http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CKXT-TV (Quote from Wikipedia)
"The simulcast began at the same time Sun News itself launched, at 4:30pm ET on April 18, 2011.I subscribe to Rogers basic cable in Kitchener, which includes about 36 channels including CPAC and French channels, a right wing Christian 24/7 channel, and a shopping channel. As a customer, I resent losing one more of the entertainment channels in favour of a biased right wing so-called news channel.
That said, it is not presently clear if this simulcast will be maintained on a long-term basis. Unlike specialty channels, CKXT cannot presently avail of subscription fees. If the new news channel proves popular, with subscription revenue, Quebecor might have an incentive to move to a specialty service-only model. Conversely, if fee-for-carriage were implemented this could change; further, CKXT can solicit local advertising in Toronto, which national specialty channels generally cannot do."
I called the Rogers toll free number and received sympathy, and the information that other people had been calling to ask about the change, and that the CKXT format changed on April 18, 2011 (while I was away from home).
I'm not going to criticize the CKXT content right now, except for one thing. This morning, I heard a news host (Possibly Theo Caldwell) comment that "liberals think we conservatives are so stupid we can't spell CBC." That comment itself is stupider than not being able to spell CBC.
My options right now are
- call Rogers to see if I can get either a discount or another channel to replace CKXT
- drop my cable and go for a satellite dish
- drop my cable and use rabbit ears.
- keep on paying the same price and remove channel 15 from my remote channel surfer.
Well, Bruce Springsteen got it right with his classic, '57 Channels and Nothin' On. Most of the cable and satellite bandwidth is populated with dreck.
ReplyDeleteKarl Marx postulated that 'Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature ... the opium of the people. Television has now usurped that rôle.
The late Terence McKenna observed (in Food of the Gods) that, 'The nearest analogy to the addictive power of television and the transformation of values that is wrought in the life of the heavy user is probably heroin.'
Channels such as FOX and Sun News find their audience in the frustrated, angry and underinformed who are just as willing to pay for the mindless pap that passes for entertainment as for the entertainment that passes for information.
Springsteen got it right. Time to cancel my cable subscription.
Geeze, it certainly didn't take Sun 'News' to leap into the sleaze business, did it?
ReplyDeleteThe timing on this is reprehensible and the whole sordid thing is way too much like FauxNews for my taste. I'm completely disgusted with Sun News, Quebecor Media and, especially, with the Conservative party.
The cable company lost another customer this morning.
ReplyDeleteThere didn't seem much point in paying for a bunch of channels that were never viewed - certainly not for CKXT.
You lefties must all be government employees eating and drinking at the public trough and afraid of losing your "entitlements". Of course an efficient government scares you, no more working 2 hours and getting paid for 8 on a daily basis. I feel sorry for you.
ReplyDeleteSun News is the only thing worth watching on TV, in small dose of course.
Anonymous said ... 'You lefties must all be government employees eating and drinking at the public trough ...' (It somehow figures that such a vacuous comment would be posted anonymously.)
ReplyDeleteWrong. Most of us 'lefties' are, in fact, people who work at least as hard as you do, but are discouraged that our governments (regardless of whether supposedly 'liberal' or 'conservative') allow the corporations to get away without paying their fair share of taxes, that our governments transfer our hard-earned savings to their corporate cronies in the banks and multinationals, allow our roads and infrastructure to deteriorate, our educational system to unravel, allow people to die in homeless in the streets, waste countless billions on the military for meaningless wars which actually undermine our national 'security.'
And we 'lefties' never cease to be amazed (and disheartened) that so many of you are willing to buy into the transparent propaganda put out by the corporate interests that 'reducing government' and trusting business will result in a better life for you, the evidence of the past thirty years notwithstanding.
Keep watching those 'right-wing' channels; keep drinking that corporate Kool-aid. And put your head between your knees and kiss your ass good-bye.
I just noticed CKXT disappeared from my cable line up. Though it is still available on Rogers digital, I don't know if it would be an extra-cost selection there.
ReplyDeleteI assume this is a result of the owners losing money, and the CRTC'as decision to continue their ban on "false and misleading" broadcasting.
While CKXT is not to my knowledge being prosecuted for false and misleading programming, I think CKXT was being funded with the assurance that the ban on false and misleading broadcasting would be struck down September 1, but it was kept. (i.e. no false and misleading broadcasting will be allowed in the forseeable future in Canada.)
So CKXT's "raison d'etre' essentially disappears if they have to broadcast real news just like the other channels.
I think it's good news for the people hoping to stop the spread of "Fox News North".