Sun News Network
Sun News Network was a Canadian English language Category C news channel owned by Québecor Média through a partnership between two of its subsidiaries, TVA Group and Sun Media Corporation. The channel was launched on April 18, 2011 in standard and high definition and shut down February 13, 2015. It operated under a Category 2 licence granted by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission in November 2010, after the network aborted a highly publicized attempt for a Category 1 licence that would have given it mandatory access on digital cable and satellite providers across Canada.
Sun News was distributed by most major cable and satellite providers across Canada but was included in channel tiers subscribed by only 40% of all Canadian households. Quebecor had sought wider distribution for Sun News since its launch, most notably making an unsuccessful request for mandatory carriage on basic cable and satellite tiers in 2013. Sun News was simulcast on CKXT-DT, a general entertainment independent television station based in Toronto that was branded as "Sun TV" before it began simulcasting Sun News from the network's launch until Quebecor surrendered the CKXT licence in the fall of 2011. The existence of Sun TV prior to Sun News has resulted in Sun News sometimes being erroneously referred to as "Sun TV".
The network, known for its right-of-centre editorial stance, was plagued with poor viewership: the network reported an average of 8,000 viewers, which was significantly lower than its competitors, CBC News Network and CTV News Channel. This lack of viewership has been attributed in part to failing to gain mandatory carriage, which their competitors enjoyed, by the CRTC. Following failed attempts to sell the network to ZoomerMedia and Leonard Asper, Sun News Network abruptly signed off on February 13, 2015 at 5:00 a.m. ET.
History
Licensing
From the start of its licensing attempts for Sun News, Quebecor intended for the network to replace the company's existing licence for general entertainment independent station CKXT-TV, which was available at the time over-the-air in Toronto and through relayed through rebroadcasters in Hamilton, London and Ottawa. In its initial submission to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission in the spring of 2010, Quebecor requested that Sun News be awarded a Category 1 digital specialty channel licence that would have reverted to Category 2 status after three years. The Category 1 status, if the CRTC had approved it, would have given Sun News the same status as CTV News Channel and CBC News Network, in that it would have required all Canadian digital television providers to carry and offer Sun News to their customers should those carriers have the capability to do so. However, unlike CTV News Channel and CBC News Network, carriers would not have had the ability to distribute Sun News via analogue cable, only through their digital service.Quebecor initially requested Category 1 status for Sun News on the basis that the channel's combination of news, analysis and opinion programming would create "a completely new genre" different from the other all-news channels in Canada. The CRTC disagreed, however, and turned down the application in a July 5, 2010 letter to Quebecor. In its letter, the CRTC noted that Sun News was being promoted in part as a news channel, and suggested that "news and analysis are sub-categories of the information programming category," which therefore would not, in the CRTC's eyes, make Sun News unique. Additionally, the CRTC had stated earlier in 2010 that it was not planning to entertain any new applications for Category 1 licences until at least October 2011. International activist organization Avaaz.org and other organizations filed petitions containing over 21,000 signatures to the CRTC to have the channel denied its Category 1 status application and its abolition under "breach of trust allegations" and "diminished news information integrity".
After the CRTC declined the Category 1 application, an online petition titled "Stop Fox News North" was established. The petition claimed that Prime Minister Stephen Harper sought to "push American-style hate media onto airwaves" with Sun News, and that the network would be "funded with money from our cable TV fees" ; the petition also cited Martin's column as evidence that CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein was the "one man" standing in the way of Sun News getting a preferential licence. Author Margaret Atwood was among the petition signatories, revealing she signed it not as a criticism of Sun News' possible right-wing agenda but as a criticism of Harper's style of government, particularly perceived attempts by his government to expedite Sun News' licence approval.
Quebecor resubmitted its Sun News application under Category 2 status. Though Category 2 is not mandatory, Quebecor included in its resubmission a request for a Category 1-style "mandatory access" period of no more than three years, insisting that the network would need that period of time "to effectively expose and promote its programming to viewers across Canada" without obliging cable and satellite customers to add it to their package; without mandatory access, Quebecor added, cable and satellite carriers could choose not to offer Sun News to their customers, which could lead to Quebecor pulling the plug on the project.
