WINNIPEG – Canwest Global said today it has launched a “strategic review” of its five E!-branded conventional television stations.
Officially, the company “is exploring strategic options for five of its conventional television stations, CJNT-TV in Montreal, CHCH-TV in Hamilton, CHCA-TV in Red Deer, CHBC-TV in Kelowna and CHEK-TV in Victoria,” reads the press release.
The sale of the stations is one of several options being considered by the company following an internal review. Another, worse option was recently mentioned by Canwest TV head Peter Viner in a recent story on Cartt.ca.
RBC Capital Markets has been retained to assist CanWest in the process and the rumour mills have already cranked out the likes of Onex Corp.’s Gerry Schwartz as a potential suitor. It’s not known how much Canwest might be able to get for the “CH” stations, especially in light of the current economy and the state of conventional TV in general.
The suitor that might make the most sense? Rogers Communications. Along with its Citytv and OMNI over-the-air networks, the addition of these stations could allow the wireless and cable giant to create a larger, third near-national network.
Rogers bought the five Citytv stations in June of 2007 for $375 million when the financial markets were at or near a peak, and the ad climate much better – and the City stations are in far larger markets than Canwest’s quintet of E!-branded ones, so the purchase price is not very comparable.
“These stations have proud histories of serving their communities with strong independent voices,’’ Canwest president and CEO Leonard Asper said in a statement. “However, as they are currently configured, these stations are not core to our television operations going forward.”
He added: “In the current economic environment, we believe that our efforts are best focused on the areas of greatest return including the continued growth of our industry-leading specialty channels and in increasing the linkages between those channels and our powerful Global conventional television brand. We believe this process will lead to significantly enhanced shareholder value.”
The release also said Canwest “has taken advantage of the shifting television viewing audiences to develop a much stronger presence in specialty channels and digital media while increasing the strategic interdependence between these and the Global network. This relationship has helped generate industry leading growth among Canwest’s specialty channels. As a result, Canwest has come to the determination that operating a second conventional TV network in Canada is no longer key to the long-term success of our broadcasting business,” it reads.
“Going forward, this allows us to invest in the areas that provide the greatest return,’’ added Asper.
– Greg O’Brien
