stations that will be airing in Canada.

Well , after being a grey Mkt. sub. for about 5 months now with 4 units ,
I've got to say I'm more than a little dissapointed with recent announcements
from Sirius Canada !
I thought the Can. channels would be added to the existing ones and , then the PAYING CUSTOMER could decide on thier own what he/she wanted to listen to !? So much for forward thinking !
I paid for one year and got a month free and was looking forward to supporting a Canadian leap into the future after my year was up .
From reading this thread from start to here , all I see is music channels
powered by CBC (prob. the same crap as on the Star Choice music chanels) and talk radio , also CBC . I already have a crappy AM/FM radio.
I won't be switching anytime soon if this does not change and cannot understand what the deal is W/Stern , I mean if I can watch the Soprano's and Osbourns on CTV with NO editing , what is the problem with anything presently on Sirius?? Why does the CRTC feel the need to "protect" us from outside influences or opinions , are we not smart enough to make our own decisions ? , or must we decide things only on the info they let us hear ?
Am I right ? What do you have to say?

one thing: BLAME! the CRTC they reseved the right to take a look at what's on satellite radio
what the FCC in the US doesn't do
that explain the Stern less SIRIUS

SIRIUS doesn't want to have trouble with the CRTC

start a SIRIUS boycott till Stern is on

You're suggesting they add AM radio stations to a satellite radio service... that kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?Hardly makes much difference for talk. I'm not suggesting they add AM music stations. I only listen to radio when I'm driving. AM vs FM sound doesn't make much difference when you've got road-noise.

To me having mostly foreign-content kind of defeats the purpose ... I certainly won't be subscribing!

The other thing I would think peopel would want would be sports. And most of the sports channels are AM as well.

Nick

**** canada...... Im moving to the US...

Well , after being a grey Mkt. sub. for about 5 months now with 4 units ,
I thought the Can. channels would be added to the existing ones and , then the PAYING CUSTOMER could decide on thier own what he/she wanted to listen to !? So much for forward thinking !

For the US subs, yes, the Cdn channels are just added.
For Cdn subs, they can only offer som many channels per Cdn sourced channel.

From reading this thread from start to here , all I see is music channels
powered by CBC (prob. the same crap as on the Star Choice music chanels) and talk radio , also CBC .

AFAICT, only CBCR1 and SRC are the only OTA broadcast channels that will be on the service, and most of the other channels are produced specifically for the satellite service only, and possibly web streams.

None of the Galaxie/Maxtrax channels will find their way to either Sirus or XM.


I won't be switching anytime soon if this does not change and cannot understand what the deal is W/Stern , I mean if I can watch the Soprano's and Osbourns on CTV with NO editing , what is the problem with anything presently on Sirius?? Why does the CRTC feel the need to "protect" us from outside influences or opinions , are we not smart enough to make our own decisions ? , or must we decide things only on the info they let us hear ?
Am I right ? What do you have to say?

IMO, Stern is just rude and offensive, the Osbournes and Sopranos have context. I am on the side of choice BTW, just I personally don't care for Stern.

I'm going to take some heat for this comment, but Howard Stern is about as funny as Napoleon Dynamite and Corner Gas. All I hear is how funny they all are, but all 3 make me want to vomit. The cardboard box my new DVD player came in has more entertainment value...

Awesome. I have never really heard Stern but if he is as funny as Napolean Dynamite and Corner Gas then I am in for sure!!! If you have pics of your DVD player box, maybe you could post them in the humour section?;)

I don't see why this is an issue. Raw Dog Comedy and Maxim radio say rude and offensive things with swearing being a staple of those stations. I don't understand how they can draw a line between the two?

Seany, I pretty much agree with everything you say in your reply. We can agree to disagree on the tax thing. But there is one thing I think we could all look at: the real reason Stern won't be on in Canada. Currently, according to that updated press release shown elsewhere on this page, he won't. But there is no reason attached. And all our comments here are merely speculation.

I agree with others that there would seem to be no valid reason for the CRTC or any other governing body to exclude Stern (whether I like him or not :rolleyes: ), considering that generally speaking Canadian TV and Radio is much more open to "adult" content than American, HBO notwithstanding. And if Cdn. Sirius keeps the pretty raunchy comedy channel, it doesn't make sense that Stern would be excluded by any interested party.

