08.08.2013 01:00 PM

Sun set or Sun rise?

Look, I know lots of folks will be positively giddy that Sun News Network, along with some other applicants, didn’t get “mandatory carriage.” Some will be celebrating its imminent demise. (Some of them will even be journalists, which is a bit jarring: I mean, these days, what sane journalist derives any pleasure from the death of yet another media organization? But I digress.)

Here’s the thing, fellow progressives: sorry, but Sun News isn’t going to die. The CRTC decision – and I can’t believe I’m going to say this about the CRTC – has released a nuanced and, dare I say it, devilishly clever decision. You should actually read it, here. (Or read one of the bestest/fairest reporters in Canada, the Globe’s Steve Ladurantaye, here.) And when you do, you’ll agree with me: Sun News isn’t going to die at all. It in fact has been given everything it wanted.

More than anything else, Sun News wanted parity, placement and (for lack of a better alliterative word) a bit of patriotism. Its argument was that you obviously can’t attract eyeballs when your destiny is determined by a multinational who happens to own your competitor, and who sticks you up on channel 496 (or not at all). It also argued that you can’t attract sufficient revenue when your main competitors get “mandatory carriage” on cable, and you don’t.  It argued that foreign media multinationals were getting a better deal than Canadian outfits.

And it got what it wanted. Here’s three reasons why:

  1. The CRTC decision will ultimately create a new category of licences for Canadian all-news channels, like the ones found on CTV and CBC as well as SNN.  It’s asking for public comment on all that, sure.  But the CRTC decision will force cable companies to offer all Canadian national news services, including SNN.  That’s parity.
  2. The CRTC’s clever plan will put all these news services in close proximity on your TV dial.  It will also put all national news services – CTV and CBC included – in a package.  And it’ll force cable companies to offer it.  That’s placement.
  3. The CRTC will put Canadian news channels – you know, Sun News, CTV News Channel and CBC News Network – on a higher priority footing than foreign-owned news channels, like CNN or Al Jazeera.  That’s the patriotism part: it’s dumb to give more to foreign-owned networks than all-Canadian ones.  So the CRTC’s changing that.

The Sun-haters won’t be deterred, of course.  They’ll say  that the public consultation hasn’t been held yet, and none of these things have come to pass, blah blah blah.

That’s true, I guess.  But the fact (a) the CRTC is setting a land-speed record in holding a “consultation” in the dead of Summer and (b) the fact that its conclusions are identical to SNN’s submissions – ie., there is a problem that is “large” and “systemic” with respect to “the distribution of new and existing Canadian national news services on fair and commercially reasonable terms,” and there are “barriers [that] constitute a significant obstacle to the exchange of ideas on matters of public concern and the overall democratic dialogue in Canada, principles that the Canadian broadcasting system has a duty to facilitate” – strongly suggest, ahem, what the outcome will be.

When the CRTC says that you haven’t been treated in a “fair and commercially reasonable way” – when they say that democracy itself is hurt when there isn’t a full “exchange of ideas” – then, well, you know what that means.

It means that Sun News has gotten everything it wanted, and then some.

Just watch.

79 Comments

  1. Bill says:

    “It will also put all national news services – CTV and CBC included – in a package. And it’ll force cable companies to offer it. ”

    Actually it can’t. As a publicly funded broadcaster the CBC must be given mandatory carriage so lumping it in with the others would essentially make the entire package mandatory carriage.

    • Richard says:

      This was just about the first thing that jumped to my mind when the decision came out, a decision that I feel has merit. How does CBC Newsworld be treated in this framework? It may be that this Canadian News package all becomes mandatory carriage – which is fine with me as we need a wide spectrum of choice.

    • ghurley says:

      That’s only for CBC television, not for CBC News Network, which is currently not mandatory except in French-speaking areas.

  2. The Sun did not get everything it wanted.

    It did not get a Basic Cable/Satellite licence and the $20+ Million per year that all subscribers would have been forced to pay. That would have been everything.

    The good news is that there will be competition for new Canadian News and Public Affairs programming, the cable companies will have to offer it and bundle it, and it will have channel location priority over foreign services.

    The Great News is that Canada will likely get a Democracy Channel, that will be on basic and will provide the programming that the Broadcasting Act says should be provided and is not now done by any news service or CPAC.

    As far as political broadcasting the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled it is not partisan when there is more than one point of view, so having two right or left wing opinions is not partisan.
    Balance and enhancing the political fabric of the nation is a condition of getting a broadcasting licence in Canada and it is about time viewers got to see more than the biased views of conventional broadcasters, including the CBC, CTV, SunTV and CPAC.

