Corus should sell Quebec stations, says analyst

MONTREAL – It’s time for Corus Entertainment to jettison its stable of 15 Quebec radio stations, says an analyst’s report. “Admittedly, Corus Radio’s performance in (fiscal) 2008 has been disappointing relative to plan. Despite the Western skew of the company’s radio operations (40% of total), Corus has been struggling to keep up with industry performance,” reads a report from Genuity Capital Markets media and communications analyst Carl Bayard. “The reasons: several new competitors in Calgary, where Corus grew by 7% compared to market growth of 13% in Q3/08, and a lagging station group in Quebec, combined with a very soft market...