National Sun News Network premieres today, except only in half of nation

Today is launch day for the much-ballyhooed Sun News Network. The road to this point has been long one. From bringing on Kory Teneycke to quasi-firing him to bringing him back again to applying for CRTC favours and being denied and losing some on-air talent along the way, the network has struggled the get itself up and running. But with a federal election underway, the network needed to get on the air in the next two weeks if it wanted to cash in on the heightened attention. Just one problem: Sun News is going to be missed in about half the homes in this country.

According to the Globe and Mail:

Channels vary by market, but anyone who currently receives the Sun TV signal will find the network in the same place. Distribution is still a work in progress. Based on figures provided by Quebecor, it should initially reach in excess of 6.3 million households through deals with Shaw and Videotron. Others will have to wait to see the network’s news broadcasts, because it hasn’t set up streaming video on its website.

There are 12 million or so households in Canada (according to Statistics Canada) so Sun News still has a long way to go. We’ve been joking from early on that SNN would boost its appeal by turning the Sunshine Girls into on-air talent, but apparently Quebecor would never stoop that low—they’ve just turned their on-air talent (Krista Erickson) into a Sunshine Girl.

Meanwhile, in news that may or may not be relevant, the Tea Party fantasy film Atlas Shrugged: Part I—rumoured to be the Lord of the Rings of radical libertarians—had a disappointing opening weekend. We wouldn’t want to speculate on what this means for the future of right-wing wish-fulfillment-based entertainment, only because we’re worried it would end up being a regular feature on Sun News.

• Sun News Network launches with anchor posing as Sunshine Girl [Globe and Mail]