    Your comment, …when they say that democracy itself is hurt when there isn’t a full “exchange of ideas” – then, well, you know what that means. What it really means is it is time for some real Democracy Eh!, not just regurgitated partisan views of special interests.

  3. Tisme says:

    The only good that will come of a mandatory license that ends up saving SNN is that hopefully Warren Kinsella will have his own program perhaps right after Levants Rant.

    Until SNN recognizes that using alleged entertainers like Levant to attack people instead of issues and to engage in sloppy and childish name calling many like myself will never support it. That said folks like you and David Akin are breaths of fresh air even if I disagree often with Akin he has always been respectful.

      • davidray says:

        Oh Tisme what have you started. Now Warren will write and sing the theme song on his new show with those Palma guys. Be still my beating heart 🙂

        • Pipes says:

          From my vista, the only good view is Warren on an otherwise lack luster SNN. If Warren had his own show-then they have content by God!

    • Joe Harrington says:

      In the span of 3 minutes I ran the gambit of emotion….first elation that SNN seemed to have lost their bid to get carriage, then being crestfallen by reading Warren’s take, and then some consolation to the prospect of Warren purifying the spew of garbage at SNN. I’d watch SNN just for that.

    • Dale Schaan says:

      Tisme- What planet have u been watching Ezra from? Ezra deals with many re(levant) issues such as the Environ(mental)ists secret funding from US and Arabic (source)s, The McSquinty Lieberal lies, David Suzuki being a fraud, Climategate and the many other lies that have been told by the Climate scaremongers (and repeated ad nauseam and without fact checking by CBC and the rest of the Lamestream media, the extremist Muslims own words of hate and promoting violence as taught in the Quran,Hadiths and based on the example of Muhammads own extreme violence and oppression of many around him,etc, etc. Your extreme bias is showing! Not to mention other gr8 reporting and commentators such as Brian Lilly, Michael Coren, Charles Adler, John Robson and others who give us valuable perspectives often ignored or even hidden on purpose by the agenda driven Mainstream media here in Canada and worldwide!

      • GPAlta says:

        This kind of ignorance is literally killing people, and it will kill many more in the future. I hope you can sleep well knowing that your goddamn lies are responsible for death, misery, and destruction. And I hope the Sun sleeps well knowing that they create and nurture murderous ignorance like this.

      • davidray says:

        Now now Sarah. Russia is the other way. This is Canada. Sheeshh.

  4. Mulletaur says:

    It’s bad enough that BBC disappeared from the lower channels, if CNN gets bumped too in favour of SNN I will definitely cancel my cable, and I’m sure there are lots of others who will do the same. I don’t buy this ‘licence to print money disguised as patriotism’ bullshit, whether it comes from cell phone companies trying to protect their nice little earner from foreign competitors, or Quebecor trying to force feed us with Conservative propaganda. Sorry, pal, it’s nothing personal, it’s strictly business.

  5. Paul O says:

    Not sure what it might mean to give domestic services priority over foreign services. Maybe it means the domestic services appear more than once in the cable lineup? Maybe the “all-news” grouping is still in the ballpark of channel 496, but there is another ‘copy’ of selected broadcasters in a more desirable channel range? And while a package offers all news channels in a bundle, maybe another bundle is offered at half the cost, only containing the channels the cable operator wants to promote?

    The CRTC has long been looking into ways to have operators offer more choice in bundles. Reversing direction for domestic news services is well-reasoned but not a slam dunk.

    Mr. Kinsella gives reason for hope. But it’s a long way from being over.

  6. Richard Fromm says:

    More Kinsella/Levant is a necessity for forming well informed and balanced opinions. SNN needs a Crossfire like show co-hosted by both. SNN brings a breath of fresh air to the Canadian news medium. The more, the better.

    I still do`t understand why anyone on the left would celebrate the silencing of debate and differing opinions.

    • The_Original_Matlock says:

      I do like this idea.

      Sun News Network, take note: I don’t care much to watch Ezra Levant deliver monologues for an hour. I would definitely watch Ezra and Warren scream at each other for an hour.

      • deb s says:

        me too….that would be comedic relief and informative at teh same time….as it stands now Ezra needs a foil, as his props are painful.

