CBC/Radio-Canada, Canada's national public broadcaster, and SIRIUS have announced that they will form a joint venture to bring satellite radio to Canada. CBC/Radio-Canada and SIRIUS also announced that the venture will soon file an application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for a license to provide satellite radio in Canada.

"CBC/Radio-Canada is excited about the opportunity to partner with SIRIUS to bring satellite radio to Canada," states Robert Rabinovitch, CBC/Radio-Canada's president and CEO. "By expanding the choices available to Canadians, this new service will enable the national public broadcaster to better fulfill its mandate by extending its reach and enhancing its services to Canadians."

This new, subscription-based, national service will give Canadians access to a wide range of programming and Canadian content. CBC/Radio-Canada was able to secure the distribution of two of its main channels, namely Radio One and La Première Chaîne. As a result of CBC/Radio-Canada's involvement, the new venture will also provide significant opportunities for existing and emerging Canadian artists to showcase their talent and be heard not only across Canada, but throughout North America as well.

"Our agreement with CBC/Radio-Canada is an exceptional example of a time-honored brand joining with SIRIUS to bring an innovative national service to Canadians," states Joseph P. Clayton, president and CEO of SIRIUS. "60 of our 100 premier channels are commercial-free, and this makes SIRIUS an ideal match for Canada's public broadcaster and its unparalleled Canadian programming content. Also, we have exclusive agreements with DaimlerChrysler, Ford, and BMW car manufacturers, who sell nearly 40 percent of all vehicles sold in Canada, which adds to our reach as well."

The CBC/Radio-Canada and SIRIUS venture will ensure that Canadians have the greatest possible access to a wide array of commercial-free music, information and entertainment services, as well as their national public broadcaster. When licensed by the CRTC, this new subscription-based service will be available to Canadians across the entire country, from urban centers to even the most remote regions.

"Fueled by the digital revolution, radio services are changing dramatically," adds Rabinovitch. "We are forging ahead to ensure that CBC/Radio-Canada has an expanded reach and presence for the benefit of Canadians. We are also encouraged to know that the CRTC wants to deal with the matter of satellite radio expeditiously."

SIRIUS and CBC/Radio-Canada are holding talks with, and may add, other Canadian financial or broadcasting investors to the venture.

cool ............. and my head unit is already sirus ready, can't wait [img]smile.gif[/img]

from what i understand, siruis isnt doing so well though, and have just signed their 300 000th customer, as opposed to xm, who is well over a million. Apparantly, the fact that sirius gives away free tuners is what is killing them. [img]graemlins/dunno.gif[/img]

I just bought a XM ready deck :confused:

Sweet, about time we got satalite radio! :cool:

Now we wait 5 years for the CRTC to Approve everything. If all that it means is Sirius adds two channels for CBC then I am game, but if they change the content of Sirius, I will be ticked.

Even though Sirius has recently only signed its 200,000 customer, they are really turning up the numbers than they we're last quarter.

Most cars come with the optional sat. radio -- My new Infiniti just came with the option, all it needs to the subscription and antenna.

I'm still going to subscribe to the US sat radio regardless. I'm not going to wait for any poop to happen if I can still have a US subscription.

Dave, if your HU has any Aux output, you can hook up a 3rd party Sirius or XM unit to it, it's not deck dependant really.

You mean aux input right ;)

thats gona be great, but i just hope they don't change the channel line up for canada, like they did for tv with starchoice and bell vu. not enough us programming for me. but still, it will be better than the stations i can get around here