UPDATE: Kory Teneycke, Vice President of Sun News, responded to Global News’ request for more information regarding the show’s cancellation. His response, in part:
Both parties only agreed to an initial episode. The episode took as many resources as we would usually use for 8 hours of daytime programming. The economics of that don’t work well over the long term.
TORONTO – Mayor Rob Ford’s return to the airwaves was short-lived: Sun News has cancelled Ford Nation fewer than 24 hours after its first episode.
The pre-recorded show aired Monday at 8 p.m. ET during a blitz of interviews the mayor and his brother Doug did with American media including a segment on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.
Ford Nation was first announced Thursday while council was busy debating whether or not to strip the mayor of his powers. They eventually did. And on Monday, council slashed much of his budget and staff.
In-depth: Mayor Rob Ford
The show, shot Sunday, brought in approximately 155,000 viewers Monday evening. Kory Teneycke, Vice President of Sun News, told the Globe and Mail it was the “most successful thing, from an audience perspective, the network has ever done.”
The Ford brothers spent most of the hour defending themselves against calls for the mayor to step aside.
It was the second show dedicated to the two Etobicoke politician: They hosted a radio show on Newstalk 1010 which was cancelled days after the mayor admitted to smoking crack cocaine.
Some companies have tried to distance themselves from the short-lived show. Canadian Tire sent two tweets Tuesday claiming they had requested their logo not appear in commercials associated with the show.
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