    • robin says:

      The “left” may be concerned about the potential for misleading viewers who believe what they hear and see on television if they think it is a credible “news” source which Sun News Network purports to be but really isn’t. For example, when I was recovering from surgery, I entered the TV lounge in our ward to watch the news. This was at the time the Ayatollah Khomeini had taken US hostages in Tehran. As I entered, two elderly patients were talking while Khomeini’s image was on the screen. One elderly patient said to the other with earnest: “You know, he’s not real. It’s a hoax. He’s just an actor!” The other gentleman nodded his head in apparent agreement.

      I found myself thinking, that’s not true but I read something to that effect. What was it? So I searched the pile of magazines in the TV lounge and bingo! There it was: on the cover of National Lampoon. The elderly gentlemen couldn’t discern satire from fact. The National Lampoon presents itself as a reputable news magazine but isn’t. The same applies to the fake Sun News Network. The closest the come to the truth is when Warren Kinsella speaks. I don’t think cable subscribers should be compelled to pay for Sun “News” Network any more than for the National Lampoon channel, if there is one.

      And, if anti-Liberal readers complain that the CBC has a “Liberal” or liberal bias, revisit their coverage of the G8 in Vancouver (pepper spray) and the Gomery Inquiry. Where is the Sun News Network coverage of the Senate expense scandal, robocalls, “in and out” scheme, $3.1 billion missing, etc.

      Sun News Network is the Conservative Party of Canada channel, if they get mandatory carriage then so should the Liberal, NDP and Green Parties so that cable subscribers can choose which propaganda they want to watch. Otherwise, the Conservative Party of Canada will have circumvented political party financing legislation with their own news channel: Sun News Network. For democracy to work, it must be a level playing field for all political parties not just those who have wealthy supporters that can launch cable news channels.

    • partrick says:

      Speaking sense into a the shit storm of nonsense that the corporatist Levant spews does not mean balance. It means that the shit storm is being passed off as a viable position. It’s like arguing about the existence of the holocaust: the discussion is an insult to history and reality and there is no “balance” to be had because someone argues against.

    • Kaplan says:

      And this is why SNN is truly yesterday’s news. Because not only do they lack a Crossfire-style show, they’re only considering one now. And you know when Crossfire was popular and edgy? When the concept of two hosts with polar opposite views yelled at each other for an hour? The 1980s and ’90s.
      Sad.

      • The_Original_Matlock says:

        I’d think the success of Hannity & Colmes through 2009 suggests there’s still an audience for the formula.

        My larger point is that I tend to watch political shows where people are talking with other people. Any time I’m channel flicking past Sun News, 75% of the time it’s either a host talking to the screen, or interviewing a fellow Sun columnist/host.

        Boring.

        When I flick past Power Play or Power & Politics, they’re actually interviewing people. Politicians. People in the news. Pundits not employed by the CBC or CTV.

        Less boring.

        I have no beef with Sun’s editorial slant. I just find their shows uninteresting.

    • Arbus says:

      If Levant and Kinsella were to co-host a show they could call it “Rip your face off” since the two would end up rolling on the floor clawing at each other within half an hour.

  7. Brammer says:

    Why not drop the whole mandatory carriage business.

    I can understand the CRTC has a role to ensure Canadians have access to basic communications in remote areas and small communities.

    Legislating mandatory content for carriers smacks of social engineering and IMHO, is unsustainable. It is 2013. Do we really need mandatory carriage to maintain our sovereignty?

  8. Richard says:

    If this turns out the way it looks like it might, Sun News may soon have the resources it needs to provide a better quality product (I am sure the folks at Sun have a lot of ideas of what they would like to do if they had the finances). The other bright spot is that this decision may allow for more start-ups such as an all-news channel by Global or other organizations. We need diversity of opinion and this developing framework from the CRTC may be a good move in that direction.

    • davidray says:

      They’ve got lots of money. It’s ours they want to spend. I don’t have a TV and I get my Warren and others like him from here and on the net. The only people watching SNN will soon be gone and the kids ain’t gonna watch so let Darwinism do it’s work and relax.

  9. Rolloff says:

    TV is in a death spiral. More talk and less pictures will hasten its demise. So let it be written.

    • Skinny Dipper says:

      I have to agree with Rolloff. I think the internet will take over as our source of television. We’ll have internet companies essentially offering TV-type packages that will offer more choice from around the world. That choice will likely be more individual in that if I do not want Faux News North, I don’t have to get it or pay for it.

  10. michael says:

    I’m a stupid shithead.

