TORONTO – Canadian BDUs recently began telling customers as of September 30th, both Cosmo TV and the Independent Film Channel will cease broadcasting because owner Corus Entertainment has decided to shut them down.
According to Corus filings with the CRTC, the two specialty services were showing some profit, but those, along with their subscriber numbers, were shrinking, meaning they weren’t earning enough to make it worthwhile to renew their licensing deals.
Cosmo TV (which licenced the Hearst Publishing Cosmopolitan magazine brand in Canada) had 2.5 million subscribers as of the end of August 2018 (the most recent figures available) and earned $6.9 million in revenue, down 28% from 2014. It posted a 2018 pre-tax profit of $1.1 million.
IFC (which was licenced by Corus for Canada from AMC Networks) had 931,000 subscribers at the end of August last year, down 34% from 2014. Its 2018 revenue was $6.76 million, down 34% from 2014 and the $2 million in pre-tax profit was 62% lower than 2014.
Together, Corus booked $1.78 million worth of Canadian content spending against the two channels.
A Corus spokesperson told Cartt.ca the company didn’t try to sell the channels to another broadcaster, and instead it opted not to renew its licensing agreements in order to close them. “We regularly review our portfolio of channels to ensure that they align with our strategic direction. As part of that review, we’ve decided to not renew our agreements for Independent Film Channel (IFC) and Cosmopolitan TV (Cosmo TV),” said Corus in an e-mailed statement.
Corus CEO Doug Murphy has gone on the record a number of times over the past few years saying the company needs to concentrate on its strongest brands and cut certain channels loose.