On October 5, 2010, Quebecor announced that it was withdrawing its mandatory access request and applied for a normal Category 2 status without any special exceptions or carriage conditions. The move was widely considered an easier avenue for Sun News' licence approval. The CRTC granted Quebecor a five-year Category 2 licence for Sun News on November 26, 2010; the network's status was changed to a Category C service on September 1, 2011, as part of an overall restructuring of broadcasting regulations during Canada's transition to digital television broadcasting.
Launch
After a planned launch on January 1, 2011, was pushed back because of start-up and staffing challenges, Sun News launched on April 18, 2011, with a ten-hour countdown clock that ended when regular programming began at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. O Canada was played before a half-hour launch preview special hosted by Canada Live journalist and host Krista Erickson. The special was followed by the premiere of The Source with Ezra Levant, and the remainder of the network's prime-time talk programming. Daytime news programs debuted the following day on April 19. Sun News was based in studios in Toronto, with additional studios located in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Calgary. Sun News also maintained news bureaus in Edmonton, Montreal and Washington, D.C., the only bureau it maintained outside of Canada.Closure
Sun News Network struggled financially, losing $46.7 million over a three-year period, with a loss of $14.8 million in 2013 alone.The channel was generally regarded as being symbiotic with Sun Media's newspapers through its shared editorial viewpoints and the network's use of Sun Media staff for some of its on-air content and reporting as well as through various Sun News Network hosts writing columns for the Sun chain. This relationship was expected to change as a result of Quebecor's proposed sale of Sun Media's English-language print properties and their related websites to Postmedia Network, a deal announced in October 2014 and awaiting regulatory approval and consummation. Though Sun News was not part of the deal, Postmedia said that it would license the Sun name and branding back to the network for one year, after which the network would have to adopt a new brand. Quebecor's divestment of Sun Media raises questions about Sun News Network's viability as a standalone operation under the Quebecor umbrella, as most of the company's remaining properties are entirely francophone, which could limit any synergy potential.
Further clouding Sun News' future was a December 2014 Globe and Mail report that ZoomerMedia was in talks to acquire the network. Some reports on the possible acquisition cite sources as saying that should the deal have taken place, the channel could have become a reboot of the unconventional news-and-lifestyle CityNews model utilized by CITY/Toronto and CP24 which were both founded by ZoomerMedia CEO, Moses Znaimer. The Canadaland website reported on January 26, 2015 that the negotiations with ZoomerMedia had stalled over the issue of severance packages for executives and that the channel faced imminent closure, "within as little as two months", if a deal with Znaimer was not reached. Reportedly, Quebecor Media made a final offer to Zoomer in February with a deadline of February 13, 2015 and Zoomer was "unwilling or unable to meet" its offer. An eleventh hour bid to buy Sun News was reportedly made by Leonard Asper, President/CEO of specialty channel operator Anthem Media Group and former CEO of Canwest; Quebecor, however, turned down an offer from Asper, who was unwilling to take on employment contracts and severance packages of Sun News' employees and executives.
Sun News Network ceased operations on February 13 at 5:00 a.m. EST, with news of the closure being broken hours before. There was neither an advance announcement by management, nor any on-air announcement by the channel. After its last program, a repeat of Byline with Brian Lilley, and following a promo for Pat Bolland's program, the channel aired a silent static card of the channel's logo for 30 seconds, then went to a black screen leaving cable operators to announce the closure themselves. A segment from Michael Coren's The Arena with Sun News contributor Rachael Segal was the last segment ever recorded while David Akin's Battleground was the last live broadcast on the Sun News Network. The closure meant the loss of 150 full-time jobs and affected an additional 50 freelancers and contributors. Management released a statement following the closure: "This is an unfortunate outcome; shutting down Sun News was certainly not our goal", according to Julie Tremblay, President and CEO of Quebecor's Media Group division and Sun Media Corporation. "Over the past four years, we tried everything we could to achieve sufficient market penetration to generate the profits needed to operate a national news channel. Sadly, the numerous obstacles to carriage that we encountered spelled the end of this venture... We thank all employees for their daily efforts and the talent they have contributed to the channel. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours," she concluded.
The operating licence for Sun News Network was surrendered to the CRTC on March 4, 2015.