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The Sun News Network, the rising sun for thousands of conservatives, was shut down forever as of 5 a.m. EST.

The Sun also rises

By Judi McLeod ——--February 13, 2015

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In largely lib-left Canada, for disenfranchised small-c conservatives, the sun didn’t come up as usual this morning.
The Sun News Network, the rising sun for thousands of conservatives, was shut down forever as of 5 a.m. EST. With no other right-of-center television networks in operation, and with next to no right-of-center newspapers or magazines available, and an October Canadian general election on the way, Friday, February 13, 2015 dawned the darkest of days. Included in the darkness were 200 people thrown out of work, many of them having to read the obituary on the demise of their 4-year-old network via the reportage of their number one enemy, the kept-afloat-by government Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It takes forbearance, courage and persistence to be a conservative in the Canadian news business, and double doses of each when there are few, if any, future places of employment to which to turn. The Sun News Network’s enterprising reporters Ezra Levant, Brian Lilley and others made watching television worthwhile again after a much too long hiatus.
“The Sun News Network went off the air Friday, Feb. 13, 2015 after negotiations to sell the troubled television channel were unsuccessful.” (The Canadian Press) “Quebecor shut the door permanently on Sun News Network this morning, leaving 200 people without jobs. “In a statement, Sun Media Corporation said it spent months “actively seeking a potential buyer” but no party was able to step up. “This is an unfortunate outcome; shutting down Sun News was certainly not our goal,” said Julie Tremblay, President and CEO of Media Group 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.” “Sun TV has struggled to attract viewers and in 2013 the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission rejected the network’s request for mandatory carriage on basic cable. “Last October Postmedia Network Canada Corp. announced it was buying the English-language Sun Media newspapers and digital news sites from Quebecor Inc. for $316-million, but Sun News Network was not included in the deal leaving its future in doubt. “The network launched in 2011 as a right-of-centre news channel, dubbed “Fox News North” by its critics. “Mandatory carriage would have generated significant revenue for the network, which lost $14.8 million in 2013, and almost $50-million over a three-year span.”
They’re gloating over at the CBC, tagged the Communist Broadcasting Corporation by many Canadians, angry 1 billion of heir tax dollars a year pay to keep the left-leaning television network afloat. When you can count on one billion dollars a year from the government and there’s no slow down in the steady stream of cafe lattes while you ponder the next conservative target, there’s ample time for gloating. For the cheering lib-left, the death of the Sun News Network couldn’t possibly have come at a better time. Canadians will go to the polls for a general election in October this year. The election campaign of their hero, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, is getting help from the Barack Obama election team. It’s been a decades-long arid desert for Conservative voices in Canada, and many thought they found their voice in Sun Media TV. But there’s a silver lining even in this dark cloud. It’s time for a privately-run conservative national network that doesn’t rely on government bureaucrats for cable network carriage. Perhaps such a network will soon prove that the sun also rises. Glenn Beck proved it can be done. So can you, Ezra Levant and Brian Lilley. Godspeed.

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Judi McLeod—— -- Judi McLeod, Founder, Owner and Editor of Canada Free Press, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the print and online media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared throughout the ‘Net, including on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.

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