    • michael says:

      wow that seems like civil suit offense Kinsella. tear it down … you are lucky I’m not in TO to sue you. I would. Though I was in 2010 when I saw you with your little creatures in the beaches what was that place called again oh yeah Garden Gate when I lived near there.

      putz.

      • michael says:

        oh you even you identify me via email…wish I knew a good lawyer in TO to take this on for me…hmmm maybe I should move back and slap that smirk off your declasse face. Legally

        • michael says:

          You cannot put words in my mouth in public like this, making false statements I did not write that first comment if you don;t like you cannot slander me this way – it is fraudulent you talentless person, jealous of those of u who are creative yes?

          Remove it Kinsella or put up my CRITICISM OF YOU WHICH YOU CHILDISHLY REPLACED WITH A LEGALLY LIBELOUS DEPICTION OF MYSELF.

          Get over yourself or delete and put up a retraction.

          wow alright well I will see if you have any property or assets out here in BC with your bro .

          • Jon Adams says:

            Oh god i’m on the floor.

          • nosferatu200 says:

            U mad bro?

            By the way, is it meant to be ironic that your The Bad Design Blog is itself poorly designed?

          • VC says:

            Michael, before you begin legal action, just bear in mind that the truth is a complete defence to defamation claims. And, based on your posts here, I think you have proven to be true in substance that you are, in fact, a “stupid shithead.” Indeed, I can draw no other conclusion.

      • Piper says:

        Leave Warren’s kids out of this you piece of shit!

  11. doris says:

    No mandatory carriage but a major presence on the dial. Well folks what did you expect – the PMO would abandon the party organ – no bloody way that was going to happen, so we get the denigration of the other news to satisfy the party faithful. All news channels will be banished into one bundle and who is going to buy that?

  12. GPAlta says:

    All it takes to know that Sun is not a news channel is to talk to a sun viewer (and I talk to some regularly). If Sun gets everything it wants, I say corruption, not reason, is at the root of that decision, because their position, as noble as it may sound, is shown to be nothing but a smokescreen by simply watching what they put on the air and reading the letters the owner writes to the Prime Minister. Their original license was very questionable, and this decision is even more so.

  13. jay says:

    My favourite comment on this is Scott Stinson’s in the NP: “One downside to the proposed leveled playing field for Sun News: harder to bitch about how everyone is against you.”

    • Ty says:

      And that’s really, in the end, why I can’t stand Sun News.

      Get the chip of their shoulders and they could probably make it work.

  14. jemery says:

    I’m so happy I actually cried. All the snn done was defame anyone or any group that opposed their radical ideology. I completely had enough when they falsely accused Justin Trudeau of being affiliated with terrorists and how they defamed Omar Khadr who is just a child. Levant and his right winged rants caused ridicule and contempt for Justine and Omar and many Muslims in Canada. Maybe Levant will put his money where his mouth is and go work in the tar sands that he loves so much. Looks good on all of them RIP snn!!!

  15. Rob Stocki says:

    I can’t say I ever thought I’d agree with Warren Kinsella, but I have to say, he’s right on the money on this one!

    Good job WK.

  16. Al in Cranbrook says:

    First: If it all works out in the end as WK has predicted, then I’ll be a happy camper. Level playing field, relatively speaking, is all I ask for…which certainly has not been the case thus far!

    Of course, it will never be a truly level playing field as long as the CBC gets stuffed with a billion plus worth of taxpayers’ $$$ each year.

    One will never, ever hear the flip side of AGW on the CBC (and damn rarely on CTV). Or what goes on inside the “environmentalism” ranks. Or the dark side of what goes on amongst too many of First Nations…or for that matter, and oddly enough, the very positive stories happening with many other bands across Canada. Want that side of things, one has no alternative but to tune in to SNN.

    Look at the stuff Ezra has exposed, not the least of which is the outright abuse of charitable status laws and regulations by certain environmentalist groups, all of it costing Canadians a small fortune in lost revenues used to, frankly stated, deliberately subvert the Canadian economy, and thereby cost Canadians incalculable additional $$$ in lost opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation.

    …all the while the talking heads on CBC prattle inanely on about idiotic crap nobody with an IQ over 60 should give a good God damn about! CBC, motto: Using your money to keep Canada liberally left. Every bloody time a polar bear cub farted into a mud puddle, the CBC was there with yet another stunningly asinine headline attribution to global warming/climate change! But when Climategate broke, it took them eleven #@#$% days to get around to finally mentioning it, and do so with a thoroughly disinterested shrug clearly designed to imply, “Nothing to see here, folks. Now move along…” A billion a year and rising for reeking garbage like that???????? The PM who finally gets around to ridding taxpayers of that insidious parasite will get my vote until the day I die!

