Rogers moves in to snap up CityTV

It was a busy weekend for all involved in CTVglobemedia Inc.'s acquisition of CHUM Ltd. In the wake of Friday's CRTC decision approving CTVglobemedia's purchase of CHUM - without the key CityTV stations CTVglobemedia had been so adamant about keeping - Rogers Communications Inc. has stepped forward with a $375-million, all-cash offer to buy the five CityTV stations in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto."Rogers came in with a very strong offer on a pre-emptive basis, which will see the CityTV stations in a fine home in a timely manner. This outcome is good for both the businesses and the stations' employees," said CTVglobemedia president and CEO Ivan Fecan in a media release. "We know Rogers to be skilled operators of television assets and believe they will be good stewards of these important urban brands."CTVglobemedia demonstrated its strong desire to keep the CityTV stations when it agreed to a 15% benefit payable on the transaction, rather than the proscribed minimum of 10%. The broadcaster had hoped the move would curry favour with both the CRTC and the various industry groups with reservations about what the deal offered for producers and creators.Although Rogers had originally expressed interest in CHUM's A-Channel stations, tendering a $137.5-million offer to buy the six stations as well as some other conventional and specialty assets from CTV after it acquired CHUM, some in the industry suspected that Rogers' true objective was to position itself front-of-line should the regulator order CTV to sell the CityTV stations instead of the A-Channel family."What I think they're purchasing today is probably a right of first refusal, the CRTC doesn't roll over and play dead," said Friends of Canadian Broadcasting spokesman Ian Morrison when the deal was announced.At a breakfast event at the Banff World Television Festival, CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein outlined some of the rationale behind disallowing CTVglobemedia's move to acquire the CityTV stations, saying that "even the most flexible interpretation" of the regulator's policy disallows common ownership of more than one station per language serving a market.Von Finckenstein's CRTC - as well as the Competition Bureau of Canada, the organization he led before joining the communications regulator - must still approve Rogers' acquisition of the CityTV properties.

Rogers moves in to snap up CityTV

News | 06/12/2007 8:00 pm EDT

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