Corus Entertainment

Corus Entertainment
Public
Traded as
Industry Media, broadcasting
Predecessor Alliance Atlantis
Canwest
Shaw Media
Western International Communications
Founded September 1, 1999 (September 1, 1999)
Headquarters Corus Quay
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Key people
Revenue Increase$833 million CAD (2014)
Number of employees
 5,000 (2016)[1]
Subsidiaries Nelvana
Toon Boom Animation
Kids Can Press
Website www.corusent.com

Corus Entertainment is a Canadian media and broadcasting company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off from Shaw Communications, it is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Ontario, and has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. Corus Entertainment's voting majority is held by the company's founder JR Shaw and his family, and a 39% stake of Corus stock is owned by Shaw Communications.[2]

Corus has a large presence in Canadian broadcasting, as owner of the national Global Television Network, 39 radio stations, and a portfolio of 45 specialty television services. Corus is especially prominent within the children's television market, through its ownership of the domestic YTV, Treehouse TV and Teletoon/Télétoon networks, localized versions of the Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Nickelodeon, and ABC Family brands, along with the animation studio Nelvana and book publisher Kids Can Press.

The second incarnation of Shaw's media division—formed from the properties of the defunct Canwest Global—was spun into Corus on April 1, 2016, giving it control of the over-the-air Global network, and 19 additional specialty channels.

History

Establishment

Corus's original logo, used until March 31, 2016.

In September 1998, JR Shaw and Shaw Media CEO John Cassaday announced plans for Shaw Communications to spin-out its media properties, including radio stations and television specialty channels, into a new company. The spin-out would leave Shaw as a "pure play" telecommunications company.[3] The decision to spin out the properties, into what would be known as Corus Entertainment, was meant to comply with Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) recommendations at the time which discouraged vertical integration by cable companies who also owned media properties. Corus would be a separate, publicly-traded company, first listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in September 1999, but would still be primarily controlled by the Shaw family.[4][5]

In September 1999, Corus acquired the broadcasting assets of the Power Corporation of Canada, which included four television stations and sixteen radio stations.[6] In October 1999, it was announced that as part of the break-up of Western International Communications (WIC), Corus would acquire the company's 12 radio stations and most of its specialty channels, including stakes in Family Channel, SuperChannel and MovieMax!.[4]

Growth, acquisitions

In September 2000, after negotiations and rumoured offers by other studios, Corus's CEO Normand Beauchamp, announced that it would acquire the Toronto-based animation studio Nelvana for $540 million; the deal was considered to be a complement to its children's television networks, including YTV, the Teletoon/Télétoon networks, and Treehouse TV, and its stakes in Family which had already licensed Nelvana programs in the past. Corus also stated that it planned to use the purchase to help launch a preschool-oriented cable network in the United States.[7]

In March 2001, in response to complaints by the CRTC over its near-monopoly on ownership of children's specialty channels in Canada, Corus sold Family Channel to Astral Media for $126.9 million.[8] Corus also sold its stake in Western Canada pay-per-view service Viewers Choice to Shaw for $22.6 million, and acquired the Women's Television Network (WTN) from Shaw for $132.6 million. Shaw had acquired WTN's parent company, Moffat Communications, in order to gain control of the company's cablesystem assets.[8] In August 2002, Corus sold CKDO and CKGE-FM to Durham Radio.[9]

In March 2004, Corus and Astral announced that it would acquire and swap radio stations in Quebec; Corus acquired the Radiomédia network (including CKAC) and Quebec City's CFOM, while Astral acquired CFVM-FM Amqui, CJOI-FM and CIKI-FM Rimouski, CFZZ-FM Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and CJDM-FM Drummondville. Corus also sold its Red Deer, Alberta stations CKGY-FM and CIZZ-FM to Newcap Radio.[10][11][12]

In July 2007, Corus acquired CKBT-FM and CJZZ from Canwest.[13] The following month, Corus announced the sale of CHRC to a group of local Quebec City businessmen led by Michel Cadrin.[14]

