OTTAWA – Corus Entertainment’s purchase of Ottawa-based radio stations CKQB-FM (The Bear 106.9) and CJOT-FM (Boom 99.7) from Bell Media will close on January 31st , Corus confirmed Tuesday.
Formerly owned by Astral, Corus agreed to buy the stations last March as part of the divestitures required as conditions of Bell Media’s purchase of Astral Media. The deal received CRTC approval late last week.
Corus has established a Montreal-based management team led by Mario Cecchini, president of Corus Média and head of Eastern Ontario tadio and television. In addition to overseeing Corus' Quebec-based specialty services, Cecchini will now be responsible for Corus' eastern Ontario radio and local television stations, including the Ottawa radio stations.
President and CEO John Cassaday said that the company is excited about its entry into the fourth largest English radio market in Canada.
"Operating in Ottawa has been a long-stated goal for Corus and the acquisition of CKQB-FM and CJOT-FM strengthens our position in Canada's major markets", he said in a statement.
In approving the acquisition, the Commission assessed the purchase price for both stations at $13 million and valued the transaction at $15.91 million. While noting that the deal “will ensure a diversity of voices in the Ottawa market and that the consolidation will facilitate the creation and promotion of diverse Canadian talent”, it also, however, imposed conditions of licence designed to “limit the potential for anti-competitive behaviour by Corus.”
As a condition of approval, the Commission said that Corus must amend the broadcasting licences for all of its radio stations by February 24, 2014 to include the following:
The licensee shall provide commercially reasonable access to advertising availabilities to unrelated operators of broadcasting undertakings and telecommunications service providers.
The CRTC also accepted the transaction’s tangible benefits package of $954,647 over seven consecutive broadcast years for radio content development, support for Canadian talent, and training initiatives.
