Media executive Arianna Huffington launched the live-streaming network HuffPost Live in the United States in August, 2012.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
A Canadian entrepreneur and an American Internet giant are hoping to bring The Huffington Post to Canada's television dial.
Toronto-based Evan Kosiner, who heads Kosiner Venture Capital Inc., has filed an application with the federal broadcast regulator for permission to add HuffPost Live, a daily Web-based news and conversation show, to the list of foreign channels approved for Canadian TV.
The parent company of The Huffington Post, AOL Inc., has supported the application in a letter signed by AOL Canada general manager Joe Strolz.
HuffPost Live broadcasts free online and its programming is made up of short segments and interviews, often conducted via Skype. That might seem an odd fit on the traditional TV dial – it has only one "show," which streams live eight hours a day with minimal advertising, produced from The Huffington Post's New York studios.
But in his application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Mr. Kosiner writes that he has had conversations with nine Canadian distributors – three "major" and six "mid-sized" – and some "have expressed an immediate interest in carrying the HuffPost Live service upon approval."
If the channel were to be approved and launched, TV viewers would have to pay to subscribe to it, and it is unclear whether the channel would continue streaming for free to Canadians over the Internet.
Reached by phone, Mr. Kosiner directed questions to AOL representatives. An AOL Canada executive could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
HuffPost Live draws on content from across the most popular sections of HuffPost's online news sites, and is aimed at "adults of all ages." Its programming is roughly 60 per cent news and 40 per cent lifestyle and reality, according to a breakdown in Mr. Kosiner's application. A sampling of programming from early December included segments such as "Did North Korea really hack Sony?," "R&B singer Faith Evans LIVE," and "Is Ferguson redefining protesting?"
The CRTC is accepting public comments on the application until Jan. 19, 2015.
James Bradshaw