    Anyway…

    Good post! Hope you’re right!

    • GPAlta says:

      This is just another example of believing the lies. The Obviously False Lies.

      Please also note that QMI already receives over 100 million per year in subsidies and their main beef with the CBC is that it doesn’t spend much of its ad budget with QMI. The owner has said so in writing.

      QMI sees our public purse as a trough that it will do anything to get more out of for its own profit. Why? Because QMI is terrible at making money. They have destroyed the most profitable community paper in Canada, a paper that was a model for the rest of the industry until recently (in Grande Prairie) by applying their bullying, money losing formula to it. Why should they care if they lose money and destroy communities’ cohesion when they can earn a permanent bailout from the Cons by spreading the Party’s disinformation. Your post is proof that propaganda works, even when it is ridiculously obviously untrue.

      • Kaspar Juul says:

        Al lives in a Cranbrook not of our universe

      • Al in Cranbrook says:

        Lies? Please explain.

        • GPAlta says:

          You believe the lies:
          The truth is,
          1) there is no flip side to global warming, saying a flip side exists is like saying cigarettes don’t cause cancer or evolution doesn’t exist
          2) nothing goes on inside environmentalism “ranks” that doesn’t go on inside every other type of organization- but Sun isn’t working to expose the corruption and recklessness and sheer incompetence of oil companies, giving you a false bias against the type of group they choose to scapegoat. Their proposition that environmental groups are different in any way from others is a lie.
          3) The dark side of what goes on inside First Nations (and the successes) is no different from what goes on inside other municipalities and corporations, except that they are more heavily regulated and more heavily scrutinized than any other kind of group. Again, biased coverage means biased interpretations. Ask yourself why you’re not talking about how no one covers the “dark side” of what happens in small town governments (remember Walkerton, the CBC covered that, just as they covered Natuashish, long before there was a Sun News). Their claim that First Nations are worse than municipalities or provinces is a lie.
          4) Abuse by environmental charities, once again it is selection bias that makes it seem like they are different from other charities. Charities are not allowed to fund political activity, so what do you suppose the registered charity called the Manning Foundation for Democratic Education does (headquartered as it is in the Manning Centre) other than make a mockery of that law that Harper has used to persecute David Suzuki? Does Sun question them? the proposition that environmental charities make up even a tiny fraction of the tax avoidance in this country is a lie. CBC is the org that found the most blatant tax avoidance of all in undeclared off shore property, not Sun.
          5) Environmentalists may cost the economy something, but pollution kills Canadians, Sun’s proposition that the economic cost is the story is a lie of the worst possible kind. The kind that will cause more premature deaths if people believe it.

          • Al in Cranbrook says:

            With WK’s indulgence, and I’ll completely understand if he’s not so inclined…

            GP: My, but aren’t you the hard core trooper for the “cause”! No flip side to AGW? (The universe is about duality, pal. There’s a flip side to every single and conceivable thing, right down to the smallest particle of an atom.) Once upon a time I too was getting freaked about AGW. But then the claims and doomsday scenarios became ever wilder to the point of utter absurdity. More specifically, the increasingly rabid extremism of its advocates got so over the top against “deniers” (meaning, “heretics”) that I decided it was time to do my own investigation into the skeptics’ side of the story. The more I dug, the more disgusted I became with the deliberate dissemination of misinformation, half truths, baseless innuendo, and yes, just good old outright lies. I’m not going to get into detailing it for you, for it can’t be presented here in 25 words or less, and WK’s blog isn’t the venue for it. However, what I will suggest is that you do your homework. It is truly phenomenal how many, whom took it upon themselves to just that, walked away from AGW crowd, their eyes opened, and in the same vein of disgust that was mine. Hint: Follow the money! Truckloads of it! Mostly taxpayers’.

            Secondly, I’m not about “ideology”. Clearly, you are…right up to your eyeteeth. The problem with ideology (and for that matter, religion, the line between which is very fine) is that requires twisting reality into neat little knots in order to make it fit the so called “written” word. And “believers” give up their own God given common sense in order to conform to the dictates of their ism-du-jour. Indeed, their very own identity becomes defined by their chosen belief structure…and thus so, on go the blinders.

