Obama directing Mignon Clyburn of the FCC to explore using same tactics to shutdown FOX News. One less source to use while scouring the bowels of the internet and for HT’s from the faithful WZ commenters.
Sun News Network, often referred to as “Fox News North,” went off the air early Friday. The company’s failure to find a buyer after months of searching leaves some 200 people out of work.
Launched in 2011 as a conservative alternative to the “lefty bias” of Canada’s larger networks, including the CTV Television Network and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Sun News struggled for ratings even as its many outspoken personalities, such as journalist Ezra Levant, garnered national attention.
“Sun News Network, as a TV channel, is gone. But the people and ideas that animated it are still very much alive — and I’m sure many of them will go on to even greater things,” Levant, whose first day on air involved him showing controversial Muhammad cartoons published by a Danish newspaper, told the Washington Examiner’s media desk Friday.
“I hope they’ll bring with them some of our spirit. That is, being independent, contrarian, conservative, irreverent, and politically incorrect,” he said.
There was no announcement or lead-up to Sun News going off air. It went dark suddenly and its regular programming was instead replaced with an image of the group’s logo. Few of the employees were given advance notice.
The owner, Sun Media Corp., said Friday that the shutdown is the result of its failure to find a buyer.[…]
One issue that reportedly contributed to Sun News shuttering is its supposed tight budget, which limited the group’s original reporting and forced it to rely more on commentary, according to the Canadian Press.
Another issue that likely contributed to Sun News’ poor ratings, and one that the group’s executives have long complained about, is the fact that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the country’s broadcast regulator, ruled in 2013 against allowing the conservative group to be carried on basic cable.
“The federal broadcast regulator denied Sun News a guaranteed spot on basic cable TV packages in August 2013,” CBC reported, noting Sun News since its launch was denied the same exposure enjoyed by news groups like CTV.
HT John Skinner