Additional partnerships, Corus Québec sale

Also in August 2007, Corus announced a partnership with Hearst Corporation to launch Cosmopolitan TV.[15] In March 2008, CTVglobemedia sold Canadian Learning Television to Corus for $73 million[16]

Corus launched a Canadian version of Nickelodeon on November 2, 2009,[17] replacing Discovery Kids. In 2010, Corus's sister company Shaw Communications re-entered the broadcasting industry through its acquisition of the media assets of the bankrupt Canwest, which re-formed the Shaw Media division.[18]

On April 30, 2010, Corus announced that it would sell its Québec radio stations, with the exception of CKRS, to Cogeco for $80 million, pending CRTC approval. Corus cited their low profitability in comparison to their stations elsewhere as reasoning for the sale.[19][20] On June 25, it was reported that Corus had agreed to sell CKRS to Radio Saguenay, a local business group.[21] The sale of the Corus Québec stations was approved by the CRTC on December 17, 2010, on the condition that Cogeco-owned CJEC-FM and Corus-owned CFEL-FM and CKOY-FM be sold to another party by December 2011.[22] On January 13, 2011, competing broadcaster Astral Media announced that they would seek legal action to stop the sale of these stations to Cogeco, citing the fact that it would own more stations than Astral in the Montreal market, making the competition unfair.[23]

On November 9, 2010, Hasbro Studios signed an agreement with Corus to broadcast their productions on its networks.[24] On March 26, 2012, Corus and Shaw launched ABC Spark, a localized version of U.S. cable network ABC Family, with Shaw owning 49%.[25][26]

Re-organization

In March 2013, as part of Bell Media's proposed acquisition of Astral Media, Corus reached a tentative deal to acquire Historia, Séries+, and Cartoon Network, for $400.6 million. This aspect of the deal, intended to quell concerns from the CRTC regarding Bell's total market share after the merger, was approved by the Competition Bureau on March 18, 2013.[27][28] In an unrelated deal, Corus also announced that it would acquire Shaw Media's stakes in ABC Spark, Historia, and Séries+ in exchange for cash and its minority stake in Food Network Canada.[26] Corus indicated that these purchases were meant to help the company expand its television holdings in the competitive Quebec market. Corus also planned to open a new office in Montreal following the sale.[26]

On September 1, 2013, Corus was reorganized into six divisions; Corus Radio, Corus Kids, Corus Women and Family, Corus Content Distribution and Pay TV, Corus Airtime Sales and Corus Média (for French-language assets).[29] The Corus Kids division was subdivided into operations for the main services (the YTV networks and Nickelodeon), the Teletoon Canada group (Teletoon, Teletoon Retro, and Cartoon Network), and Nelvana and Kids Can Press.[30]

Disney deal

On April 16, 2015, Corus Entertainment announced that it had reached an agreement with the Disney–ABC Television Group to acquire long-term, Canadian multi-platform rights to Disney Channel's programming library and associated brands. Alongside the licensing deal, Corus announced that it would officially launch Canadian versions of Disney Channel in English and French on September 1, 2015.[31][32][33][34] New Corus-run Disney Junior and Disney XD channels were launched on December 1, 2015.

Wind-down of Movie Central

On November 20, 2015, Corus announced that it would exit the premium television industry by selling Movie Central and shutting down Encore Avenue, in order to focus on its other specialty services. Corus coordinated with Bell Media to expand The Movie Network and TMN Encore into western Canada; Bell made a payment of $211 million to Corus for assistance in this migration.[35][36]

Amalgamation of Shaw Media, Cooking Channel

On January 13, 2016, Corus announced that it would acquire Shaw Media for $2.65 billion; the subsidiary consisted primarily of the broadcasting assets of the former Canwest, including only some specialty channels. The purchase, which was primarily used to fund Shaw Communications' purchase of wireless carrier Wind Mobile, was paid with $1.85 billion in cash, and Shaw took a 39% share of Corus stock. Corus CEO Doug Murphy described the transaction as being a "transformational acquisition that redefines Corus and Canada's media landscape".[2]

