CRTC Nixes Sun TV News Request for a Must-Carry License
The CRTC has denied a request from Sun TV News for a mandatory license.
The license, if approved, would have forced cable and satellite company to carry the upstart station as part of the basic cable package, and forced consumers to pay the licensing fee.
The fees could have been substantial. CBC News Network earns up to $65 million a year from cable fees. Both CBC News Network and CTV News Channel currently hold the mandatory license, but they are being unwound.
Granting the license would have been an embarrassing about-face for the CRTC. They have previously said they would not grant any more must-carry licenses for news channels.
It would also have cast doubt of the CRTC’s independence given that Sun TV News is being headed up by Kory Teneycke a former high-level Tory operative.
For the CBC, the license decision means that CBC News Network will compete on a level playing field with Sun TV News once the CBC’s license is unwound.
Teneycke discussed the application with Kathleen Petty on her show, The House, in a testy interview last on June.
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Thanks for the link to that radio interview, Paul. I just listened to it and, yes, “testy” indeed was Mr. Teneycke! It also speaks volumes about what this proposed more conservative TV news service is going to sound like, if Mr. Teneycke’s attitude is any indication. Although he claims that TV news at present doesn’t offer up enough depth or debate, Mr. Teneycke seemed unable to answer any of the questions directly that Kathleen Petty asked of him. Instead he just evaded her by spouting meaningless conservative platitudes, the same sort of gibberish I equate with George W. Bush or Sarah Palin when they couldn’t answer a question head on, due to lack of knowledge, secretiveness, or plain unpreparedness. The result is that we’re none the wiser on what Sun TV will really bring to cable that is truly fresh and unique, nor why Mr. Teneycke has been selected to run it. Will Sun TV journalists be any more forthcoming or intellectually more prepared than Mr. Teneycke should this news service see the light of day? They’d better be.
By the way, I’d suggest everybody listen to the interview linked to above. It starts at about the 18 minute point in the show. Absolutely unbelievable. It put me in mind of the infamous interview between Jian Ghomeshi and Billy Bob Thornton. Kathleen did her best to get an honest “debate” going with Mr. Teneycke, but he apparently wasn’t up to the intellectual challenge.
” CBC competing on a level playing field”?? Haha, that would be the day. No wonder CBC loves its 65$ cable fee. If Canadians actually had a choice, we would predominantly NOT watch CBC, thereby cutting it loose.
Edit that:::: 65$ MILLLION dollar cable fee.
Pete: You’re full of nothing but hot air and ad hominem attacks. And you and Kathleen Pettey are both left-wingers. Admit it. You hold progressive views, and love receiving taxpayer money. The lady in the interview is scared: she garners very few listeners, and Canadians are tired of paying her salary. I listened to the interview:
1) She attacked Mr Teneycke for not having a journalism background (as if a journalist is REQUIRED to have one. CBC hires “journalists”, and its journalism is laughable and very unwatched)
2) She claimed that Sun News would be about pleasing shareholders, rather than journalism. What a cheap low-blow. Welcome to the real world, CBC: “REAL” networks such as CNN, Global, CTV, CBS, etc actually have to ATTRACT VIEWERS, unlike the CBC.
Spin it however you want: The CBC is going down. Canadians are phoning their MPs. Few people watch or care about its crappy shows. Its left-wing bias is sickening. I can’t wait for the day when CBC employees actually have to CONVINCE the Canadian public that CBC has something to offer.
GOODBYE CBC!!
“…once the CBC’s license is unwound. ”
What does that mean?
As far as Sun TV is concerned, a campaign directed at the cable companies should do it. And one to dismantle the CRTC’s censorship habits would be in order, too. I mean, really! Why do Canadians need Big Brother telling us what we are allowed to view and not view? No wonder the Communist Broadcorping Castration is so elated.
Kory Teneycke says much of what’s on the news right now is irrelevant, and then, apparently, considers questions about the station’s business plan and his own credentials to be irrelevant.
Sounds like we can look forward to many more “debates” on Sun TV that overlook “irrelevant” details like, say, anything that isn’t competely supportive of the Conservative party line. Should be fun.
So as I understand it, according to “The Truth” journalists should not be required to have a journalism background. Hmm, by the same token, would it be acceptable to silly Mr. Truth if surgeons were not required to have a surgery background? It seems to me that anybody being hired into a position of great responsibility should have had education in that area, and ideally previous experience too.
