OTTAWA, December 20, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new ruling by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will give Canada’s upstart conservative Sun News Network an equal footing with other news channels like CBC and CTV.
The CRTC said Thursday that cable and satellite companies will be required to offer viewers all Canadian news channels as of March 19. Though Canadian viewers will not be forced to subscribe to the channel, they will all have the option.
Providers who offer news channel packages will also be required to include all Canadian news channels in those packages.
The ruling comes after the Sun News Network launched what it called a “do or die” bid for a “mandatory carriage” license. As an up-start channel, the network lacked the market access of channels such as CBC News Network and CTV News Channel, leaving them with a deficit in the millions.
The CRTC rejected their bid in August, but said they would review the framework for carriage of news channels.
The network called that aspect of the ruling a “silver lining” that would allow it to remain on the air in hopes of a positive outcome.
Kory Teneycke, Sun News’ vice president, said he was pleased with the changes but noted the struggle over revenue remains and they will negotiate or renegotiate agreements with providers.
“For a lot of people who don't have access to Sun News today as part of their cable, they will have it in the future,” he said. “We can no longer be locked off the airwaves.”
Many saw the network’s appearance in 2011 as a game-changer for Canada’s pro-life and pro-family movements because of its openness to morally conservative viewpoints, which are largely shut out by other news channels.
Two of the network’s hosts, Brian Lilley of Byline and Michael Coren of The Arena, are unapologetically pro-life, while others are willing to duck the media’s usual political correctness on the issue.
Jack Fonseca, project manager for Campaign Life Coalition and a frequent guest on the “Moral Maze” segment of Coren’s show, told LifeSiteNews.com that losing Sun News would be a “devastating blow for Canada.”
“SNN is the only news outlet that provides fair and balanced coverage for both sides of an issue, even if some of its hosts declare their preference for a particular view,” he said.
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“For years, the liberal MSM has used its monopoly to distort the position of the side with which it disagrees, or simply to bury it and hide it from the public,” he added.