Canadian television viewers are not, American readers of this blog will be surprised to learn, able to avail themselves of Fox News. No Canadian cable or satellite TV company has received regulatory permission to carry Fox in Canada. But Canada's cable companies believe that Canadians should be able to watch Bill O'Reilly if we want to and so they have petitioned the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to be able to add Fox to the cable lineup.
In its application, Fox calls itself a cable news network “devoted to delivering objective coverage” of the day's events. I've never watched Fox News but I understand from my American friends that Fox may be stretching it a bit to say it is devoted to “delivering objective coverage.”
Regardless, the CRTC is taking the views of Canadians into account before it rules on the application and, today, a colleague writes to say the CRTC has extended the deadline to receive comments but the deadline is just around the corner — August 23. So, if you have an opinion on whether Fox News ought to be in Canada or not, you'd better tell the CRTC soon how you feel.
From The original notice, with instructions for filing comments”
“The (CRTC) has received two separate requests from the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA), acting as the Canadian sponsor, to add two non-Canadian satellite services to the lists of satellite services eligible for distribution on a digital basis (the digital lists). The CCTA described the non-Canadian services as follows:
Fox News: A 24 hour seven day per week national U.S. cable news network devoted to delivering objective coverage of the day's events. The service broadcasts original news and information programs including live breaking news stories and coverage of significant events in the United States and around the world”