Thursday, September 30, 2010

How low can Rocco Rossi limbo?

In the 2006 Toronto mayoral election, candidate Stephen LeDrew got 1.38 % of the votes.

In the 2000 mayoral election, candidate, candidate Enza "Supermodel" Anderson got 2.25 % of the votes.

In 2010, will Rocco Rossi get a greater percentage of votes than Stephen or Enza did?

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

I'm finally on Twitter

I'm still trying to figure out this Twitter thingy.  My address is skinnydippercdn.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Here's a story that I left in the comment section under Norman Spector's blog

Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus were walking down Sesame Street. All of the sudden, they saw a strange character who called himself Kory Teneycke.

Standing in front of Oscar the Grouch's trash can, Big Bird asked, "What is that thing with numbers on a line, and why are you holding it against Oscar's can?"

The Teneycke replied, "It's a measuring tape, and I'm going to build a new TV news station."

Snuffy asked, "Do you want to use Oscar's trash can because your new station will be full of CRAP?"

Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus were so excited to see their new friend, Kory, that they told him to wait so that they could introduce him to their other Sesame Street friends. Away Big Bird and Snuffy went in search of others.

A few minutes later, the Sesame Street gang came back to Oscar's can. Oscar even woke up after a long miserable sleep and popped his head out of his trash can.

"Hey, what's going on?" Oscar grumbled.

Big Bird explained that he and Snuffy saw a new friend named The Teneycke. He wanted to use Oscar's can for a new TV news station. It would be called, "Sun TV News."

Oscar shouted, "I don't like anything that has a sun in it! I don't like that CRAP! There won't be any Sun TV News crap in my trash can! I only accept good crap--not crappy news CRAP!"

Big Bird shouted, "Kory! Where are you? My friends want to meet you!"

The Teneycke didn't appear. Except for Mr. Snuffleupagus, none of Big Bird's Sesame Street friends believed that Big Bird had a new friend. He must have been using his imagination.

Disappointed, Big Bird decided to head to his bird's nest. As he opened the side door, he discovered that his nest was missing. Instead, new arena seats and an ice rink were installed. Would Big Bird's home be the new home of the [new] Quebec Nordiques?

This episode has been brought to you by the letters, K, T, and by the category 2.


The Globe and Mail: Norman Spector: The real deal behind Fox News North

See page 54 of the latest comment section.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Kory Teneycke states that Canadians will not be obliged to pay for "Faux News North"

This what Kory Teneycke mentioned on CBC's News Network Power and Politics (September 3, 2010):

"We are not nor have we even asked for mandatory carriage of this station where Canadians would have to be obliged to pay."

TVA Group Inc. is seeking a Category 2 licence with "an exception to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2009-562 by applying for mandatory access."

The applicant argued that Sun TV News requires short-term and time-limited mandatory access by broadcasting distribution undertakings for a maximum period of three years to effectively expose and promote its programming to viewers across Canada.

The applicant stated that it was not seeking mandatory basic distribution, but only to be made available on cable and satellite distribution undertakings, allowing the public to have access to Sun TV News without any obligation to choose it.

As TVA Group Inc. defines mandatory access,  broadcasting distribution undertakings (cable and satellite distribution companies) would be require to carry the SUN TV news channel for a period of three years.  It is my opinion that BDU's would be required to carry it, but they would not be required to have it on their basic services.  They do have to offer SUN TV News to subscribers if they want it.

Kory Teneycke did not mention that when BDU's (cable/satellite companies) distribute broadcast signals, they are obliged to pay a per subscriber rate to each broadcaster of a signal.  If the CRTC accepts the TVA Group Inc.'s proposal, the CRTC will also set the rate that BDU's must pay to TVA Group Inc.  It might be 10, 15, or 25 cents per subscriber per month.  That means that even if we subscribers do not want to have Faux News North on our cable/satellite services, we will be required to pay for it anyway because of TVA Group Inc.'s request for mandatory access.

Under Kory's proposal, BDU's will be required to carry SUN TV News/Faux News North.  Cable/satellite subscribers will not be forced to watch it unless the BDU's decide to offer Faux News North on the basic service, or subscribers decided to order FNN as single channel or part of a package.  However, all subscribers will be forced to pay for Faux News Network for a period of three years whether we like it or not.  I will not like it!

Kory Teneycke is misleading Canadians when he states that Canadians will be obliged to pay for "Faux News North."

Interesting Links:

Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2010-649 (Sun TV News licence application notice)

Broadcasting Act (1991, c. 11) 

Note: I could not find in the CRTC glossary any official definition of mandatory access.
 .
UPDATE: Under Broadcasting Notice of Consultation, click 2010-1182.  Save or open file DOCS-1420709-v1-2010-1188-2.  On page 7, one will find the following:

We believe that the appeal of CNN for Canadians comes from its program formats and it’s on air personalities.

Canadians do not watch CNN for hard news, but more for interview style and more opinioned programs like Larry King Live, Anderson Cooper 360 and Campbell Brown. These 3 programs are CNN’s most watched shows in English Canada
.

Essentially, SUN TV News will be a news/entertainment channel where conservative shock jocks will spew their pro-Harper and pro-Conservative CRAP.  If one lives in Toronto and listens to CFRB radio (1010 AM), one can hear the news shock jocks spew their garbage.  SUN TV is not going to have news journalists; it is going to have news entertainers who will interpret the news so that the channel can entertain Canadians, but not inform them.