Still had impact on subscriber base
By Ahmad Hathout
The head of Corus said Wednesday that the removal of some of its kids channels has boosted other brands in unprecedented ways.
“Our thoughtful rationalization of our kids specialty portfolio to better reflect viewer demand has resulted in some audience consolidation into our remaining kids brands,” John Gossling said on a first-quarter earnings conference call Wednesday.
“We saw YTV and, for the first time ever, Boomerang position within the top 20 networks this fall,” he continued. “These achievements underscore the effectiveness of our strategic programming decisions and the continued appeal of our brands to Canadian audiences.”
Last summer, Corus discontinued carrying storied brands including Nickelodeon and Disney amid a broader effort to shave programming costs as the independent media company navigates tough financial waters.
Corus is in the middle of getting court and shareholder approval for a recapitalization that would reduce the company’s debt by $500 million, save annual cash interest of up to $40 million, increase access to its secured lending facility, and extend debt due dates by five years.
Gossling said the recapitalization proposal, announced in November and which involves a swap of existing shares for ones in a newly formed company called NewCo, is already supported by key shareholders holding the majority of the senior notes as well as Class A voters. The shareholder voting deadline is near the end of this month.
In the meantime, Corus said it is seeing some promise in its products. Its streaming service StackTV saw tuning grow five per cent during the fall 2025 season, which it said was driven by video-on-demand that was up 23 per cent over the year prior. It also made it through the Blue Jays World Series run, which it said had eaten into its advertising opportunities last quarter.
The company reported revenue of $268 million in its fiscal first quarter, down 18 per cent compared to the same period last year. Profit was down 32 per cent to $57 million over the same period, thanks to the lower revenue that was offset by cost-saving measures.
The radio segment saw four-per-cent lower revenue to $22 million due to lower advertising demand, but cost-cutting measures floated that segment’s profit to $5.3 million — up by 38 per cent.
Advertising revenue was down 23 per cent to $135 million, which was attributed to lower demand for advertising on traditional television. Distribution, production and other revenue was down two per cent to $11 million thanks to a pause in production of animation. Subscriber revenue was down 15 per cent to $99 million, thanks to lower subscribers on traditional television, the trimming of the seven specialty channels, and what the company is calling “ongoing disputes with certain distributors.”
Corus executives did not elaborate on what those disputes were, but Cartt reported last year that the media company sued Telus in Ontario Superior Court for allegedly withholding $2.5 million in service fees to distribute its programs as the two had been engaged in a carriage dispute.
Corus has also been in active litigation with Rogers over the latter’s obligation to carry the programmer’s services.
The company told the CRTC last summer that the regulator needs to look more carefully at why carriage disputes happen, including examining how programs are packaged by distributors.
The CRTC is currently studying the dynamics between domestic programmers and distributors in a market that is today heavily influenced by the ubiquity of online and foreign options.
