They're calling it Sun TV News and they can't even spell the name of their "stars" correctly (it's Lilley).Hopefully, these guys don't crash and burn until after I've run out of mockery.
Update: They've got his name right in about 1/2 the places now. Keep trying, folks!
Another Update: One to go, fellas!
Kory and his staffers are probably too busy making up crude rape jokes on their Facebook page (as reported in Cheadle's CP story) that they actually think are either insulting or funny.
ReplyDeleteShucks, I was hoping it was actually called HARD NEWS. That would have been all kinds of fantastic.
ReplyDeleteJust to add, I would have thought the SUN brand was garbage. Certainly doesn't help them attract viewership or win over anyone ideologically.
ReplyDeleteNoticed by PZ Meyers!
ReplyDeletehttp://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/06/canadian_poll_to_find_out_if_y.php
Did you vote?
Totally unscientific but the CBC internet poll so far shows what the probably interested viewership pool would be...
ReplyDeleteWould you watch a Fox News-like channel?
No 74% (13,025 votes)
Yes 26% (4,687 votes)
Come on everyone, vote early, vote often...
Fox News: Would you watch a similar channel in Canada?
I love it!!! Sun News! Woohoo!
ReplyDeleteWonder who the first "Sunshine Boy" will be? Jason Kenney, or John Baird (floating like bloated oil tankers carrying tarsand tar on Fake Lake)? Or maybe PM Cartman in a designer diaper (designed by his travelling "stylist")?
It's great that this will carry the Sun label. I've always noted how pointless and inane the Sun tabloids are (and that is EXACTLY what the Sun is - tabloid format vs. the "broadsheet" format of the Globe, Post, or Star). The Rupert Murdoch tabloid formula will be followed. Anyone who doesn't like to read the Sun will be hard-pressed to like this "floaty on Fake Lake"...
When they start placing the "speechies", anti-choice nutbars, religious extremists, and haters on the tube, we'll just sit back and count our votes. While some established networks (most likely Global, or even CTV) will try to follow suit into the gutter/sensationalist/tabloid format, many will just try to make their journalist more serious. You may even see the emergence of a left alternative (TorStar TV anyone?)...
The challenge to the left is always that of money. The corporate class - the fat money robber-barons - always have the upper hand because they have all that cash sitting around - and a driving profit motive. The left needs to embrace the "free" paper format, and the online world more completely.
Keep in mind, the USA swung further right because the public bought into the Fox News tripe. There WAS/IS no left alternative news in the USA. NPR/PBS is moderate/centrist, CNBC is also. Canada should be different. There will be public outcry, and a demand for a network for the left. Some intelligent investors could profit handily... There will be some corporate interest in it.
They're calling it Sun News and they can't even spell the name of their "stars" correctly(it's Lilley).
ReplyDeleteThere goes factual. Possibly even investigative too.
Hey, if they're going to push those things in their ads, they might as well try and live up to them.
Just the composition of that blurb makes me cringe.
ReplyDeleteImplication the media service is an 'individual' aka "news leader".
"which we can be proud of" ...Holy informal sentence ending! Maybe I was trained too rigidly, but that's a no-no. As an added bonus, who's 'we'? Is there a 'style' at work here of which I'm not aware?
Then the rest of the bit is sentence fragments strung together like a cheerios necklace.
I don't hold out much hope for the rest of the product, but they do seem to be emulating Fox's editorial control from the beginning.
I can hardly wait to read their bottom of the screen scroll. Will they constantly be identifying the "PMO Doghouse Conservative of the Week" as Liberal?
''..When they start placing the "speechies", anti-choice nutbars, religious extremists, and haters on the tube...''
ReplyDeleteWhich of the 19 social conservative Liberal MPs will be invited guests on Sun TV?
I'm betting Szabo, because he led the charge in voting down the Lib abortion bill.
I wonder if they will uphold the Fox tradition of identifying embarrassing Republicans as Democrats (in Canada's case, I suppose fallen Conservatives will automatically become Liberals).
ReplyDeletewilson, did you get this week's cheque from the PMO yet?
ReplyDeleteBureaucrats monitor online forums
Liberals/NDP and CBC would all disappear tomorrow without government support.
ReplyDeleteAnother conservative media project is getting off the ground without forced participation by Canadian taxpayers.
Success or failure will not be the result of a parasitical dependency on our taxpayers. A concept that is foreign to sycophantic Mother Corp. types.
Says something important about the world Canadians live in.
Success or failure will not be the result of a parasitical dependency on our taxpayers. A concept that is foreign to sycophantic Mother Corp. types.
ReplyDeleteNo, if they manage to get on the basic cable package, it will be subsidized by cable payers.
All hail the new regime.
Paul S said...
ReplyDelete"Success or failure will not be the result of a parasitical dependency on our taxpayers.
Bullshit!!!
Last time I checked, cable subscribers were all taxpayers.
Quebecor is seeking a first-tier designation from the CRTC, in other words to be part of basic cable package of every Canadian from coast to coast. Read it for yourself...
Quebecor's all-news network to launch in 2011
Paul's just another conbot looking for rationalization so he can watch his propaganda on my dime.
Paul S said...
ReplyDeleteLiberals/NDP and CBC would all disappear tomorrow without government support.
