Quebecor to replace over-the-air Sun TV signal with all-news channel programming

Quebecor Media Inc.’s new Sun News Network will air its programming on the company’s Toronto conventional station Sun TV to deliver the all-news channel into Ontario living rooms. The Sun News Network, a new Quebecor specialty channel slated for launch Monday, has so far only reached carriage deals with Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor’s own cable distributor, Videotron Ltée., Serge Sasseville, vice-president of corporate and institutional affairs at Quebecor, noted in a brief interview Friday. Those carriage agreements will give the English-language, all-news channel a strong cable presence in the West and Quebec, but not in Ontario. But on Monday, when the channel launches, Quebecor will replace its local programming on Toronto conventional station Sun TV with that of the Sun News Network. Sun TV, as a local, over-the-air channel, must be carried on basic cable packages, according to CRTC broadcasting policy. “On April 18, we’re switching off the Sun TV programming signal, and we’re replacing it with the Sun News Network programming. It will be available over the air,” Sasseville said. “All the Rogers and Cogeco subscribers that receive Sun TV will receive the Sun News Network beginning Monday.” Sasseville said Rogers Communications Inc. has 2.3 million Ontario television subscribers and Cogeco Cable Inc. has 800,000. Those numbers, combined with Shaw's 2.5 million customers and Videotron's 1.2 million will give the channel a total potential viewing audience of 6.8 million, he said. "We're negotiating with all BDUs right now in Canada, and more deals could be found between today and Monday," Sasseville said Friday. But to broadcast on over-the-air channel Sun TV, the all-news network will have to meet the broadcasting licence conditions of Sun TV, which is currently licensed as CKXT-TV. That licence requires a minimum of 14 hours of local programming per broadcast week. It will also require some news operations in Toronto. In regulatory terms, that’s known as a “local presence,” which the CRTC defines as airing local news seven days per week, employing full-time journalists and operating a news bureau in the market. “The Sun News Network programming meets the licence conditions of Sun TV, the over-the-air station,” Sasseville said. Sasseville said Videotron and Shaw will also provide the new channel free to cable customers for the first six months of operation. In January, the all-news channel was planned for launch by March 31, but in March, due to renovation delays and budget issues, the launch was rescheduled for April 18. Sun TV News’ main competitors will be CBC NN and CTV News Channel. In 2009, CBC NN generated revenues of $48.69 million from cable and $15.89 million from satellite from a total of 10.648 million subscribers. The channel’s total revenue, including advertising, was $79.1 million. The same year, CTV News Channel generated revenues of $11.13 million from cable and $3.54 million from satellite from a total of 8.5 million subscribers. Its total revenue, including advertising, was about $23 million. National controversy about the new Sun News Network emerged last year when Quebecor applied to the CRTC for a three-year mandatory carriage licence, which would have required broadcasting distributors to offer the channel to subscribers. Kory Teneycke, a former senior staffer to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, was hired by Quebecor to spearhead the project. The licence application led to suggestions of political favoritism and support for a right-leaning, all-news network that observers dubbed “Fox News North.” At the height of the controversy, international advocacy group Avaaz.org delivered more than 21,000 hard copy letters to the CRTC’s offices in Gatineau, Que., opposing the Sun News licence application. But last October, Quebecor dropped its request for mandatory carriage, and asked instead for a Category 2 licence, a standard specialty licence under which the company will have to negotiate carriage agreements with distributors. Quebecor received its Category 2 specialty licence for the service last November. news@thewirereport.ca

Quebecor to replace over-the-air Sun TV signal with all-news channel programming

News | 04/15/2011 8:56 pm EDT

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