Sun News is about to abandon its over-the-air license, according to documents submitted to the federal broadcast regulator. The decision means that at the end of October, free access for Sun News will end (except in Ottawa, where this will happen at the end of August, for administrative reasons). Like other specialty stations, Sun News will then be seen only on cable, satellite and Internet TV services that have made a deal with the company to carry the channel.
The CRTC took issue with Quebecor. the station’s owner, over the practice of using an over-the-air signal to promote a specialty station. Rather than arguing, Quebecor replied in a letter on July 15 that it would give the license back to the CRTC.
This means that Sun News will appear only on TV services with whom Quebecor has reached deals to carry it. That includes western cable giant Shaw Communications Inc. and the cable service Quebecor owns, Vidéotron Ltée.
One notable absence is Bell TV, the most vocal critic of the Sun News broadcast-specialty hybrid. In May, Bell yanked Sun News from its satellite service at Quebecor’s demand when Bell refused to pay the subscriber fee requested for the channel.
Ratings numbers released by the company in June indicate that in the first six weeks of the network, Sun News drew an average of 12,900 viewers, and an average of 25,400 between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m.
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