Bell Media

Baton Broadcasting For all practical purposes, Bell Media is the successor to Baton Broadcasting Incorporated ( ), which by the late 1990s had become one of Canada's largest broadcasters. Formed in 1960 as Baton Aldred Rogers Broadcasting Ltd., the company was originally created to establish Toronto's first private television station, CFTO-TV. The name of this company derived from its initial investors, including the Bassett and Eaton families (Baton), and Aldred-Rogers Broadcasting (owned by broadcaster Joel Aldred and Ted Rogers); Foster Hewitt was also an initial investor, but in a much smaller role. Aldred sold his shares in 1961, followed by Rogers by 1970, thereby relieving their names from the company title. With the Bassett and Eaton families firmly in control, the company went public in the early 1970s. CFTO was one of the charter affiliates of CTV when that network formed in 1961, becoming the network's flagship. In 1966, Baton became a part-owner in the network when it was reorganized as a station-owned cooperative. The Board of Broadcast Governors was initially skeptical about the proposal to turn CTV into a cooperative. Since CFTO was by far the largest and richest station in the network, the BBG feared Baton would take advantage of this to dominate the network. However, it approved the deal after Baton and the other owners included a provision in the cooperative's bylaws stipulating that the eight station owners would each have a single vote regardless of audience share. Additionally, if one owner ever bought another station, the acquired station's shares would be redistributed among the remaining owners so that each owner would still have one vote out of eight. In 1972, Baton began purchasing other CTV affiliates, starting with CFQC-TV in Saskatoon. This did not, however, give Baton a substantially higher investment in CTV, since its shares were redistributed among the other owners. As a result, Baton still had only one vote out of eight. In 1987, Baton began a concerted effort to take over CTV. It started this drive with a further expansion into Saskatchewan, purchasing CKCK-TV in Regina, Yorkton twinstick CKOS-TV/CICC-TV, and CBC affiliate CKBI-TV Prince Albert. A twinstick CTV affiliate was soon launched in Prince Albert, CIPA-TV. In the late 1980s, Baton applied for a high-power station in Ottawa on channel 60. The licence was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), appealed to federal cabinet by rival broadcasters, and ultimately sent back to the CRTC for review. However the license was surrendered when Baton was instead able to acquire the local CTV affiliate, CJOH-TV, from Allan Slaight's Standard Broadcasting. In 1990, Baton purchased the MCTV system of twinstick operations in Pembroke, North Bay, Sudbury, Timmins, and the Huron Broadcasting twinstick in Sault Ste. Marie. In 1993, Baton purchased CFPL-TV in London, CKNX-TV in Wingham and received a license for a new independent station, CHWI-TV, in Windsor. In 1991, the company launched Ontario Network Television, a secondary affiliation carried by Baton's CTV and independent stations in Ontario. This was expanded in 1994 into the Baton Broadcast System (BBS), which included Baton's Saskatchewan stations. BBS was meant as a backup in case Baton's ongoing acquisitions did not translate into control of CTV itself. A year earlier, CTV had been recently restructured into a corporation, with each owner holding a 14.3% stake in the network. However, any future acquisitions by Baton would come with all of that affiliate's CTV shares. It was around this time that former CBC executive Ivan Fecan joined the company. Baton-Electrohome alliance and CTV Inc. (1996–2000) In 1996, the CRTC approved two major deals involving Baton. First was the acquisition of CFCN-TV in Calgary from Rogers Communications, which had recently purchased Maclean Hunter. Second, Baton and Electrohome—owner of CKCO-TV in Kitchener and CFRN-TV in Edmonton—formed an alliance, under which the companies would share ownership of CFCN; Baton's stations in Saskatchewan and its independent stations in southwestern Ontario; and Electrohome's CKCO. The deals doubled Baton's own interest in CTV to 28.6%. However, as part of the deal, Baton took control of Electrohome's CTV vote, allowing it to command 42.9% of CTV's shares. In January 1997, Baton-Electrohome's "Vancouver Television" proposal emerged as the CRTC's choice for the new independent station in Vancouver, beating out four other competitors. The new station, CIVT-TV, would compete directly with Western International Communications's two CTV affiliates in the market when it was launched that fall. On February 25, 1997, the Baton-Electrohome alliance and CHUM Limited announced that several stations would be swapped between them. Baton-Electrohome would acquire CHUM's Atlantic Television System (ATV), consisting of four CTV affiliates in the Maritimes, the Atlantic Satellite Network (ASN), and a further 14.3% in CTV. CHUM would receive Baton's independent stations in southwestern Ontario, as well as CHRO-TV in Pembroke, which had recently disaffiliated from CTV. The Baton-Electrohome alliance now held 57.2% of CTV. Shortly thereafter, Electrohome announced it would sell its broadcasting assets—including CFRN, its interest in the alliance, and its CTV shares—to Baton in exchange for cash and shares in Baton. These two deals were approved by the CRTC in August. Baton now held controlling interest in CTV, triggering a put option that allowed the other owners to sell their stakes in the network while still keeping their stations. Accordingly, Baton acquired the remaining CTV shares from WIC and Moffat Communications (Newfoundland Broadcasting, owner of CJON-TV, had effectively relinquished its vote when CTV became a corporation) that fall. The BBS television system was merged into CTV, with the company itself being renamed CTV Inc. the following year. The Eatons' remaining shares, representing 41% of Baton (estimated at CA$450 million), were sold off to the general public in early 1998. By the end of 2001, nearly all CTV stations were consolidated under network ownership (including one replacement). In 1999, CTV Inc. acquired NetStar Communications, a company that was spun out from