The deal was approved by the CRTC on March 23, 2016. The CRTC considered the transaction to be a reorganization of the assets of JR Shaw rather than an acquisition, because the two companies were already considered to be a single entity for regulatory purposes due to sharing effective control via Shaw and his family. This also exempted Corus from the CRTC tangible benefits policy and scrutiny surrounding concentration of media ownership.[37] The reorganization was completed on April 1, 2016. At the same time, multiple Shaw Media executives joined the company, including its former CEO Barbara Williams (who became the new executive VP and chief operations officer of Corus), and the company adopted a new logo.[38]

On December 12, 2016, W Movies will be replaced by Cooking Channel Canada.

Corporate governance

The current Chief executive officer (CEO) of the company is Doug Murphy. As of 2003, the CEO post had been filled by John Cassaday.[39]

Sponsorships and industry partnerships

Corus is an industry sponsor of the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus;[40] Gary Maavara, Corus' General Counsel, sits on the Waterloo campus' advisory board.[41] The company also funds a couple of endowed chair positions, including Chair in Women in Management at the Ivey Business School (London, Ontario, Canada) beginning in 2003,[42] and a Chair in Communications Strategy at the Rotman School of Management (Toronto) beginning in 2002.[43]

Relationship with Shaw Communications

Corus Entertainment was formed from media assets that had been owned by Shaw Communications. Shaw and Corus are independent, publicly traded companies, but nonetheless, some reports indicate that the two companies continued to have a close relationship.[44] For several years, Corus managed advertising operations (such as TV listings channels) for Shaw's cable systems, although this operation has since been discontinued. Executives have also occasionally moved between the two companies, with former Corus Television president Paul Robertson joining Shaw to head Shaw Media (the former Canwest broadcasting operations) in 2010.[44]

Following Shaw's 2010 acquisition of Canwest's TV assets, the two companies incidentally became partners in certain channels including Dusk (later replaced by ABC Spark) and Food Network Canada; these partnerships were unwound in 2013.[45] Otherwise, there was no connection or common programming between Corus's conventional and specialty television operations and those of Shaw Media. For example, Corus owns three over-the-air TV stations which were longtime CBC affiliates, and which agreed in 2015 to switch to Bell Media's CTV network, despite Shaw owning the rival Global network at the time.[46]

