Corus Entertainment

Corus Entertainment Inc.
Public
Traded as TSX: CJR.B
OTC Pink: CJREF
Industry Media, broadcasting
Founded Toronto, Ontario (1999)
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Key people
 John M. Cassaday
President / CEO
Heather Shaw
Executive Chair
Revenue Increase$768.7 million CAD
Number of employees
 2,086 (2008)[1]
Website www.corusent.com

Corus Entertainment is a Canadian media and broadcasting company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off of Shaw Communications, it is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, and has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. Corus Entertainment's voting majority is held by the company's founder J. R. Shaw and his family.

Corus has a large presence in Canadian specialty television, most prominently within the children's television market through its ownership of networks such as YTV, Teletoon, localized versions of Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, along with the animation studio Nelvana and book publisher Kids Can Press. Corus is also a major owner of radio stations in Canada, operating 39 stations across major and medium-sized markets.

History

On April 30, 2010, it was announced that all Corus Québec stations, with the exception of CKRS, would be sold to Cogeco for $80 million, pending CRTC approval.[2] Corus's reason for the sale is that their Quebec radio stations are less profitable than their stations in other parts of Canada.[3] However, Cogeco must either apply with the CRTC for an exemption from the common ownership policy, or sell off some of these (or their own) stations as they will be over the maximum allowable number of stations in Montreal, Quebec City, and Sherbrooke. On June 25, it was reported that Corus had agreed to sell CKRS to Radio Saguenay, a local business group.[4]

The sale of the Corus Québec stations was approved by the CRTC on December 17, 2010, on the condition that Cogeco-owned CJEC-FM and Corus-owned CFEL-FM and CKOY-FM be sold to another party by December 2011.[5] On January 13, 2011, competing broadcaster Astral Media announced that they would seek legal action to stop the sale of these stations to Cogeco, citing the fact that it would own more stations than Astral in the Montreal market, making the competition unfair.[6]

In March 2013, as part of Bell Canada's proposed acquisition of Astral Media, Corus reached a tentative deal to acquire Astral's stakes in Historia, Séries+, and the Teletoon networks, along with several radio stations, for $400.6 million. This aspect of the deal, intended to quell concerns from the CRTC regarding Bell's total market share after the merger, was approved by the Competition Bureau on March 18, 2013.[7][8] In an unrelated deal, Corus also announced that it would acquire Shaw Media's stakes in ABC Spark, Historia, and Séries+ in exchange for cash and its minority stake in Food Network Canada.[9] Corus has indicated that as a whole, these acquisitions are intended to expand its operations in the competitive Quebec market. Corus also plans to open a new office in Montreal following the acquisitions.[9]

Sponsorships and industry partnerships

Corus is an industry sponsor of the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus.[10] Gary Maavara, Corus' General Counsel, sits on the campus' advisory board.[11]

Relationship with Shaw Communications

Corus Entertainment was formed from media assets that had been owned by Shaw Communications.[12]

Shaw and Corus continue to be controlled by the Shaw family, and as a result, media reports have sometimes erroneously referred to Corus as a subsidiary of Shaw. In fact, Shaw and Corus are independent, publicly traded companies, with separate management teams and separate boards of directors.

Nonetheless, some reports indicate that the two companies continue to have a close relationship.[13] For several years, Corus managed advertising operations (such as TV listings channels) for Shaw's cable systems, although this operation has since been discontinued. Executives have also occasionally moved between the two companies, with former Corus Television president Paul Robertson joining Shaw to head Shaw Media (the former Canwest broadcasting operations) in 2010.[13]

Following Shaw's 2010 acquisition of Canwest's TV assets, the two companies incidentally became partners in certain channels including Dusk (later replaced by ABC Spark) as well as Food Network Canada; these partnerships were unwound in 2013.[14] Otherwise, there has been no connection or common programming between Corus's conventional and specialty television operations and those of Shaw Media. For example, Corus owns three over-the-air TV stations that are CBC affiliates, and there is no indication of those stations switching to the Shaw-owned Global network.

However, due to its connections to Shaw, Corus Entertainment is considered to be "related" to Shaw in regards to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's (CRTC) "3:1 rule", which requires service providers to carry three channels from other broadcasters for each service they carry that is owned by a company related to the service provider.[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Company Profile for Corus Entertainment Inc (CJR)". Retrieved 2008-10-08.
  2. ↑ "Canada's Corus Entertainment sells all its stations in Quebec, including Montreal". Radio-Info.com. 30 April 2010.
  3. ↑ St. Petersburg Times, "Canada Report" column, May 9, 2010.
  4. ↑ Corus sells Saguenay station to local buyers, The Wire Report, 25 June 2010
  5. ↑ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2010-942: "Transfer of effective control of various commercial radio programming undertakings from Corus Entertainment Inc. to Cogeco inc.", issued December 17, 2010.
  6. ↑ Canadian Press, via Yahoo: "Cogeco says new radio stations to provide growth and expects deal to go through", January 13, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Bell moves closer to Astral with sale of TV assets". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  8. ↑ "Competition Bureau clears Corus acquisition of Astral assets". Canadian Press. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Corus eyes aggressive TV expansion in Quebec". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  10. ↑ "Industry Partnerships". University of Waterloo. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  11. ↑ "Advisory Board profiles". University of Waterloo. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  12. ↑ corusent.com Corporate homepage, About Us
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Iain Marlow (2010-05-04). "Shaw taps Corus veteran for top TV job". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
  14. ↑ "Press Release - Corus Entertainment Receives CRTC Approval on TELETOON Canada Inc., Historia and Séries+ Acquisitions". Corusent.com. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
  15. ↑ Corus Entertainment. "CRTC Application 2012-0197-0 (.zip format)". Retrieved 2012-04-11.

External links