Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Fox News North: It Really IS Affirmative Action For Conservatives

Next year, all-news services CBC NN and CTV News Channel will lose their must-carry status, so that cable and satellite distributors no longer have to offer the channels. The news services will instead have to negotiate with distributors for carriage like most specialty channels.

But Quebecor’s Sun TV News, spearheaded by the company’s new vice-president of development, Kory Teneycke, has applied for a three-year, Category A licence, which are intended for non-competitive markets.

Let me say it once, clearly: I'd be more than happy to see these clowns get their TV channel, to pour millions into it and discover that the number of Canadians who would actually pay to watch a bunch of puffy white guys talk crap wouldn't fill a wading pool. My only fear is that it doesn't go under before I stop finding it hilarious.

But they should make their own way like an honest enterprise...like these guys, for example. They should not be awarded "must carry" status (and, frankly, they should be ashamed for even asking for it, rabid free-marketers that they must assuredly be).

And, by the way Al Jazeera English went through an extensive series of negotiations with both the CJC and B'nai Brith to ensure that its Canadian offerings didn't include the kind of anti-Semitic ranting that occasionally appears on the Arab language station. Since, left unchecked, SunTV is likely to offend any ethnic/religious minority that isn't Israeli, will they accept the same kind of scrutiny/oversight?

7 comments:

Fred from BC said...

But they should make their own way like an honest enterprise...like these guys, for example. They should not be awarded "must carry" status (and, frankly, they should be ashamed for even asking for it, rabid free-marketers that they must assuredly be).


There's a reason that they hire such smart people to run their operations. Smart people never lose sight of the bottom line: they are RUNNING A BUSINESS, not trying to appear morally superior or make a political point. Of course they are going to apply for 'must carry' status...what kind of idiot wouldn't?

(answer: the kind that quickly finds himself unemployed)

Tof KW said...

Oh Fred, one very simple question. What business did Kory ever run before starting SunTV?

I'll save you the research. NONE!
He's a professional political hack. He's the 'smart' person this franchise is relying on to succeed. I admit he's very good at smearing political opponents, raising straw-man arguments, deflecting attention, and throwing around unsubstantiated claims of 'bias' against real journalists ...but he's never run a real business in his life.

Provided they are not granted "must carry" status, watch for SunTV to fail within a few years. The TV news market is already saturated way beyond what it should be with CBCNN, CTVNews and CP24, not to mention the US news networks, BBC and other foreign news services that are available to cable subscribers.

bigcitylib said...

A few years would be about right for me. Any longer and I would run out of Ezra Levant jokes.

Ted Betts said...

I am quite certain that it is impossible to run out of Ezra jokes.

Given that he is one big walking yabbering joke himself.

Gene Rayburn said...

It's always interesting to see what revelations come from Fred's addled mind. Tomorrow he will enlighten us with the colour of the sky followed up with a lecture about the travails of mixing oil and water.

Fred from BC said...

Tof KW said...

Oh Fred, one very simple question. What business did Kory ever run before starting SunTV?

I'll save you the research. NONE!
He's a professional political hack. He's the 'smart' person this franchise is relying on to succeed. I admit he's very good at smearing political opponents, raising straw-man arguments, deflecting attention, and throwing around unsubstantiated claims of 'bias' against real journalists ...but he's never run a real business in his life.



Wow.

I almost hate to interrupt such a hilarious rant, but...ummm...I wasn't actually talking about Kory. You see, Kory is not the guy applying to the CRTC for either a broadcast license or 'must carry status'. It's actually the OWNERS OF THE COMPANY who do that.

Kory is just a front man and an employee. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough earlier, but frankly I thought it was pretty self-evident.

Fred from BC said...

Gene Rayburn said...

It's always interesting to see what revelations come from Fred's addled mind. Tomorrow he will enlighten us with the colour of the sky followed up with a lecture about the travails of mixing oil and water.



While I generally tend to ignore your trolling (okay, not just yours...anyone's), this unintentional insult to your fellow Liberals is just too damn funny not to mention... ;)

(a hint: reread what you wrote here. CAREFULLY.)