As the two companies are both effectively controlled by JR Shaw, the CRTC considers Corus Entertainment and Shaw Communications to be a single entity in regards to certain policies, [37] such as the "Diversity of Voices" policy and a vertical integration rule requiring television providers to carry three channels owned by unaffiliated parties for each co-owned channel they offer: due to the effective control, Corus networks carried by Shaw television services are subject to this rule. Additionally, the CRTC considered Corus's "acquisition" of Shaw Media to be a corporate reorganization of JR Shaw's assets, and not an outright purchase.[37][47]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "FAQ - Corus Entertainment". Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Corus Entertainment acquires Shaw Media for $2.65-billion". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Kids, Music and More". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Canuck players plan splitting up of WIC". Variety. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Corus lines up behind Canuck Shaw's assets". Variety. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Shaw Communications Aquire [sic] Power Broadcasting". CBC News. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Corus to buy Nelvana for $540-million". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  8. 1 2 "Corus sells Family, buys femme web". Variety. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Corus sells two radio stations". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Corus, Astral get regulatory approval of Quebec radio station swap". CBC News. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Astral, Corus swap Quebec radio stations". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Astral and Corus swap Quebec radio stations". Broadcaster Magazine. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2007-215". CRTC. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Corus Entertainment To Sell Radio Station CHRC-AM To Québec City Business Consortium". Corus Entertainment. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Cosmo comes to Canada via Corus". Variety. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Corus buys CLT from CTVglobemedia". CBC News. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  17. ↑ Staff (October 17, 2009). "Corus Entertainment Brings Nickelodeon North". Pediatrics Week. NewsRx. Retrieved July 4, 2015 – via HighBeam Research.
  18. ↑ "With $2-billion deal for CanWest, Shaw wins battle of media titans". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Canada's Corus Entertainment sells all its stations in Quebec, including Montreal". Radio-Info.com. April 30, 2010. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011.
  20. ↑ St. Petersburg Times, "Canada Report" column, May 9, 2010.
  21. ↑ Corus sells Saguenay station to local buyers, The Wire Report, June 25, 2010
  22. ↑ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2010-942: "Transfer of effective control of various commercial radio programming undertakings from Corus Entertainment Inc. to Cogeco inc.", issued December 17, 2010.
  23. ↑ Canadian Press, via Yahoo: "Cogeco says new radio stations to provide growth and expects deal to go through", January 13, 2011.
  24. ↑ The Brewsters (November 16, 2010). "Hasbro Studios and Corus Entertainment's Kids Networks Reach Broad Animation and Live-Action Programming Agreement". Cartoon Brew. Archived from the original on July 4, 2011. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  25. ↑ Corus' ABC Spark to Launch March 26th, Broadcaster Magazine, January 5, 2012
  26. 1 2 3 "Corus eyes aggressive TV expansion in Quebec". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  27. ↑ "Bell moves closer to Astral with sale of TV assets". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
  28. ↑ "Competition Bureau clears Corus acquisition of Astral assets". Canadian Press. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
  29. ↑ Ng-See-Quan, Danielle (July 16, 2013). "Changes to Corus leadership, including Corus Kids". KidScreen. Brunico Communications Ltd. Playback Online. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  30. ↑ Dickson, Jeremy (February 10, 2014). "Corus unveils Teletoon integration plan". KidScreen. Brunico Communications Ltd. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  31. ↑ David Friend (April 16, 2015). "Corus gains Canadian rights to Disney Channel content". The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc. Canadian Press. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  32. ↑ Padovano, Joanna (August 12, 2015). "Disney Channel Sets Premiere Date for Canada". World Screen. Toronto: WSN INC. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  33. ↑ "Corus speciialty services - Ownership chart" (PDF). CRTC. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  34. ↑ "Corus trading Télétoon Rétro for La chaîne Disney". Cartt.ca. Retrieved 13 August 2015.(subscription required)
  35. ↑ "Bell buys HBO rights across Canada as Corus backs out of pay TV". Canadian Press. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  36. ↑ The Canadian Press staff (2015-11-19). "Bell expanding TMN into national pay TV service; to be sole operator of HBO Canada". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  37. 1 2 3 "Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2016-110". CRTC. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  38. ↑ "Corus Entertainment Completes Acquisition of Shaw Media". Corus Entertainment. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  39. ↑ Kelly, Brendan (July 25, 2003). "Canada's Corus sings as black ink returns". Variety. Retrieved July 4, 2015 – via Highbeam Research.
  40. ↑ "Industry Partnerships". University of Waterloo. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  41. ↑ "Advisory Board profiles". University of Waterloo. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  42. ↑ "Corus Entertainment Donates $2 Million to Establish Chair in Women in Management" (Press release). Ivey School of Business. April 25, 2003. Retrieved July 4, 2015 – via Ascribe Higher Education News Service via HighBeam Research.
  43. ↑ "Corus Entertainment Funds Chair in Communications Strategy, Women in Business Program at University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management" (Press release). Rotman School of Management. September 5, 2002. Retrieved July 4, 2015 – via Ascribe Higher Education News Service via HighBeam Research.
  44. 1 2 Iain Marlow (May 4, 2010). "Shaw taps Corus veteran for top TV job". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
  45. ↑ "Press Release - Corus Entertainment Receives CRTC Approval on TELETOON Canada Inc., Historia and Séries+ Acquisitions". Corusent.com. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  46. ↑ Corus Entertainment (May 20, 2015). "Corus Entertainment's Eastern Ontario Television Channels Enter into a Program Supply Agreement with Bell Media to Broadcast CTV Programming". Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  47. ↑ Corus Entertainment. "CRTC Application 2012-0197-0 (.zip format)". Retrieved April 11, 2012.

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