I've already argued the Liberals should support Harper in eliminating the vote subsidy. According to the Hill Times the CPC receives ~26% of its revenue from the subsidy. For the Libs its 37%. It makes up 57% for the NDP, and over 80% each for the Bloc and Greens.
Eliminating the subsidy will hurt the Liberal Party ...but it would not bankrupt them, let alone kill them as the Harperbots think. The CPC losing a quarter of its funding would be felt there too.
But the NDP would be bankrupted and could not fight elections campaigns with any real effect. The Bloc and Greens could very well die from losing over 4/5ths of their budget.
So in one swoop the entire left behind the Liberals would effectively be neutered. Merger or coalitions would not be required.
So go ahead Paul, keep fighting to drop the subsidy and face a solid, united 1-party opposition in future elections. Careful what you wish for, you just may get it.
Another conservative media project is getting off the ground without forced participation by Canadian taxpayers.
ReplyDeleteI give you Sun News' target audience folks. Not plugged into reality at all. Up is down, black is white, and everything is tinted stupid. Go read about what Quebecor is applying for, then come back again with something slightly less off-mark, we'll wait. Idiot.
I think a lot of communication with the CRTC is warranted here as the reformatorts will simply rubber stamp this moronic idea and make us pay more on our cable bills. The cable companies should also be bombarded with opposition to this stupidity.
ReplyDeleteSubscribing to cable TV is a voluntary process. I don't like tiers and bundling, but at the end of the day, I can choose not to subscribe, and save some cash in the process.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the CBC relies on the iron fist of mandatory taxation and the law to stay alive.
And this in spite of the fact that the CBC conciously violates the 1991 Broadcasting Act.
So go ahead Paul, keep fighting to drop the subsidy and face a solid, united 1-party opposition in future elections. - T of KW
Brave talk, but I'm an agnostic on the subject of subsidies. I do find it interesting how miserly the left is in supporting their own party and causes though.
Paul, a tier one award for this station means that cable companies will automatically charge you for it regardless of tiers or bundling. It gets added to your basic cable rate if I'm not mistaken.
ReplyDeleteWould you watch a Fox News-like channel?
ReplyDeleteNo 74% (13,025 votes)
Yes 26% (4,687 votes)
If 26% of Canadians watch Sun News... that would make it a massive success.
And if CBC Newsworld, CTV Newsnet, CPAC, and APTN are all mandatory first-tier cable channels, there's no reason Sun News shouldn't be, too.
(Of course, I personally favour getting rid of all mandates and restrictions on what cable companies can carry. But as long we're stuck with them, all news networks should play by the same rules.)
Hmm, after reading up on this further, it appears that Newsnet and Newsworld (or whatever that latter is called now) are actually classified as *higher* than Category 1, with even better mandatory placement. So even if Sun News gets Category 1, it still won't have as good placement as its established competitors.
ReplyDeleteOh well, I'm guessing they can succeed anyway. ;)
I've already argued the Liberals should support Harper in eliminating the vote subsidy. According to the Hill Times the CPC receives ~26% of its revenue from the subsidy. For the Libs its 37%. It makes up 57% for the NDP, and over 80% each for the Bloc and Greens.
ReplyDeleteDoes the figure count the tax rebate given to people for political donations, which is another form of subsidy? The fact that a lot of Conservative donors give small amounts to the party means that a significant amount of the party funds comes from tax credits (ie. us).
If 26% of Canadians watch Sun News... that would make it a massive success.
Internet polls being what they are, I doubt that the numbers would reach that high. Even Fox News doesn't get 26% of Americans watching it.
Fox news gets 2.2 million viewers for their evening shows and 1 million for their day shows. Now imagine cutting these numbers by 90% -- that would be the ball park of the Canadian channel. The Canadian numbers would possibly be lower because the shows would be in English, which means you lose a siginficant portion of Quebec.
Hmm, after reading up on this further, it appears that Newsnet and Newsworld (or whatever that latter is called now) are actually classified as *higher* than Category 1, with even better mandatory placement. So even if Sun News gets Category 1, it still won't have as good placement as its established competitors.
Yeah, news and sports channels are going to lose mandatory carriage in 2011, which means that it will be very unlikely for Sun TV to get one.
Bon chance.
"Another conservative media project is getting off the ground without forced participation by Canadian taxpayers."
ReplyDeleteAnd how did the "Western Report" and "Western Standard" turn out for ya?
Internet polls being what they are, I doubt that the numbers would reach that high.
ReplyDeleteI agree, but I was just going with the number that the previous poster seemed to be using to show that it wouldn't be successful.
Yeah, news and sports channels are going to lose mandatory carriage in 2011, which means that it will be very unlikely for Sun TV to get one.
Really? Well, that's great news, then. Sun News will battle its competitors on equal footing, and there'll be no (er, fewer) gov't mandates making it happen.
Quebecor is seeking a first-tier designation from the CRTC, in other words to be part of basic cable package of every Canadian from coast to coast.
ReplyDeleteIt turns out that this is incorrect. The Category 1 designation that Sun News is requesting (for three years) just means that cable companies needs to offer it on one of their tiers, not all of them. In other words, they're required to offer customers the option of getting it, but they don't have to take it if they don't want to.