TORONTO – The OMNI brand will live on in Vancouver after all. Rogers Media announced today that it will buy the city’s multicultural station, Channel M, from Multivan.
The acquisition of Channel M will significantly expand Rogers’ ethnic television operations into the rather diverse lower Vancouver mainland and Vancouver Island markets, which are home to three million residents.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The station will copy Rogers’ successful multicultural stations in Toronto, branded OMNI. Once the deal is done, Channel M will become OMNI. Right now, Rogers owns an OMNI-branded station in Vancouver, but it is a Christian channel that Rogers has already said it would sell.
Five years ago, Rogers and Multivan fought for the multicultural station license in front of the CRTC, which sided with the local company. Rogers also recently won multicultural station licenses over Multivan in Calgary and Edmonton and it’s likely those losses at the Commission this spring factored into Multivan’s decision to sell Channel M.
In its four years, Channel M has built a successful and award-winning multicultural television offering in Vancouver and Victoria, broadcasting in 22 different languages and producing and airing hundreds of hours of original local programs each month.
Expansion into these Greater Vancouver Area markets represents a natural extension to Rogers’ proven and successful OMNI TV multicultural platform in Ontario and is further complemented by the multilingual and ethnic television station licenses in Calgary and Edmonton which Rogers was recently awarded.
It will also complement Rogers’ Citytv stations, including one in Vancouver, which it has acquired from CTVglobemedia.
However, all of what’s mentioned above requires CRTC approval.
"Rogers has built its successful television business by serving community-focused and niche audiences," said Leslie Sole, CEO Television, Rogers Broadcasting, in a press release. "The addition of Channel M to Rogers’ ethnic broadcasting portfolio greatly enhances our position as Canada’s premier multicultural broadcaster and furthers our objective of bringing a vision of diversity, respect and inclusiveness to the communities that Rogers serves. We pride ourselves in providing a primary bridge to first generation Canadians in the language of their origin and in relaying multicultural experiences at both a local level and now with the acquisition of Channel M, across other regions of the country."
"We are proud of the success that Channel M has had in bringing our citizens in Vancouver and Victoria a comprehensive and meaningful multicultural television experience," said Art Reitmayer, president and CEO, Channel M. "Rogers is a highly respected Canadian media company with a terrific track record building media brands, and is an excellent fit to lead this channel forward. I know they will continue to grow Channel M and apply their significant expertise and commitment to TV broadcasting to ensure that Channel M will continue to thrive long into the future."
The deal is expected to close at the end of 2007 or early in 2008.