            I’m somewhat of a student of history. I’ve seen all this crap before, 1000 times over, particularly over the last two millennia. During the numerous Inquisitions, non-believers…i.e., heretics…were tortured, imprisoned, and murdered, often tied to a stake. Galileo is only one of many who was locked away for such heretical claims as…gasp…the earth actually revolved around the Sun. Today, said “heretics” to the new religion of Global Warming are burned at the stake of public opinion, even equated to holocaust deniers and the like. Entire careers ruined, scientists intimidated into silence, with millions upon millions in grants/funding on the line. Why did twenty some highly notable scientists, even astronauts, sign a letter telling NASA to back off on the AGW crap? Because everyone of them was retired, and finally were in a position with nothing to lose…like their jobs, and/or professional status.

            Lastly, amazing, but not surprising to me, how you, in one breath, give me the holier-than-thou-you-lying-heathen shtick, and then in the very next breath rationalize the crap and dishonesty by claiming it’s no worse than the other guys. Clue for ya: When you finally get around resorting to the ol’ “ends justifies the means” disclaimer, it’s long past the time to step back and re-examine just exactly what you’re all about.

            Have a nice day.

          • GPAlta says:

            Oh, and I was accusing SUN NEWS of lying, not trying to defend the unfortunate victims of their witch hunts. Sorry you didn’t understand that, I guess there’s a reason you like Sun news better than CBC- less reading comprehension required…

          • GPAlta says:

            Thank you deb s, and your comment about what might be the next wedge issue is very interesting.
            I’m sure it will be something we wouldn’t predict today, like a movement to close or defund universities, maybe that is where this anti-intellectualism is heading, so that some day people will be demanding a right to ignorance. They’ll call it freedom from indoctrination or something…Harper has already said we have too many educated people in the country and he’d like to see that change…

          • Kaspar Juul says:

            Shorter al in Cranbrook: “I’ve got nothing, but let me bluster on so I can feel that my straw man and his straw house sound important. Oh I’ve got a thin skin so let me get snarky and ornery cause I’ve only got conjecture, fiction and opinion.”

            Weak as usual Al. A student of history would cite proof!

  17. Craig McKie says:

    If it were up to me, I would run Sun right off cable altogether. It’s not a matter of on the one hand and other hand. Its about serious journalism and Sun is not. It’s propaganda pure and simple. This toxic news environment has intimidated the CBC into timid compliance. CTV was never a serious news organization from the outset. Witness now, above all, the serious non-coverage of the Snowden material. No organization in Canada is willing to publish his material on the CSE to our eternal detriment.

    Why must Canadians read The Guardian to get some semblance of truthfulness?

  18. Tiger says:

    Smart move on the CRTC’s part, because the sorts of people who like Sun News are also the sorts who tend to want to abolish the CRTC.

    So if it turns out that the bureaucrats at the CRTC were the ones who actually were sensitive to Sun News’s concerns, and the CRTC puts itself clearly on the side of wanting a full exchange of ideas and a vibrant intellectual marketplace…

  19. Derek Pearce says:

    The only thing making me smirk here is that Kory Tenecke was playing Chicken Little beforehand, insisting the sky would fall on SNN without mandatory carriage, and now that carriage has not been mandated everything’s still hunky dory.

  20. Here on Hamilton mountain, I’ve been getting SNN on Shaw Cable, channel 21, since they started. I hope they survive. I also get the daily Sun paper, to balance out the views I get from Hamilton Spectator, a broadsheet daily, not published on Sundays. I even like Warren’s columns, despite rarely agreeing with him. Warren, I hope you win your law-suit with McHale. Thanks for a good read.

  21. steve says:

    The CBC should be Mandatory both Newsworld and FOA. After that all stations should be the consumers choice a la cart. Non Canadian stations should cost double Canadian ones.

  22. dave says:

    When I was a kid in the 1950’s, living in S’west Ontario, I would twiddle the dial on my Hopalong Cassidy radio late at night, looking for jazz from stateside. One station I would listen to was a Chicago station that was owned by a Chicago Federation of Labour(or some such name).

    Over the decades I have often wondered what we would look like were we in Canada to have a level playing field in media by including a leftie leaning radion and tv network.
    For me, CBC and CTV do the centre and right of centre ok; lots of locals do right of centre, business point of view really well; and now, Sun does the extreme right, corporate board room stuff.
    Sometimes coop radio, or college radio has leftie leanings, but it is not as widely bradcast as the other outlets.

    Of course, lefties in North America don’t have that much money for this stuff.

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