the broadcasting division of the Labatt Brewing Company after its acquisition by Interbrew in 1995. The sale was approved by the CRTC March 24, 2000, but CTV had to divest either Netstar's TSN or their own Sportsnet; they chose to sell the latter to Rogers. Bell Globemedia (2000–2006) At the beginning of the 2000s, Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) acquired CTV Inc. (including the NetStar assets) and bought The Globe and Mail, folding the two into a new media venture, Bell Globemedia Inc (BGM). This venture was masterminded by former Bell Canada chief executive Jean Monty, largely as a response to Canwest's purchase of the Southam newspaper chain as well as the trend of media convergence, particularly the AOL-Time Warner merger. Monty believed that to survive in a changing technological landscape, and in particular to drive subscriptions to satellite television provider Bell ExpressVu and internet service provider Bell Sympatico, BCE had to have control over content. The transaction was structured as follows. In 2000, BCE acquired CTV Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at CA$2.3 billion. Soon after, Monty arranged to have Thomson Corporation transfer control of The Globe and Mail, the Toronto-based national newspaper, to BCE in exchange for a significant interest (20%) in the merged CTV/Globe entity. The Thomson family's holding company (The Woodbridge Company Limited) invested in the company directly to obtain an additional 9.9% interest, and it later bought Thomson Corporation's interest. The resulting company (Bell Globemedia) consisted of CTV, The Globe and Mail, and the Internet portal then known as Sympatico-Lycos (Lycos was later replaced by MSN). Fecan was named the combined firm's president and CEO (a role he remained in for the duration of the BGM/CTVglobemedia era). After Monty resigned and was replaced by Michael Sabia in 2002, it became clear that Monty's vision was not producing anything near the desired results, notwithstanding the good results for the individual units, particularly the CTV network. The following years provided a few cosmetic changes in BGM's assets. In 2001, CTV acquired CKY-TV in Winnipeg and CFCF-TV in Montreal, and moved the CTV affiliation in British Columbia to CIVT, replacing two affiliates that had been purchased by Canwest. That fall also brought the launch of the first digital specialty channels, including several owned by CTV. The company acquired partial ownership in TQS in 2002, the Sympatico portal was sold back to Bell Canada, while a further investment from the Thomsons (whose ownership increased to 31.5%) funded the acquisition of 15% of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. However, beginning in 2003, BCE management began to refer to BGM as a non-core asset; as a result, much attention was given to the likely sale of the company, and potentially a breakup into several different pieces. On December 2, 2005, Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) announced that it would sell an 8.5% interest to The Woodbridge Company Limited (increasing their total ownership to 40%), a 20% interest to Torstar, and a 20% interest to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. BCE retained 20% of the group—a condition that ensured that Bell Satellite TV, Sympatico, and other Bell units continued to have access to Bell Globemedia (BGM) content. The transaction closed on August 30, 2006. This deal put to rest any rumors about a possible breakup of the company. However, Torstar's involvement led to additional media concentration concerns, mainly from media unions. Torstar insisted it was committed to maintaining the editorial independence of the Globe and its own Toronto Star, and ultimately there were no major regulatory hurdles due to this. On July 12, 2006, BGM announced a friendly bid to take over CHUM Limited for an estimated $1.7 billion. The acquisition would bring the secondary broadcast system (Citytv), other stations including CablePulse24, MuchMusic, Star!, Bravo!, and Space, and all of CHUM's radio stations, into the BGM fold. BGM originally announced that CHUM's A-Channel stations, Access, CKX-TV, MusiquePlus, MusiMax, Canadian Learning Television, SexTV: The Channel and BGM's own OLN would not be retained. On September 7, 2006, in order to pay for the CHUM acquisition, BGM sold additional shares to its existing shareholders. BCE did not participate in the refinancing; the net effect was an increase in Teachers' ownership to 25%, while BCE's interest was reduced to 15%. CTVglobemedia (2007–11) As a result of BCE's reduced ownership in the company, Bell Globemedia was renamed CTVglobemedia Inc. on January 1, 2007. Corus Entertainment would acquire Canadian Learning Television, Cooking Channel, and Drive-In Classics for a combined $113 million. TQS entered bankruptcy protection and was ultimately acquired by Remstar (which renamed the network "V"). Meanwhile, Glassbox Television acquired Travel + Escape in late 2010. In two cases, the operations were closed down, specifically CBC affiliate CKX-TV in Brandon, Manitoba (which left the air in October 2009 after a deal to sell that station to Bluepoint Investment Corporation fell through) and the A station in Wingham, CKNX-TV (which left the air one month prior to CKX and is now a rebroadcaster of the A station in London, CFPL-TV). CTVglobemedia acquired Toronto station CFXJ-FM from Milestone Radio in 2010. On September 10, 2010, BCE announced plans to re-acquire 100% of the company's broadcasting arm, including CTV Inc. Under the deal, Woodbridge, Torstar, and Teachers' would together receive $1.3 billion in either cash or equity in BCE, while BCE would also assume $1.7 billion in debt (BCE's existing equity interest was $200 million, for a total transaction value of $3.2 billion). Woodbridge would also regain majority control of The Globe and Mail Inc., with BCE retaining a 15% interest. The overall deal was expected to close by April 2011. However, the sale of The Globe, which did not require CRTC approval, was completed in late December 2010. The deal was approved by the CRTC on March 7, 2011, and was officially closed on April 1, 2011. On the same day, CTVglobemedia was renamed as Bell Media Inc.. == Post-2011 developments ==