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Path: utzoo!hcr!chrisr
From: chrisr@hcr.UUCP (Chris Retterath)
Newsgroups: net.misc,can.general
Subject: Re: Canada's Tradition as a Pioneer in Communications Technology
Message-ID: <608@hcr.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 20-Mar-84 15:09:03 EST
Article-I.D.: hcr.608
Posted: Tue Mar 20 15:09:03 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Mar-84 15:52:12 EST
References: <7255@watmath.UUCP>
Organization: Human Computing Resources, Toronto
Lines: 24

Maybe we've gone too far ahead. In Canada, the broadcast medium is
"public property", which translates to the CRTC applying heavy handed
government controls on every aspect of the business. Getting a license to
transmit is hard enough, as the fight for University radio stations to
transmit on other than campus wires exemplifies. Now we hear that a station
in Montreal will lose its license partly because the programmers used
too much French in their broadcasts. Cobourg lost a classical station
recently because of content decisions. It appears that having a license
means that the CRTC must approve everything you broadcast.
	I won't even go into the horror stories about "canadian content",
except to say that the nationality the authors, producers, directors,
et al are is usually not of any interest to me. I'm just glad that I live
near enough to the U.S. border to pick up U.S. radio and television
stations. 
	Getting back to the Canadian tradition, I see communications
developments mired down in government crapola all the time. Bell just
got turned down in its application for a license to develop cellular telephone
circuits; satellite dishes were illegal until recently and are only
partly legal for home use; stereo AM is coming in at a snail's pace,
and so the story goes. Pioneer? Don't make me laugh!
		Chris Retterath,
		hcr!chrisr
	
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