Bell Media
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media (Television, Radio, Digital Media) |
| Predecessor | CTVglobemedia |
| Founded | 2011 (through acquisition of CTVglobemedia) |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Area served | Canada |
Key people | Kevin Crull, president |
| Owner | BCE Inc. |
| Divisions | CTV Inc., Bell Media Radio |
| Website | http://www.bellmedia.ca/ |
Bell Media is the mass media subsidiary of BCE (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the parent company of Bell Canada). Its operations include television broadcasting and production (including the CTV and CTV Two television networks), radio broadcasting (through Bell Media Radio), Digital Media, and Internet properties.
Bell Media is the successor-in-interest to Baton Broadcasting (later CTV Inc.), one of Canada's first private-sector television broadcasters. The company in its current form was originally established as Bell Globemedia by BCE and the Thomson family in 2001 combining CTV Inc., which Bell had acquired the previous year, and the operations of the Thomsons' The Globe and Mail. Bell sold the majority of its interest in 2006 (at which point the company was renamed CTVglobemedia), but re-acquired the entire company, excluding the Globe, in 2011.
Operations
Bell Media's largest division is Bell Media Television, which owns the following broadcast television assets:
- CTV, Canada's oldest, largest, and most-watched private broadcast television network, including 21 owned and operated stations.[1]
- CTV Two a secondary television system which presently consists of five terrestrial television stations in Ontario, one in British Columbia as well as two cable-only channels, one in Alberta and the other in Atlantic Canada
Bell Media Television also owns 30 cable television specialty channels, frequently in partnership with U.S. companies which operate similar channels, and primarily concentrated in the following genres:
| Genre | Key channels | Foreign partner |
|---|---|---|
| Sports | The Sports Network, Réseau des sports, TSN2, RDS2 others | ESPN (part-owner) |
| Music / youth (Much MTV Group) | MuchMusic, MuchMore, MTV, MTV2, others | MTV Networks (licensor – certain channels only) |
| Factual programming | Discovery Channel and various spinoff channels | Discovery Communications (part-owner or licensor) |
| News (CTV News) | Business News Network, CP24, CTV News Channel | n/a1 |
| Comedy | The Comedy Network and Comedy Gold | Comedy Central (program supply) |
| Entertainment | Bravo! and E! | NBCUniversal (licensor) |
| Other | Fashion Television and Space | n/a |
1No foreign co-owners or brand partners are involved with these channels. However (like most news organizations) CTV does rely on foreign news sources, such as ABC News and CNN, for some international coverage.
Through its Bell Media Radio division, the company is also Canada's fifth-largest private-sector radio broadcaster, after Astral Media, Newcap Broadcasting, Rogers Media and Corus Entertainment.
In addition, Bell Media owns television/radio production studios and websites associated with all of the above properties, as well as the Sympatico.ca Internet portal previously operated through Bell Canada.
Acquisition of Astral Media
On March 16, 2012, Bell Media announced that Montreal-based media company, Astral Media, accepted a takeover bid for an estimated value at $3.38 billion. This acquisition will bring most or all of the assets (including its specialty channels such as The Movie Network, Teletoon and Family, along with ownership of TMN/Movie Central's multiplex channel HBO Canada in Eastern Canada; radio stations such as Toronto's NewsTalk 1010 CFRB, Virgin Radio and EZ Rock; two CBC-affiliated television stations in British Columbia; and outdoor media advertising firm Astral Media Outdoor) into the Bell Media fold.[2]
Under the agreement, the merged company will be over the CRTC-allowed maximum of radio stations broadcasting in the same language that a single company can own in one market; as such, Bell Media will likely be required to sell off ten radio stations (two FM stations in Toronto, one AM station and two FM stations in Vancouver, two English-language FM stations in Ottawa, one FM station in Calgary, one FM station in Winnipeg, and one English-language FM or AM station in Montreal), from either Bell's existing portfolio and/or those currently owned by Astral, to bring it in compliance with CRTC ownership regulations.[3]
See also
References
- ^ 21 is CTV's official count, which includes all stations in the CTV Atlantic and CTV Northern Ontario groups, as well as the CFCN-TV semi-satellite in Lethbridge, but not any other semi-satellites.
- ^ Bell to acquire Québec’s leading media company Astral Bell Media press release, retrieved March 16, 2012,
- ^ Faguy, Steve (16 March 2012). "Bell to buy Astral: But what about media concentration?". Fagstein. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
External links
