CHUM TO BE PART OF BGM: SOURCES Richard Blackwell – Globe and Mail
Shares in CHUM Ltd. have been halted, pending a news announcement from the media organization.
Sources said talks are in the final stages that will result in the company becoming part of Bell Globemedia, which owns the Globe and Mail.
CHUM owns 33 radio stations, 12 local television stations and 21 specialty television channels.
The local television stations include City-TV stations in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg, and A-Channel stations in Barrie, Ottawa, London, Windsor, and Wingham, Victoria, and Vancouver and CKX Television in Brandon, Manitoba.
CHUM founder and controlling shareholder Alan Waters died in December. At that time his son Jim, CHUM's chairman, said the family was not interested in selling the company.
However, Jim Waters said that if an offer for the company was received, he would have a fiduciary responsibility to present it to the CHUM board.
The Waters family controls about 90 per cent of CHUM stock.
Bell Globemedia is 68.5 per cent owned by BCE Inc., with the remainder held by the Thomson family's holding company Woodbridge Co. Ltd.
Bell Globemedia owns the CTV television network, which has 21 conventional television stations across Canada, and has interests in 17 specialty channels. It also owns the Globe and Mail and has a 15 per cent interest in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors and the Air Canada Centre.
More to come |