Spaghetti bell
July 12th, 2006
CHUM, the famously independent Canadian media mini-group (including the original CHUM radio stations, MuchMusic, CityTV and other outlets that share the CHUM/City characteristic of veering between mainstream and mad) is (if approved by the CRTC, the regulatory agency) on its way to the Bell world, after a takeover bid that became public today.
It’s Bell Globemedia that’s making the bid. They are the people who currently own CTV (the largest private network), the Globe and Mail (the grand old national newspaper), and a whole rake of cable and satellite channels, and bits of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors (hockey and basketball respectively).
BG itself is owned mostly by Bell Canada Enterprises (what was once upon a time the Canadian bit of Bell as in Alex Graham) and also by the Thompsons (long-time newspaper business). Though this too is subject to change. BCE are planning to get out of BG (i.e. to concentrate on telephones, Internet and so on) and sell most of their stake to the Thompsons and to Torstar (the Toronto Star group, which includes some TV as well as the newspaper).
There’s a great chart from the regulator that gives you an idea of all the links. It’s funny even just with visual impact alone. For now, BG are swearing that they will keep separate newsrooms in areas where they now own separate TV stations (most major Canadian cities, by my reading of it) but this is still A Big Story. Goodbye CHUM - or hello angry regulators?
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June 8th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
[...] As noted back in the sunny days of July 2006, Canadian media behemoth Bell Globemedia (owners of CTV, the Globe and Mail and more), has been attempting to buy the CHUM/City group - operator of radio stations and a number of TV services, most notably Toronto’s CityTV. The transaction cleared competition approval recently, but the most significant hurdle was the necessity to receive the approval of the electronic media regulator, the CRTC. The need to receive the CRTC’s assent is a key principle of Canadian media law, and an elaborate system of policies, ‘benefits packages’ and more has emerged from the Broadcasting Act and the CRTC’s own proceedings. It’s certainly not a rubber stamp, and the public proceedings are epic affairs. [...]