Pigs in Space

Sirius and XM want to bring their satellite radio services to Canada, but there's a movement afoot to block them. According to CTV, "The loudest voices in opposition stem from Quebec, where the artistic community contends there would only be a small number of French-language channels." The whole article proceeds in that vein, with the usual complaints that the U.S. is "dumping" its culture north of the border and that native content needs to be beefed up.

Seems to me that Canada should be more concerned with how it's managed to dump so many talented actors and musicians on us -- but then that would imply the politicians weighing the future of satellite broadcasting are actually concerned with the state of the culture, as opposed to using a culture war to mask a industry's economic self-interest. I do have some sympathy for Canadian companies who will be hobbled by content requirements that fall more heavily on them than on their southern rivals, but it's telling that they're pushing to impose the same rules on Sirius and XM -- or to bar them from the country altogether -- and not to remove the shackles from everyone.

Things are different below the 49th parallel. When our broadcasters beg the feds to beat back the satellite-radio competition, they complain that there's too much local content.