Quebecor eyes Fox News-style TV for Canada

[CHIMO]

The former chief spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper is spearheading a bid by Quebecor Inc. to set up a Fox News-style TV station in Canada with an unabashedly right-of-centre perspective.

Quebecor has filed an application with the CRTC, Canada's broadcast regulator, to operate an English-language news channel. The application has not yet been made public but a source says an announcement on the venture is “imminent.”

Kory Teneycke served as director of communications to Mr. Harper in 2008 and 2009 and this week was appointed vice-president of business development at Quebecor Media Inc.

He's been working since last summer on contract for Quebecor, investigating the feasibility of creating a more unconventional news outlet that speaks to conservative-minded Canadians.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebecor-eyes-fox-news-style-tv-for-canada/article1598301/

[snagglepuss]

1. Hopefully it will be as successful as the National Post.

I wonder if such a development might make it harder for Harper to get his sought after majority because it would confirm suspicions that Harper is actually a rabid neocon not a harmless centerist?

[HEyHEY]

6. That's a good point, Canadians by nature are left wing

If they start associating this kind of crap with Harper it could hurt him.

[Bragi]

2. I regret that this will commercially succeed

The 15-20 per cent of Canadians who are hard-right pro-Harper bozos will watch this channel in droves, which will be more than enough to make it a commercial success.

This is a sad and unwelcome development, but I see no way of preventing this from happening.

And as with the emergence of Fox, the intended result will be more political polarization in the country, and reduced civil political discourse in Canada.

Sigh.

- B

[CHIMO]

3. The absolute last thing this country needs

The first time I met Kory Teneycke, he told me that Canada needed a Fox News channel of its own.

I impolitely told him what he could do with the idea and we didn't speak again for four years.

Our unlikely meeting place was the federal Liberal party convention in Toronto in November 2003, where, amid waves of Grit acrimony, Paul Martin succeeded Jean Chrétien as party leader.

In 2003, I thought he was wrong and told him so. I am telling him again.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/06/10/f-vp-newman.html
Thursday, June 10, 2010 | 7:14 PM ET

[CHIMO]

4. Right-wing television needs upscale market

The wraps come off as early as next week for a Fox News-style TV network being assembled by Quebec billionaire Pierre Karl Péladeau – a right-of-centre cable offering that’s already causing a stir in Canada.

Sources familiar with the effort say a relatively low-key announcement is currently planned for Tuesday in Toronto – but caution the date could shift if circumstances warrant. Quebecor Media Inc. is expected to outline plans and shed light on the strategy it will use to persuade a federal regulator and cable companies to grant the channel a favourable spot on the TV dial.

The venture, led by Kory Teneycke, a former spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is an attempt to shake up TV news in Canada with a cable offering that includes hard news reporting and right-leaning talk shows – programming that is separated rather than blended. Among those being courted as hosts is Conservative pundit Ezra Levant, a former aide to Tory minister Stockwell Day.

Mr. Teneycke pulled no punches in defending his network, lashing out at Mr. Newman in return. He used his Twitter account on the Internet to label Mr. Newman “Canada’s answer to Helen Thomas.” It’s a reference to the long-time White House reporter who resigned in embarrassment this week after she said Israelis should “get the hell out of Palestine” and “go home” to Germany, Poland or the United States.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/right-wing-television-needs-upscale-market/article1601831/

The guy is going to explode before he even starts. And don't bring him back on CBC.

[HEyHEY]

5. God, my first job in journalism was with Quebecor, absolutely trash newspapers

Just horrid.