Things are not looking bright over at Sun TV:
OTTAWA, Ont. — Quebecor says its television network Sun News is projected to have lost $17 million in 2012 and will continue to record unacceptable losses unless the federal regulator requires cable and satellite companies to carry it on their basic service.
In other words, the champions of the free market acknowledge they cannot survive unless a government regulator forces Canadians to watch them.
15 responses to “SunTV Applies for Welfare”
Support the Free Market Dan and get behind this noble initiative to force Canadians who have cable tv through government mandate to purchase Sun TV. It is the least we can do to ensure there is a voice in our media that explains the inherent evils of government overreach.
I believe in free speech and would die to defend if need be. But in this case it’s not free speech it’s hate speech, it’s hurtful and it’s derogatory. Everyone should be allowed to say whatever they want in a free, open and democratic society. But if what you say causes hurt and harm it should be banned. You can’t yell “fire” in a crowed movie theatre cause it would cause panic and harm to someone. But Sun News is far beyond the elements of free speech. They commit liable, they are racists, they are blasphemies, they are biased and they are hurtful to visible minorities. They should be banned!
There are laws in this country against hate speech. If indeed Sun News were regularly broadcasting hate speech, it would have been charged using these laws. Not liking what someone is saying does not make it hate speech.
Totally agree with the GG’s point on corporate welfarism, though.
Disclaimer: I have never watched Sun News.
This is not a case about Free speech. One does not need mandatory carriage and forcing customers to pay them money whether we want to watch the channel or not.
They’re on the air and if you want to watch them, you can watch them. It seems to me that they are just crappy at running their business efficiently. Other cable channels seem to survive no problem.
If Canadians are forced to fund the CBC and if cable subscibers are forced to pay for French language stations in their package, Sun TV has the right to ask for equal treatment. If people think Sun TV should survive in the market, then the CBC should be viewer funded and all cable stations should be by subscriber choice only. Doing away with all government funding for TV and giving people a tax credit for subscribing to Canadian stations they want might be the best solution.
Isn’t a lack of political bias supposed to be a requirement for mandatory carriage? Surely Sun TV does not fit that requirement.
The CBC is a public entity. Sun TV is private, and exists for its own profit.
The CBC newsrooms have twice the staff of private networks. CBC employees take three times as many sick days on average as private sector employees. If private networks have to pay higher taxes to fund CBC excess, they are entitled to government support too.
No, they’re not. The CBC was Canada’s first national broadcaster. It was created by the government to serve all Canadians. Private networks are more than welcome to get involved, but they’re not “entitled” to anything because there’s also a public broadcaster. Canadian taxpayers pay for the CBC, so everyone gets it. Sun TV is a private product that can’t sell itself and so is asking the government to do it for them.
“Sun TV is a private product that can’t sell itself and so is asking the government to do it for them.”
Sun TV is a news network that is asking for the same treatment as CBC Newsworld and CTV Newsnet.
“Sun TV is a news network that is asking for the same treatment as CBC Newsworld and CTV Newsnet.”
CBC Newsworld is the news channel of our public broadcaster, and CTV newsnet is a the news channel of Canada’s largest national private broadcaster. That is why both are on basic cable.
Sun TV News is a specialty channel that narrowcasts news for a specialty audience. Specialty channels are available for purchase, but are not carried on basic cable.
It has nothing to do with other companies having mandatory cary licenses. It has to do with the hypocrisy of Sun News protesting government favours for others while wanting one for themselves.
Not everyone gets the CBC, even though taxpayers have to pay for it.
But every cable subscriber MUST pay for APTN whether they want to or not. So according to Dan, they should go under.
Every cable subscriber MUST pay for CTV whether they want to or not. So according to Dan, they should go under.
I’m all for eliminating forced carriage for all channels and at the same time eliminating the CBC subsidy. But until that happens, let’s put SunTV on the same playing field, even if they’re only asking for a fraction of what the other folks get.
It’s not a level field and it shouldn’t be, because Sun TV is not equivalent to either CTV’s or CBC’s news networks.
It is not an issue of fairness. If the CRTC puts a specialty channel like Sun TV on basic cable, then they’re going to get pressure from every specialty channel.
As for APTN, there is a public interest (in theory at least) for carrying it on basic cable and that argument is specious when applied to Sun TV.
Things (people, ideas) have NEVER been bright at SunTV, which is why I refuse to purchase their “service”.
Since that’s how the market is SUPPOSED to work, according to market economists, SunTV has no valid complaint.