So I'm thinking that there is another reason. What that might be, I don't know. Contractual on Stern's own part, perhaps? Maybe after getting kicked out of Toronto radio he doesn't like us anymore, and is so wealthy he doesn't care about the revenue from Sirius Canada? Maybe Sirius doesn't want to give him more money to be on our side, but he wants more and refuses to let them use him until they do? Any number of things could be non-governmental.

I would like to find a way to find out for sure. Anyone got Stern's home number?

The simple answer is that the CBC hates Howard Stern. Thats the only reason they're excluding him from the lineup, but I'm sure they will come up with some lame canned response.

It's possible that there is a corporate attitude towards Stern, but when you say CBC, you are talking about a very large gov't outfit with a lot of free-thinking individuals. Yes, it has more than its share of desk-jockeys, but it is basically run by creative people, and the majority of them--at least when I was there--would cut off an arm before they would allow any censorship. Of course, in large part the official story depends on who's running the show at any given moment. And politics is pretty heavy in those offices.

When Patrick Watson, one of Canada's premiere newsmen and foreward-thinking documentarians, took the reins of the CRTC some years back, to my mind he completely lost his professional integrity, letting the bureaucrats run roughshod over him. I am sure it was because he had never had to deal with pettiness on such a high level before, and he wanted to be seen as a good man in the eyes of his bosses.

So yes, it is possible, but I kind of doubt it.

I was reading over the CRTC’s license to Sirius Canada and noticed some interesting things, which might explain why Stern is not on the lineup:

“Sirius Canada further stated that it would add three more Canadian-produced channels to its service when it has 300,000 subscribers, or if additional capacity becomes available, one of which would be a French-language channel.”

Could it be that they are not ready to add more right now, and adding Howard Stern would drive them over the 300,000 mark?

Later, the document says:

“Sirius Canada committed to be accountable for the content of all programming broadcast on all Canadian-produced and non-Canadian-produced channels distributed by the proposed undertaking. It undertook not to broadcast anything in contravention of the law, any abusive comment, or any obscene or profane language. Sirius Canada also committed to adhere to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Sex-role Portrayal Code for Television and Radio Programming.”

Does anyone have detail on this code? And if they can’t air profane language, why is Raw Dog and Eminem among the stations?

Then later, it says:
“Sirius Canada further indicated that it would consider offering a "Family Plan" package to subscribers, which would exclude programming considered to be adult in nature.”

Why is this not part of the package? And if this was included, then we could certainly see Stern in the lineup.

Further down:

“The Commission also expects Sirius Canada to create a designation that will be used to identify any channels that broadcast potentially offensive content.”

We haven’t seen this yet…

It also says: “The applicant indicated that the undertaking would deliver a package of radio channels to subscribers for a basic monthly fee of $12.95.”

Isn’t the price higher?

I'm interested to read your thoughts and comments.

The simple answer is that the CBC hates Howard Stern. Thats the only reason they're excluding him from the lineup, but I'm sure they will come up with some lame canned response.

I agree that CBC is probably a big reason why Howard Stern has been excluded from Sirius Canada's channel lineup. CBC likely doesn't want to be associated with Stern and wants nothing to do with him.

The CRTC and its past history dealing Stern when he was on in Canada also, likely factored into Sirius Canada's decision to keep Howard Stern off it's channel lineup as well. Sirius Canada is probably worried about the CRTC's potential negative reaction to Stern and because of this decided not to pick up Stern. Sirius Canada probably doesn't want to take a chance with Stern when there's a possibility of getting in trouble with the CRTC especially since CBC is involved.

... first of all, why would the CRTC squash a new communications company's potential for earnings? And why would Sirius agree to such a deal (note that I am not inferring they would not, but I would like to know why they would, under such conditions).


This interesting: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/eng/Decisions/1998/DB98-213.htm . It says: "7. The licensee shall adhere to the guidelines on gender portrayal set out in the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' (CAB) Sex-Role Portrayal Code for Television and Radio Programming, as amended from time to time and approved by the Commission. The application of the foregoing condition of licence will be suspended as long as the licensee (i.e. Bravo) remains a member in good standing of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC)."

It is talking about the Bravo TV licence. You can see it basically says the CRTC will ignore any deviations from their sex code if Bravo is a good boy. I would imagine this clause applies to most licencees, and explains why there is all kinds of uncensored stuff on the air right now. So what would be different about Sirius?

