Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Sun News Network not yet profitable

Globe and Mail: 
Sun News Network received a $3-million investment from its co-owners in the last quarter, as losses accelerated ...

The television network’s financial information is reported through TVA Group Inc. ... It doesn’t break out the network’s revenue, but said that Sun News was not profitable.

“But the problem we have is with distribution. If you’re only reaching half of the population, it’s hard to get the numbers you need to get the advertisers.”

... in many jurisdictions the channel is located high on the dial, making it difficult for casual viewers to locate the subscription specialty channel.

News channels produced by networks such as CBC and CTV, meanwhile, have slots lower on the dial and are generally included in most cable and satellite packages without any additional efforts from a viewer.

“Those are the services we have to compete with,” Mr. Rozon said. “But as I said to the analysts on our call, we should not expect to break even in our first eight months.”

13 comments:

  1. Short version: they suck. Who's propping them up, I wonder? Ezra's dad?

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  2. Short version. I can get several versions of CTV and CBC and at least two aboriginal networks, but no Sun network on Bell.

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  3. Compared to the CBC losing 1.2 billion per year this isn't bad.

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  4. Liberals suck.It must hurt 'Big City' having the truth beamed out at him from sources other than the bought and paid for Canadian legacy MSM.

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  5. dorks like bigcitydope SHOULD watch SUNNEWS they may learn what the real world is like.

    Rob C

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  6. Oh please, like the Glop & Flail would print anything positive about Sun news.

    They have been waiting for the slightest whisper of anything negative that they could gleefully shout from the rooftops.

    Screw them, they're the same as Pig Shi%%y Lib. They can't stand the fact that there might be a voice contrary to their own. They love free speech as long as the only voices they hear are ones they agree with.

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  7. CBC can't make do without the taxpayers money and needed to be bailed out.
    Whereas, SNN, not getting any taxpayers' money nor are being bailed out ARE doing better than CBC.

    In other words CBC cannot survive on its own.

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  8. john,
    No doubt a Globe story about Sun could be expected to be spun negatively (for dopes like bigcityGlib).

    Here's the full report from marketwire with complete financials.

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  9. The truth is that SNN is doing very well considering the fact that not only does it not receive public funding like the state broadcaster, it is also disadvantaged compared to CBC, Global and CTV that carriers are obligated to provide whether you want them or not. When most carriers offer SNN, you must purchase a more expensive package in order to receive it. Give SNN a fair and level playing field, and then one can compare it with the other players. No, I am not advocating public funding like the CBC, but simply the same status as Global or CTV.

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  10. I hoped SNN would be successful but it has very little news and the sanctimonious ranting is not entertaining and down right exhausting.

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  11. I don't subscribe to cable at all (well, my internet is delivered via cable). I would like the option to subscribe to SNN via web stream.

    Perhaps someone at SNN should think about this as an option. They could also talk to Sirius/XM about carriage on their satellite radio network where I already have a subscription. I'd even pay for it as an extra channel. And if you don't think that format can work, Fox News does it already.

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  12. Sun News is still going through growing pains, still figuring out what works and what doesn't. That's reasonable.

    If one looks at Fox News, when they first began broadcasting they faced similar problems, not being in enough homes to be really profitable. That changed over the course of years, not overnight.

    Though I like Sun News, I have to admit I rarely watch more than one show a day. By the time Charles Adler comes on (who I like) I feel I've heard the same talking points all day long, from Ezra & Lilly, & Coren etc.

    Sun News needs to branch out a little. They need documentaries. They need some arts programming. They need a program that is like the 5th estate or 60 minutes.

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