General Motors Canada Welcomes CRTC Ruling...

[IAMCANADIAN]

Oshawa, Ontario (Friday, June 17, 2005) - General Motors of Canada Limited welcomes the CRTC decision to approve satellite radio in Canada. GM Canada will be working with Canadian Satellite Radio (CSR) and its partners to analyze the conditions of license and determine how to move as quickly as possible to address pent-up consumer demand for satellite radio in Canada.

“We are eager to move forward to introduce XM radio into our 2006 model year vehicles,” said Michael Grimaldi, president of GM of Canada. “Satellite radio is the biggest advancement in mobile audio technology in the last 60 years. XM is a great customer feature that will allow us to combine it with other safety and security features to enhance the value in new GM vehicles.”

During the 2006 model year, General Motors plans to offer XM radio from factory-installed receivers in more than 50 vehicle models - more than any other automotive manufacturer. Consumers purchasing a new GM vehicle with XM Satellite Radio would receive three trial months of XM service, digital quality sound and a fully-integrated appearance that comes with a factory installation.

“We welcome GM of Canada’s commitment to bring the best in satellite entertainment to their Canadian customers,” said John Bitove, chairman and CEO of CSR. “CSR is committed to providing GM customers, in both rural and urban communities, music, comedy, sports and news with a unique Canadian twist. GM’s customers coast-to-coast will appreciate the most diverse play list in Canadian history.”

About Canadian Satellite Radio
Canadian Satellite Radio (CSR) is Canada’s premier satellite radio service. It is Canadian-owned and controlled by John I. Bitove, and was formed to provide audio, data, video and other subscription-based, services and broadcasting entertainment to Canadians and the rest of North America. CSR is the majority owner and operator of XM Canada, which offers industry leading audio technology, content and programming to Canadians in both English and French. XM Canada works in partnership with XM Satellite Radio of the United States, which currently offers more than 150 channels of music, news and entertainment programming to its subscribers for a monthly fee. For more information about CSR, visit www.cdnsatrad.com.

About XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is America's number one satellite radio service with four million subscribers. Broadcasting live daily from studios in Washington, DC, New York City and Nashville, XM offers more than 150 digital radio channels of choice from coast to coast: 67 commercial-free music channels, featuring hip hop to opera, classical to country, bluegrass to blues; 64 channels of premier sports, news, talk, comedy, children's and entertainment programming. XM Satellite Radio is the satellite radio leader in sports programming, offering thousands of live sporting events every year. XM is the official satellite radio network for Major League Baseball, NASCAR, the Indy Racing League, the PGA TOUR, and the college sports conferences ACC, Pac-10, and Big Ten. XM was named Best Radio Service at the 2004 Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards.
XM is the leader in satellite-delivered entertainment and data services for the automobile market through partnerships with General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, and Volkswagen/Audi. XM is available in more than 120 different vehicle models for 2005. XM also is available in Avis, National, and Alamo rental cars. XM is the exclusive in-flight entertainment service for AirTran Airways, and will soon be available on JetBlue flights. Consumers can experience XM over the Internet through XM Radio Online at http://listen.xmradio.com. For more information about XM hardware, programming and partnerships, please visit http://www.xmradio.com.

[Canuck]

Only three months of free service?
Come on GM give the consumer a year for free like you do with OnStar.
It is about time the CRTC approved 'legal' access to XM and Sirus.

[ZillaZ]

Here's a link to the article to meet posting guidelines:
http://email.gmcanada.com/corpdb/cac...0?OpenDocument

[ZillaZ]

I know the XM bandwidth is limited but it'd be cool if they had enough bandwidth for 2 movie channels hooked up to the backseat video screen. Every motorhome would have XM then! XM could probably get another $15 a month for this movie service.

One would be a kids movie channel for keeping the kids occupied in the back seat and a more mature movie channel that shows other movies. It couldn't be like typical satellite movie channels where there is a different movie on each channel (bandwidth limitation), but rather like IFC where various movies are played in sequence. It would be kind of annoying so you'd need a PVR to set it to record all the stuff you like. Say there are maybe 200 movies in the loop so you just pick which ones you want and it will record it when it comes on. A few new movies would replace the oldest movies each month. And of course a DVD player is standard with the video screen.

[doh]

Originally Posted by ZillaZ

I know the XM bandwidth is limited but it'd be cool if they had enough bandwidth for 2 movie channels hooked up to the backseat video screen. Every motorhome would have XM then! XM could probably get another $15 a month for this movie service.

One would be a kids movie channel for keeping the kids occupied in the back seat and a more mature movie channel that shows other movies. It couldn't be like typical satellite movie channels where there is a different movie on each channel (bandwidth limitation), but rather like IFC where various movies are played in sequence. It would be kind of annoying so you'd need a PVR to set it to record all the stuff you like. Say there are maybe 200 movies in the loop so you just pick which ones you want and it will record it when it comes on. A few new movies would replace the oldest movies each month. And of course a DVD player is standard with the video screen.

I don't know, with the so called Canadian content laws, in satellite television, would there be enough Canadian kids movies to play 24 hrs per a day?

[DanCBJMS1988]

Personally, I'm a big fan of the other satellite radio service that Sirius, Standard Radio, and the CBC are involved in. With this one, CBC English Radio and CBC French Radio (aka Radio-Canada) are streamed live, as well as a few other Canadian stations. Other than that, it's Sirius all the way. Wouldn't it be cool, however, to have the CBC's Galaxie 30-channel music service streaming on satellite radio?

http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/newsr...20040210.shtml

http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/newsr...20031210.shtml

http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/newsr...20040722.shtml

http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/newsr...20040708.shtml

http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/newsr...lliteradio.pdf

[ZillaZ]

Originally Posted by doh

I don't know, with the so called Canadian content laws, in satellite television, would there be enough Canadian kids movies to play 24 hrs per a day?

Good point. Maybe not all movies then, kids like pretty much any cartoons and there are many production houses in Toronto that produce cartoons for American companies... That counts as Canadian Content, so they could use any of that stuff too. Basically, it would be YTV + movies.

[Canuck]

[quote=DanCBJMS1988]Personally, I'm a big fan of the other satellite radio service that Sirius, Standard Radio, and the CBC are involved in. With this one, CBC English Radio and CBC French Radio (aka Radio-Canada) are streamed live, as well as a few other Canadian stations. Other than that, it's Sirius all the way. Wouldn't it be cool, however, to have the CBC's Galaxie 30-channel music service streaming on satellite radio?
QUOTE]

Actually no it would not be cool. CBC is like PBS in the States and why does the Canadian Government need to be in the radio business? PBS at least gets direct public support. The CBC on the hand just wastes tax dollars.
Private business can provide stations. For example there is no need to provide french stations in Alberta, BC, Sask, etc. If a person wants a french station in these markets let them pay for it. My tax dollars do not need to go to supporting niche markets.
Why does anyone need the CBC to be on Satellite at all? It is broadcast on FM and AM across the country in the most remote locations already.
Isn't the purpose of the government to provide services where private industry can't provide a service?