Canadians Elites Afraid of Satellite Radio

Via the Reason Magazine discussion board:

Canada has a long history of cultural protectionism, restricting foreign media under the pretext of protecting Canadian culture — which somehow is viewed as so fragile and unattractive that it can’t compete with foreign (especially U.S.) culture.

But technology always raises new issues, and satellite radio is the current innovation. As explained by CTV:

Lobbying from broadcast operators is intensifying amid reports the federal government is ready to ask the CRTC to revoke its decision to licence satellite radio.

“Everything suggests that the cabinet will ask the CRTC to overturn its decision,” an official close to the file said in an interview with The Canadian Press on Friday.

In June, the federal broadcast regulator granted the first satellite radio licences to Sirius — a consortium of Radio-Canada and Standard Radio — and a company called Canadian Satellite Radio (CSR).

. . . business and cultural groups appealed the decision of the CRTC to the cabinet, mainly on the basis that the services will not carry enough Canadian content.

Under the strict content guidelines laid out by the CRTC, each group must provide at least eight Canadian channels, and one francophone channel for every three English-language stations.

Of course, if Canadian listeners really wanted a lot of Canadian content, no government regulation would be necessary to provide it. Broadcasters would find it profitable to provide Canadian content to Canadian customers — and enjoy the ratings and ad revenue that resulted.

The same goes for French language broadcasts.

What Canadian elites are doing is what they have long done: trying to “protect” citizens from having the right to watch and listen to the kinds of broadcasts that they want to.

The effect, of course, it the same as any other affirmative action preference or quota. People learn to specialize in “playing the system,” looking to government for protection and special favors instead working and producing and competing.

It’s a recipe for continued backwardness.

[Update: check a recent article from CBC Watch.]