| Above: Mark's cat Marvin, star of Steyn's Feline Groovy CD, manages to lug The Mark Steyn Show Bag up to the top of his cat tree.
When CRTV abruptly canceled Mark's TV show and locked him out of the studio after a mere six weeks, they upset many subscribers who'd paid for a year's worth of shows.
But they also left Mark holding the bag - for February's payroll and production costs. If you saw The Mark Steyn Show during its brief run, you'll know it was not a cheap show to do - a large multi-camera set, special guests flown in from New York and Los Angeles to a very remote location, a house band... And in what were (unknown to Mark) the final weeks of the show there were also special episodes filmed live in Phoenix and Ottawa. Under Mark's contract, CRTV were supposed to pay for all the production expenses. Instead, after breaking the contract and firing him without notice or pay, they flat-out refused to pay. As an honorable man, Mark felt the cameramen and production assistants and musicians and audio engineers should not have to suffer because he was foolish enough to get mixed up with CRTV. So he absorbed the huge six-figure cost, of everything from the makeup lady in Phoenix to the grand piano rental in Ottawa and to the cleaning ladies of the studio and offices CRTV wound up locking him out of.
But now you can be left holding the bag, too! As part of the promotional merchandise for the show, we ordered up a small number of Mark Steyn Show canvas tote bags, expecting to sell them over the five-year term the contract was supposed to run for. Now the bag has wound up outliving the show. If you'd like both a souvenir of the now cancelled Mark Steyn Show and to help defray the costs of the financial hole CRTV has lowered him into, we're selling them off.
Since CRTV canceled Mark's show, many viewers have canceled their subscriptions to CRTV and have kindly asked what they can do with their refunds to show their support for Mark and a show they loved. Well, if you don't want to take out a SteynOnline gift certificate, how about one of our now suddenly limited-edition bags? We're pricing them at the cost of a CRTV subscription, which is a little more than a canvas bag usually costs, but in return for your support Mark will hand-number the bags and write a discreet, personalized thank-you message to you on the bag itself.
Whether or not the show ever comes back, these original Mark Steyn Show bags won't. So if you'd like to support Mark at this low point in his professional life, we hope you'll consider one of these canvas bags: a routine bit of promotional merchandise now rendered, by Steyn's sacking and the show's cancellation, into a rarity. |
