At least one of the three winners in Canada's satellite radio derby says it'd unlikely to proceed under the current licensing conditions.

A bid by CHUM Limited and Astral Media to supply an all-Canadian ground-based subscription radio service is in jeopardy, after the CRTC also approved two largely American services, Sirius Satellite Radio and XM. Both companies had lined up Canadian partners to offer their service.

But CHUM's executive vice president Paul Ski said his company would have to review its position in the wake of the decision.

"We are shocked, stunned and quite surprised," he said.

CHUM proposed to offer a lineup of 50 Canadian music channels using a ground-based network of transmitters.

The CRTC imposed strict Canadian content requirements on the two cross-border bids. It said they must offer a minimum of eight Canadian channels, each carrying at least 85 per cent Canadian content, and a maximum of nine foreign signals for every one domestic channel. At least 25 per cent of the domestic channels must be in French.

Both Sirius and XM indicted they will likely go ahead, but the CHUM group was clearly unhappy that the two cross-border services will not have to program as much Canadian content.

Some industry observers fear that by licensing all three services, the CRTC has assured all three will only be marginally viable.

Others worry about the impact satellite radio will have on conventional broadcasters. Satellite radio will be commercial-free, something that could be a huge attraction to listeners. However, advertisers would likely be unwilling to pay current ad rates if audiences at conventional AM and FM stations decline sharply, undermining the financial health of existing broadcasters.