Sun News petitions the CRTC for mandatory distribution

A financially hobbled Sun News Network has asked the CRTC to force cable carriers to distribute the channel.
Currently Sun News isn’t a part of many analog or basic cable packages. In a filing first submitted to the CRTC last May, the Quebecor-owned network says Rogers’ decision to move it from channel 15 to channel 144 cut viewership in half.
Sun News proposes the CRTC grant the network mandatory distribution, which would obligate carriers to make the channel available on basic cable and boost the network’s beleaguered bottom line.
The filing points out that Sun News is now available in 5.1 million Canadian households, compared with 11.6 million for rival CBC News Network.
Between reduced reach and diminished viewership Sun News estimates it lost $17 million in 2012.