Sun News Network Wants You to Pay for It

[PMC]

So. Is that more a comment about the programmers or about the audience....? (Or both...?)

About 15 years ago, Shaw accidently put my phone number on a screen to order wrestling. I started getting calls at 8am, and by 8:30am I pulled the phone plug to stop the calls. I did not know why the calls kept coming until I asked a caller where they got the number. Shaw corrected the screen, but the calls to get pay per view wrestling kept coming until about 9pm. Based on that experience alone, I know wrestling has more fans that Sun News could ever have

As for Sun tv, it was labeled as Fox north by others, and I found that to be accurate, because the Sun news content was not. As example the day before the last federal election, Sun Tv described in their own details how Jack Layton was a regular customer at a Toronto massage parlour. This story was only put out by Sun to discredit the man and his political party. There was little in truth to the story, or any retraction, or clarification of the facts.

Is that a fault of programmers...no. It is the fault of people that have their own agenda, and then push it, disguised as news content.

The current Sun Tv news agenda is to get a free ride from the consuming public at 18 cents per household, otherwise described as corporate welfare.

[hagopian]

They should get nary a penny.

Their content is a distorted, negative look at everything.

I cannot stand their stuff....and to heck with paying for something, I have no desire for.

Think it was said well - 'corporate welfare'. Just what these poor folks need. YOUR MONEY.

Sheesh.

[former tv guy]

Around and round we go.
Some have yet to express their same opinion 4 times.

For me, don't watch it.

[PMC]

Pave... how about this for the sunny one.... do the much camera and mike booth at various malls in various cities... play back the best of... beeping the seven words that should not be said, and any full nudity... rename it soapbox tv with plenty of promotion to bring on all the loose looney tunes especially when the moon is full ! With the 6-49 going up to $3 in September, charging a loonie for 2 or 3 minutes of soapbox time seems like a winner to me... no need to beg at the crtc

[pave]

Might work. It's crazy enough.

[jon]

Sun News to CRTC: No guaranteed spot on the dial, no more network

OTTAWA - Sun News Network has made its final pitch to the federal telecommunications regulator, saying anything short of a guaranteed spot on the TV dial would spell the end of the channel.

The Quebecor-owned network is seeking what is known as mandatory carriage from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

If the CRTC grants Sun News's application for mandatory carriage, cable and satellite providers would have to include the channel on their basic TV packages.

Some at the eight-day CRTC hearings have suggested a ``must-offer'' designation _ rather than mandatory carriage _ would suffice for Sun News.

Such a designation would only compel cable and satellite companies to make Sun News available to their customers, who could then choose whether or not to subscribe to it.

But Sun News executive Kory Teneycke says a must-offer licence ``would be a death sentence'' for the network.

(The Canadian Press)

[Dave L]

Even Vidéotron, which is a subsidiary of Quebecor Media doesn't carry SUN in their basic packages.

Probably not too many francophones craving for SUN News.

[pave]

No matter how much the haters despise the very existence of SUN News, this is still about who controls the airwaves - corporate or the citizenry (through government representation).
If this goes badly for Sun News, the rest of us can forget about anything other than politically correct, socially or profit motivations to manipulate not only our access to, but the very existence of discerning positions and opinions.
I want Sun, Faux, Al-Jazeera and anything else that may or may not piss me off. I want it readily available. The decision to watch it or believe it or like it or support would then be mine and not some corporate sleazebag or socially-motivated bureaucrat.

[jon]

No matter how much the haters despise the very existence of SUN News, this is still about who controls the airwaves - corporate or the citizenry (through government representation).
If this goes badly for Sun News, the rest of us can forget about anything other than politically correct, socially or profit motivations to manipulate not only our access to, but the very existence of discerning positions and opinions.
I want Sun, Faux, Al-Jazeera and anything else that may or may not piss me off. I want it readily available. The decision to watch it or believe it or like it or support would then be mine and not some corporate sleazebag or socially-motivated bureaucrat.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but what's wrong with a situation where cable company customers determine what their cable company carries? With their wallets?

As in, cable company offers Al-Jazeera for $5 a month. After 6 months, if there are enough customers to make it worth continuing to carry, fine. Otherwise, blow it away and offer a different channel in its place. And repeat the same process.

As it stands now, that is pretty much how it works for other channels. Why should any channels enjoy mandatory carriage? The whole system was originally designed just for local channels that could be received off-air in the community being served.

[pave]

Absolutely, jon.
Since I don't speak French. Italian, Chinese or Farsi, there's a bunch of stations I don't need. But, I'm still getting them. The religious programming I use to practice my barbs, ridicule and satire. MUCH has been off my radar since music was put to video other than performance video. I'll keep CBC because I want to know what spin those scoundrels are applying at The Ministry of Truth and All Things Liberal.

Indeed, I prefer your option. But, we know that ain't happenin'. So, in the meantime, I insist SUN News be allotted a spot on the regular dial.

[PMC]

The argument is over their request for mandatory carrage which then pays the corporation, 18 cents per household, regardless if watched or not... basicly a corporate welfare request to the general population that buys cable.

If this company believes it deserves, then I know dozens of guys that would start tv stations tomorrow if they were guaranteed 18 cents per household. So how does this company rate over them or others ? Certainly not for their track record of trash television.

Sun tv should be offered up with Aljazerra, CNN, Fox, but it should not get mandatory carrage and 18 cents per household.

[xwdcatvb]

Strange thing is, Telus Optik in Metro Vancouver carries RT, a Russian news outlet (in English), as part of its basic package. Or if you're supposed to pay, Telus has forgotten to filter access from our guide. One asumes the Russians give it for free.

Yet I have to pay extra for BBC World/CBC Doc/History in a package that also includes Opra, gawd.

[PMC]

I continue to believe that wrestling draws a larger crowd than Sun tv

As for RT tv, they have a website that covers the same.

[pave]

There is another factor that is unlikely to kick in before the Sun News issue is determined. That being: As viewers gain more access to alternative sources for their "television" - most significantly - the internet - cable providers are going to find themselves in a situation where they will actually have to compete for viewers rather than gouging the ever-lovin' s**t out of consumers as they screw us around with goofy programming "options".

That chicken is coming home to roost. And it's extremely pissed off. But, it may tary some.

[DirkSteele]

The best part of all of this for me....

The conservative leaning network, all about capitalism and free market, etc is running to the government agency saying they should be on an equal playing field and the agency should force the network into people's homes.

You can't be a capitalist one day and a communist when it suits you. Dance back and forth over the ideological line and there isn't a chance of being taken seriously.

If they get what they want.....I can see the ad... "SUN-TV, free market, free thinking television now in your home at a 18 cents per month cost to you.....want it or not".

Three cheers for capitalism!