Friday, June 18, 2010

What if Sun TV sucks?

I hate to poop the party here, but its entirely possible that SUN TV could suck.  Don't be be angry.  I think that if we start making recommendations now we could avoid a catastrophe.

I loved the promo for SUN TV.  Mountains and flags and a promises of greatness.  All very very good.  There was one thing in the back of my mind that won't quit bothering me though.  Its the SUN brand.

The SUN brand scares me.  Without the Promo or the "FOX News North" sub-title, SUN TV sounds to me like CP24.  It sounds like garbage (or a garbage strike).

Growing up in Toronto's shadow, I had a good taste of the SUN and the Star.  The SUN always had a good sports section, and there was the SUNshine girl of course.  It appealed to working people and immigrants like my father.

It doesn't really do anything for me now.  I'll pick up a discarded copy at a Timmy's but in general I won't spend money on it.  

So our right of center news channel starts its life with a slightly tainted brand.  No big deal.  FOX has done wonders.  If FOX had newspapers I'd wonder if their TV success would rub off.

Whatever its called it will still have to be good.  No CP24 lameness please.  Give me something I'm not embarrassed to watch.  Make it slick, both serious and light.  Tackle the big topics and don't be afraid of the conclusions.  Be fun, but not obviously so. 


Don't neglect the Internet either.  I love On-demand content.  I love to chose when and what I watch.  Sometimes I don't know what to watch.  This is your chance to pick for me.  There is gold here.  Learn from my picks and show me stuff you think I'd like.  Stream your content intelligently.  If there is enough there I might even pay for it.. 

I'm in your corner so don't let it go to waste.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could it suck more than CBC or CTV? - I severely doubter holms

agent smith

Unknown said...

First I'd say no It couldn't suck more than them, but I've been disappointed before. I want this too much you see.

Anonymous said...

Being more fair minded than the CBC or CTV is setting the bar pretty low.

Anonymous said...

If they are not afraid to ruffle feathers and go out there in attack then I think it will be most entertaining. Otherwise, it could be boring. (real conservative)

VW said...

The thing to remember is that Sun is an established brand, which makes it easier for Quebecor to market it to the cable and satellite resellers.

The real concern is the model it intends to use for revenue streaming. Commercials is one thing; infomercials would be the sort of thing to lower credibility of a news channel right off. Same concerns with operating a website in parallel.

Unknown said...

If Sun TV News; like fox, keeps sitting MP's off of the shows it will work. I feel it's a waste of time watching sitting MP's spin everything. O'Rielly, Hannity, Beck and Huckabee rarely have sitting politicians during discussions. Especially three politicians sitting there spinning the truth at the same time.

Don said...

What "Bozo De Clown" said.

If Sun TV sucks, then noone will watch and it will die. Simple. That's the free market economy. News is a product just like pizza and beer. If there's no demand, then there'll be no station.

This is something the socialists in this country do not understand, which is why we're still stuck with the CBC.

Hoarfrost said...

I, for one, would like the new channel to succeed. We at the Centre Right get only accidental or backhanded credit from CBC, CTV or Global. At least Global seems more balanced than the first two networks.

It is a huge task to compete with CBC which has a bottomless budget. CBC has news people reporting from around the world. That costs money. When an international disaster hits the CBC is the best news channel to watch because of it's instant and extensive resources and world coverage. Other networks rely on American or British feeds that do not give a Canadian angle. Then CBC's competitors get on scene to televise the clean up. The growth of this new channel can only be slowly incremental. At first they probably can only cover the Canadian scene with limited Europe and US coverage.

The_Iceman said...

Have you watched CTV News Channel? The bar isn't set very high. It is like those carnival rides where "you must be this tall". Even if it isn't all that entertaining, relative to the competition I don't see how it could be failure.

I'll kick up my feet, lean back with a beer and bowl of popcorn and enjoy the show.

Anonymous said...

LOL!it really cant be any worse than what we have already.At least it will compete without taxpayers dollars.

Unknown said...

For the record: I don't think it will suck. I'm thinking the unthinkable. It might suck, that's all. Assuming that it will be awesome is just as invalid as Newmans assertion that it will be the worst thing since sliced bread. Nobody knows, and then its subjective anyway.

I'm betting that I won't be disappointed.

@ Iceman: I only watch CTV and CBC when you tell me there is some outrage to see there. Other than that my mind has been made up ages ago. There is usually nothing worth my time over there.

Post a Comment