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OTTAWA - The owner of the budding Sun TV news channel was hoping an altered application that dropped a request for a mandatory spot on basic television packages would find favour with the federal government's broadcasting regulator and appease those who complained earlier, documents obtained by The Canadian Press suggest.

Quebecor's request for mandatory cable carriage for three years prompted complaints from "distributors, broadcasters and associations," Peggy Tabet, Quebecor's director of regulatory affairs for broadcasting, wrote to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

The memo, obtained under the Access to Information Act, says the withdrawal of a special status request would appease those concerns.

"We believe that this amendment should be positively perceived by the opposing interveners as it annuls their main concern," wrote Tabet in the memo to the CRTC, dated October 20, 2010.

"Our application, as amended, should not raise any major concern as it revokes our request for an exceptional time-limited mandatory access."

The conservative all-news channel, which is scheduled to launch early next year, is hoping to replicate the success of the right-leaning Fox News network in the United States.

Sun TV was announced in a blaze of publicity by Quebecor last summer by then-vice-president and former Stephen Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke.

Teneycke and Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau said they expected the CRTC to grant them mandatory distribution on all Canadian cable systems even though the broadcast regulator had ceased handing out that kind of licence. It would have made the channel part of all basic TV packages, similar to Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel and CBC News Network.

The announcement of the new network was followed by a pugnacious Teneycke attack on other media outlets.

Teneycke, who had long-nurtured the idea of a combative Canadian news network, resigned from his position in September after admitting his attacks on other media had coarsened debate in the country.

The documents suggest pressure from other members of the industry over the request for mandatory distribution as part of most basic television packages.

Interventions are comments from industry or members of the public that are either for or against an application to the CRTC. Members of the television industry, including Bell Canada, Rogers Communications, CTV, Shaw, Telus and Eastlink, intervened in the debate.

Luc Lavoie, head of the Sun TV venture, acknowledged the interventions played a role in the decision to change their application.

He says even if they received special status they still would have had to negotiate with television distributors to agree on the amount of money it would cost to carry the channel.

"We wanted to make sure they wouldn't feel like they were forced to do something," he said in an interview. "We wanted to negotiate in good faith and we didn't see any upside to keep going with this special request."

Serge Sasseville, a spokesman for Quebecor, said Quebecor has not divulged the reason it changed its application, but it wasn't in response to any industry pressure. The changed application came 13 days before the letter is dated.

Andrew Roman, a legal expert on broadcast licencing in Canada, says an applicants' response to interventions plays a big role in the approval process. Applicants to the CRTC will often alter their request to satisfy public complaints if it makes it easier to obtain their licence.

"If you think the point that they're making could cause you to not get what you want, then you make whatever compromises you think you can make," said Roman, a lawyer with Miller Thomson in Toronto.

The CRTC approved a five-year licence for the channel November 26.

The documents show the CRTC received 19,555 interventions from citizens across the country regarding Quebecor's application.

About 17,000 of those were filed through the New York-based advocacy group Avaaz.org. They started an online petition demanding the broadcasting regulator deny the channel they dubiously refer to as "Fox News North" any special favours as part of their application.

But the CRTC application process means worthy complaints from influential companies can make a bigger difference than a large number of interventions from individuals.

"It's not based on the weight of how many interventions you've got, it's generally done on the merit of the submissions," said Mark Goldberg, a consultant on the telecommunications industry.

"It wouldn't matter if there were 100,000 people or just one person who put forward a really good point."

The approval was the result of a number of changes to Quebecor's broadcasting licence request.

Quebecor originally applied for a special licence, known as Category 1, from the CRTC in March. They then changed that in July to a Category 2 application, which would not have made it mandatory for distributors to carry the channel.

Quebecor subsequently asked for an exception to the rules and requested that their channel be included as part of basic television packages for three years. They then changed their minds again on October 7, when they withdrew their request for the three-year exception.

The channel's Category 2 status means Quebecor will now have to negotiate individually with television providers like Bell and Rogers to get the network carried as part of television packages.

Quebecor says Sun TV will provide a right wing alternative to the other news networks already on offer in Canada through a mix of hard news and opinion. Opponents of the new channel say it will create biased news coverage that backs the Conservative government's agenda.