I think GeekyKewl has probably uncovered something closer to the truth than just will-nilly corporate government opinion-slinging. Trudeau is famous for saying that gov't has no place in the bedrooms of the nation; he was creating a creed for this country about censorship when he said it.

But, then again... here is a chunk of the actual CRTC reasoning behind the editing of the Stern show when it was in Canada: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/eng/Decisions/1999/DB99-554.htm. (http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/eng/Decisions/1999/DB99-554.htm)
Therein you can see that MediaWatch was the instigator.... I am not even sure they exist anymore, because their website is no longer accessible. But again, that was on a commercial radio station... . On the other hand, the CRTC renewed CILQ's licence in '69 for another six years. Of course, as pointed out elsewhere, Stern's show failed due to other reasons.

Regardless if you're pro-Stern or against him, what's really bugging me about this whole situation is that the CRTC or CAB (if they are indeed behind Sirius Canada's decision) is that the government is censoring a service that we subscribe and opt into.

Sure, I can understand how the public airwaves might be legislated, and how Stern's show airing at 8 am might upset people accidentally tuning in, or those people who cannot locate the off button on their radio, or the tuning knob for that matter. But this situation creates a horrible precedent for legislating something else.

Unfortunately, because Stern probably falls into the same category that pronography falls into, supporters of this issue might only be the same people who worry about whether or not The Movie Network will be allowed to carry adult films after hours, or if their local newstand carries Playboy.

As such, few of us would be up to the task of challenging the government on this case.

But I really believe there is a larger issue at stake here. Where does this end?

If the government can legislate pay radio, can they also legisalte other services we pay for?

For example: will broadcasters on premium cable channels be forced to remove any programming that contains offensive language or swear words?

As we're paying for the Internet, will sites that are off limits as deemed by the government be blocked the way they are in China today?

If a book contains possibly offensive material, will bookstores be prevented from selling them?

I think Sirius Canada could get away with things if they strutcure their offerings slightly differently. I think they can offer a basic selection of safe and friendly stations for a base price, and then charge on a per channel basis the same way my cable provider does. Would I pay $15 a month to get a basic selection of channels and maybe 10 channels of my choice? Sure!

I don't understand why the monthly fee is set at $14.99 CND, when a year ago Sirius Canada said that the monthly fee would be $12.99 CND at the CRTC hearings?:confused: There isn't any incentive to get the Canadian version.

Regardless if you're pro-Stern or against him, what's really bugging me about this whole situation is that the CRTC or CAB (if they are indeed behind Sirius Canada's decision) is that the government is censoring a service that we subscribe and opt into.

Sure, I can understand how the public airwaves might be legislated, and how Stern's show airing at 8 am might upset people accidentally tuning in, or those people who cannot locate the off button on their radio, or the tuning knob for that matter. But this situation creates a horrible precedent for legislating something else.

Unfortunately, because Stern probably falls into the same category that pronography falls into, supporters of this issue might only be the same people who worry about whether or not The Movie Network will be allowed to carry adult films after hours, or if their local newstand carries Playboy.

As such, few of us would be up to the task of challenging the government on this case.

But I really believe there is a larger issue at stake here. Where does this end?

If the government can legislate pay radio, can they also legisalte other services we pay for?

For example: will broadcasters on premium cable channels be forced to remove any programming that contains offensive language or swear words?

As we're paying for the Internet, will sites that are off limits as deemed by the government be blocked the way they are in China today?

If a book contains possibly offensive material, will bookstores be prevented from selling them?

I think Sirius Canada could get away with things if they strutcure their offerings slightly differently. I think they can offer a basic selection of safe and friendly stations for a base price, and then charge on a per channel basis the same way my cable provider does. Would I pay $15 a month to get a basic selection of channels and maybe 10 channels of my choice? Sure!


My belief is that soon after the services launch they will start appealing some of the restrictions the CRTC put on them. The legality of the restrictions are questionable, but I don't think either company wants to rock the boat until they launch.

I see a lot of people like Stern. If you ask me he is a crummy talk show host. He goes on shock value, but the reality his it's a boring show. If he's not on, I'll be glad, because it frees up two channels for decent material, not crap.
My 2 cents, since everyone else is giving thiers....