This week’s launch of the Sun News channel and redesigned Sun Media newspapers and websites is the culmination of a process which began a year and a half ago for the Quebecor-owned company when it stopped using content from The Canadian Press newswire and launched its own wire agency, says Philippe Guay, VP Toronto national sales, Quebecor Media.

“The missing piece in the content puzzle for us was a broadcast network which would give us access to video content and allow us to exploit that on the broadcast side and push the content on the digital side,” he says.

Guay says Sun News, which is targeted at consumers aged 25 to 54, will fill a hole for viewers and advertisers that aren’t getting what they want from existing Canadian broadcasters.

“There are two segments of the audience which CTV and CBC aren’t capturing,” he explains. “A lot of the audience is flocking to US networks like FOX, CNN and MSNBC.”

The station will play host to news during the day, and convert to a US cable network talk show format between 5 and 10 pm, with shows including The Daily Brief with host David Akin, talk show Charles Adler and Byline with Brian Lilley, says Guay.

To coincide with the new channel, Sun Media has also launched completely redesigned online properties with the tablet user in mind. Creative on the sites was handled by Quebecor-owned, Montreal-based Nurun.

From Media in Canada.