If you haven’t heard, the big media news recently has been Sun News Network asking the CRTC for mandatory distribution, meaning telecom providers would HAVE to offer Sun News as part of their cable packages. Currently, Sun is in roughly 5.1 million homes, where as CBC is found in 11.6 million. If granted, Sun would also be receiving a $0.18 fee for every subscriber, meaning they’d be getting a good chunk of cash – enough, they say, to turn their $17-million loss into a profit by next year.
Here’s my official two cents on the issue: I don’t believe in mandatory distribution, period.
I think we, as consumers, should have the right to pick and choose what we pay for and watch, just like we pick and choose what we pay for and read. But, that’s not the way it is. And it’s rather unlikely that will change anytime soon (or, er, ever). So if CBC, Global, CTV, etc. all are mandatorly distributed, why shouldn’t Sun News get a chance to play, too?
So, without the option of picking and choosing our own cable packages channel by channel, I think all legitimate news stations that meet the necessary requirements should be given mandatory distribution. And as a sidenote, we as consumers shouldn’t have to pay more out-of-pocket for this (ie. increased monthly bills). This last point is also important – because Sun, a right-winged, Conservative station is basically advocating for a “tax” on cable bills. Typically, Conservatives favour lower taxes.
There’s a ton of discussion, media, and angry people out there lashing out at the idea, and vehemently declaring that they DON’T support Sun News: and I’m pretty sure many of them are just saying that because Sun, which is nicknamed “The Fox News North”, is so right-winged. But isn’t it a good idea to let others voice their opinion, even if you don’t agree with it? Isn’t it a good idea to hear the other side out, and to challenge your own beliefs and perceptions? Why you don’t have to like, or even watch Sun TV – it’s at least nice that we live in a society where that option is there.
However, I also think we need to take what other media outlets – ex. CTV, The Globe and Mail, etc. – are saying about this with a grain of salt, because I’m already seeing highly bias and skewered news come out, and that’s for one main reason… they’re owned (or at least partly owned) by the giant telecoms, who OBVIOUSLY would not be in favour of this as it hurts their business model. The Rogers and Bells of the country don’t want to pay more money for stations or piss off subscribers by making us pay more (when, IMO, they should be eating a larger portion of these costs since they make so much money to begin with and have a monopoly on the market).
If you want to read more, this is a really balanced and fair article I read on the topic, and there’s also this great blog piece fact-checking the entire debate.
