Canada’s Sun News Network sets once and for all
The end of an era
Canada’s equivalent of Fox News shut down early this morning.
In a land where the state run Human Rights Commission works tirelessly to squash free speech, Sun News Network will be missed. Sun News’ closing leave the network’s commentators like Ezra Levant, who’ve consistently spoken out against Canada’s penchant for political correctness are now without network home, and Free Speech, largely without a national voice.
Citing difficulty obtaining a buyer, the network was left with no viable way to remain operational.
In August of 2013, federal regulators denied Sun News a mandatory cable spot, making it difficult for the network to attract viewers.
CBC News reports:
Sun News Network went off the air at 5 a.m. ET Friday after failing to find a new owner.
Programming on the channel was replaced with a Sun TV logo.
Sun Media Corp. issued a statement saying it spent months unsuccessfully trying to find a buyer, but financial losses meant it could not continue to operate.
“This is an unfortunate outcome; shutting down Sun News was certainly not our goal,” said Julie Tremblay, President and CEO of Media Group and Sun Media Corporation.
“Over the past four years, we tried everything we could to achieve sufficient market penetration to generate the profits needed to operate a national news channel. Sadly, the numerous obstacles to carriage that we encountered spelled the end of this venture,” Tremblay said in a statement
The network’s website featured only a Sun News logo on Friday morning.
The network began broadcasting in April 2011, launching a right-of-centre programming schedule, but it has had a constant challenge attracting viewers.
Its supporters blamed the CRTC for not giving it the same access enjoyed by news channels operated by CBC and CTV.
The federal broadcast regulator denied Sun News a guaranteed spot on basic cable TV packages in August 2013.
Data released as part of that application showed that while the network was available to 5.1 million households, it was only attracting, on average, 8,000 viewers at any given time.
That number was far lower than what well-established all-news networks operated by CTV and CBC were reporting. CBC, for example, said it had eight times as many viewers as Sun News.
Sun News Network reveled in controversy:
When Quebecor launched the station, media pundits quickly dubbed it “Fox News North.”
On the first day of broadcasting, Ezra Levant, one of the most controversial hosts of Sun News, showed the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to TV viewers.
According to a Canadian Press report, Levant said he’s grateful for the freedom he had at Sun News, and while he doesn’t know what he’ll do next, he still has “a lot of things to say.”
“I still have a point of view that some people like, some people don’t like, but I think it has its place in the spectrum of opinion,” said Levant, noting he was “overwhelmed” by feedback from fans.
“I think that people had a passionate response to the Sun, pro or con, that they didn’t feel for all news channels.”
When Postmedia announced last October that it was buying Quebecor’s Sun Media Corp. and its 175 English-language newspapers — including the Toronto Sun — the TV channel was not included in the deal.
The network employs about 200 people.
Follow Kemberlee Kaye on Twitter
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
“Data released as part of that application showed that while the network was available to 5.1 million households, it was only attracting, on average, 8,000 viewers at any given time.”
Not really the equivalent of Fox News, then…
Those 8000 viewers are the ones who couldn’t get Fox, ay?
All the other conservative Canuks are watching Fox already?
In related news…
“Newsstand sales of U.S. consumer magazines dropped 12% in the first half of 2014 from a year earlier” http://www.wsj.com/articles/print-magazine-sales-decline-in-1st-half-of-2014-1407423959
“…celebrity magazines suffered mightily on the newsstand in the first half of 2014. Newsstand sales of People, InStyle and US Weekly dropped by nearly 15 percent in that time, compared with the same period in 2013. In Touch Weekly’s newsstand sales declined by 23.5 percent, Star Magazine by 21.8 percent and Life & Style Weekly by 21.7 percent. People StyleWatch suffered a 32.8 percent decline.
…Vanity Fair had an 11.8 percent decline.”
celebrity magazines suffered mightily on the newsstand in the first half of 2014. Newsstand sales of People, InStyle and US Weekly dropped by nearly 15 percent in that time, compared with the same period in 2013. In Touch Weekly’s newsstand sales declined by 23.5 percent, Star Magazine by 21.8 percent and Life & Style Weekly by 21.7 percent. People StyleWatch suffered a 32.8 percent decline.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/business/media/newsstand-sales-of-celebrity-magazines-decline
I didn’t mind Ezra’s show including the great coverage of the braindead hippies blocking gas pipelines in B.C. But he has the tendency to drone on and on in his rants. As for the rest of it.. I didn’t like any of the personalities. Just wasn’t my cup of tea. I prefer Fox (which I don’t get in HD yet!) and sometimes the DLC programming on CNN can be interesting.