Kathleen Petty did not “attack” Kory Teneycke for not having a journalism background. She simply asked him what was it in his prior experience that he would be bringing to the table that was relevant to this position he’d be assuming. As is heard in the interview, Mr. Teneycke starts out evading her question entirely, then when pressed he lashes out at her accusing her of claiming he’s unqualified, which she clearly was not doing. Fact is, putting tough questions to an interview subject is what journalists do. If you don’t like the rules, don’t play the game. I’m not convinced that Mr. Teneycke is prepared for running a TV news channel if this is typical of his behavior.
Paul in ‘Sauga says: “Hmm, by the same token, would it be acceptable to silly Mr. Truth if surgeons were not required to have a surgery background?”
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BWHAHAHAHAHA! If surgeons have the same level of skill as journalists, our graveyards would have to be waaaay bigger than they are now. The only requirement for entry into a journalism school is to be in possession of of one of those BAs in political correctness that our university “uber-liberal” faculties hand out with the pop-corn boxes.
Not so far from the truth though. The way Western journalists behaved during the Iraq war, you’d swear they were a fifth column cheering on the slaughter just so they could dis the coalition. Sorry. Make that dis Dubya. It was well-nigh impossible to find one that would report on anything by the enemy’s successes. Free publicity for savagery, and the savages were very good at taking full advantage of it.
Paul in ‘Sauga says: “I’m not convinced that Mr. Teneycke is prepared for running a politically correct TV news channel if this is typical of his behavior.”
FiFY
I’m not affiliated with the CBC or know anyone who is, but if it weren’t for the CBC I wouldn’t even have a TV set. Incredible documentaries shown on ‘Rough Cuts”, ‘The Passionate Eye’ etc. are worth every penny.
And Mr. The Truth: If you think true networks are the ones catering to the lowest common denominator like Global and CTV then go ahead and enjoy their mind numbing imported pablum but leave the CBC for those of us who would like to be stimulated mentally.
Louise, since you are too lazy to even read and write my online name correctly, may I respond by referring to you from now on as “Lousie”? I mean, fair is fair…
Oh, and please don’t alter my quotes either. I’ll stand behind what I’ve said but don’t adjust my words to suit your redneck sensibilities. But then again, that’s what you neo Cons do so well, isn’t it?
West-ender, the Internet is full of fascinating documentaries. There is also, on cable, a spot called The Documentary Channel. You can watch them 24/7. Get over it. The CBC is not THE conduit to good, thoughtful, intelligent documentaries.
Louise:
I believe The Documentary Channel is now owned in whole or at least in part by CBC.
Sure, go for it, Pete.
Meanwhile, the CBC comissions an on-line survey that proves that their just terrific:
OTTAWA – CBC is doing a really good job of serving the public, according to the CBC.
The public broadcaster commissioned an online survey of 527 opinion leaders who overwhelmingly hold positive opinions of the CBC.
“I have no idea how I ended up on the list,” said one participant who asked not to be identified.
A spokesman for CBC tells QMI Agency that 1,973 CBC stakeholders including governments, academics and other media outlets, were invited to participate from lists drawn up internally.
Asked for their overall views on CBC, 80% said they hold positive impressions. These impressions included agreeing with statements such as “CBC provides value for money to Canadian taxpayers” and “CBC creates programming that is relevant to me.”
A spokesman says the purpose of the survey is to help guide strategic planning for the future of the organization.
The official refused to release the cost of the survey claiming it to be “commercially sensitive.”
CBC has been under fire recently from the Conservative Party over claims of an anti-conservative bias in its reporting of news.
CBC president Hubert Lacroix recently told a Senate committee that they are conducting a study on the issue of bias to be released this fall.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2010/07/21/14783966.html
Once again proving that, in the words of CBC’s own Kirstine Stewart: “Nobody can ever question the quality of what we do here in Canada, creatively or otherwise.”
The Truth says: “She claimed that Sun News would be about pleasing shareholders, rather than journalism”
Yet she fails to comprehend that every taxpaying Canadian is a CBC “shareholder”. A great many of CBC’s shareholders would like to cash in their shares, but we can’t. And apparently “journolism” is about staking the deck against any political view they dislike. I’d still like to see how many Washington bureau CBC “journolists” did the “politically correct” thing during the last US presidential elections. They certainly had many lefty Canadians drooling during the campaign.