Maybe not even Videotron, which is owned by Quebecor, which owns Sun TV News (aka Fox News North). Will FNN be the first "straight to youtube" news channel?
I'm a little bit sad that FNN has not made to the customer service reps at the cable cos. Do I really think Shaw and Videotron aren't going to carry FNN? Nah. The Conservatives and Peladeau are too powerful.
Shaw, which serves the conservative west, is sure to offer FNN. Why, the threat of an Adler boycott and a Sandy Crux campaign alone are enough to scare cable providers into complying with their wishes!
Cable companies are notoriously slow to add new news channels to their line-up. Look at Al Jazeera. I'm still wondering which companies provide it. Certainly none here in the west.
Al Jazeera English is available to anyone with Bell, I was watching during the free preview when Libya broke out and was quite impressed with them. Basically they're the BBC World Service geared to a totally different part of the world.
Sun TV is a local, over-the-air station. Carriers have no option to carry or not carry.
The thing with adding new non-OTA channels is that the distributor has to pay for them and needs to determine if they can make a profit doing so. If their thinking is "no one is going to want to pay extra for this" then they have no choice but to add it to an existing package without increasing the price." If that's the case, they have to approach it as "How many customers will I lose if I don't offer it?"
Before they can launch they need an agreement signed with one of the major distributors and it's not allowed to be Videotron (can't be Shaw if it's a Shaw-owned channel, or Rogers if it's Rogers-owned)
This one alone gives us our daily recommended allowance of irony.
ReplyDeleteThe ones to watch are Rogers or Bell. Rogers may yet carry it, but I doubt Bell will with them already owning (and flogging) CTVNewsNet.
I'm a little bit sad that FNN has not made to the customer service reps at the cable cos. Do I really think Shaw and Videotron aren't going to carry FNN? Nah. The Conservatives and Peladeau are too powerful.
ReplyDeleteShaw, which serves the conservative west, is sure to offer FNN. Why, the threat of an Adler boycott and a Sandy Crux campaign alone are enough to scare cable providers into complying with their wishes!
Cable companies are notoriously slow to add new news channels to their line-up. Look at Al Jazeera. I'm still wondering which companies provide it. Certainly none here in the west.
I think Rogers carries the current Sun TV.
ReplyDeleteIve got AlJazeera with Shaw and I live in Vancouver
ReplyDeleteAl Jazeera English is available to anyone with Bell, I was watching during the free preview when Libya broke out and was quite impressed with them. Basically they're the BBC World Service geared to a totally different part of the world.
ReplyDeleteSun TV is a local, over-the-air station. Carriers have no option to carry or not carry.
ReplyDeleteThe thing with adding new non-OTA channels is that the distributor has to pay for them and needs to determine if they can make a profit doing so. If their thinking is "no one is going to want to pay extra for this" then they have no choice but to add it to an existing package without increasing the price." If that's the case, they have to approach it as "How many customers will I lose if I don't offer it?"
Before they can launch they need an agreement signed with one of the major distributors and it's not allowed to be Videotron (can't be Shaw if it's a Shaw-owned channel, or Rogers if it's Rogers-owned)