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The Globe and MailThe Sun TV News channel is taking another run at getting off the ground – but the all-news network, poised to launch using a Fox News model of hard news reporting and opinion shows, hasn’t quite given up on its requests for preferential treatment from the federal regulator.
On Wednesday, Quebecor Inc. application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission was made public. The application, filed in July, was the company’s second attempt to win a licence for the channel after its request for a rare must-carry licence, guaranteeing distribution to all cable and satellite customers, was rejected.
This time, Quebecor has asked for a run-of-the-mill Category 2 specialty licence – but with a twist: It wants “mandatory access,” meaning the channel would not necessarily be carried on basic cable but would have to be offered on at least one tier or package by each distributor. This means creating essentially a new category of specialty channel.
... Along with its application, Quebecor outlined its financial projections. In the scenario where the three-year exception is not granted, it foresees the channel attracting 26-per-cent fewer subscribers by year seven. Without the special status, cable and satellite firms would not have to offer the channel and Quebecor predicted it would not break even in the first seven years.
“This would be fatal to our business case … and would likely result in the cancellation of the Sun TV News project,” Quebecor’s director of regulatory affairs for broadcasting, Peggy Tabet, wrote in a letter to the CRTC on Aug. 25.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/quebecor-takes-new-stab-at-tv-licence/article1694601/
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