Fox News North to be foisted on cable subscribers

Not as much attention is being paid to how Pierre Karl Peladeau plans to organize and finance his conservative all news tv network: he wants CRTC to classify it Category 1, so that it is mandatory in every cable package. With content that will reflect that of Sun newspapers, which consumers are rejecting in droves, this new beast would never take off unless it was heavily subsidized by we, the hapless cable subscribers. How about this CRTC: scrap all categories, and let subscribers subscribe only to those channels they want. You want the 500 channel universe, you got it. However, the reality is that most TV viewers watch six to eight channels regularly, and this would kill a lot of overspecialized tv channels. On the other hand, would anyone seriously miss Fisshing TV?

Financial Post, June 16 2010

Sun chain whacks 600 positions

This was inevitable, as both the Sun newspapers and owner Quebecor have faced declining revenues in the past several years. No details on where jobs will be lost; in addition to the Suns in Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton, they own a number of monopoly dailies in Ontario (e.g. The North Bay Nugget) and weeklies across the country. However, the biggest loser will likely be the Suns themselves, all of which face competition in the marketplace. It is conceivable, particularly in the current economic crisis, that the Suns will flame out.

CTV/Canadian Press, December 16 2008