Corus Entertainment

Corus Entertainment Inc.

Type	Public (TSX: CJR.B)
Industry	Media Conglomerate
Founded	Toronto, Ontario (1999)
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario
Key people	John M. Cassaday President / CEO Heather Shaw Executive Chair
Products	Broadcasting, Advertising, Publishing, Television production
Revenue	$768.7 million CAD
Employees	2,086 (2008)[1]
Website	www.corusent.com

Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX: CJR.B) is a publicly traded Canadian media and entertainment conglomerate.

Corus is a leading Canadian specialty television and radio producer, with additional assets in pay television, advertising services, television broadcasting, children's book publishing and children's animation. The company’s multimedia entertainment brands include YTV, Treehouse TV, W Network, Movie Central, CMT, Teletoon, Encore Avenue, Nelvana, Nickelodeon, and Kids Can Press.

Their radio division includes radio stations in major markets like Toronto, Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Edmonton and Calgary in Alberta; and Vancouver, British Columbia. Corus owns 50 radio stations in Canada, and is Canada's fourth largest radio broadcaster, behind Astral Media, Newcap Broadcasting and Rogers Media. It was the largest owner of radio stations in Canada until 2007, when Astral Media acquired Standard Radio from Standard Broadcasting (now Slaight Communications).

Corus Entertainment's voting majority is held by the company's founder James Shaw and his family, which also owns cable operator and media group Shaw Communications Inc. (Shaw Cable, Shaw Broadcast Services, and Shaw Media), from which Corus was spun off in 1999.

Relationship with Shaw Communications

Corus Entertainment was originally formed from media assets originally owned by Shaw Communications.^[2]

Shaw and Corus both continue to be controlled by the Shaw family, and as a result, media reports sometimes erroneously refer to Corus as a subsidiary of Shaw. In fact, Shaw and Corus are independent, publicly-traded companies, with separate management teams and separate boards of directors.

Nonetheless, some reports indicate that the two companies continue to have a close relationship.^[3] 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.^[3]

Following Shaw's acquisition of Canwest's TV assets, the two companies have incidentally become partners in certain channels including Dusk and Food Network Canada. Otherwise, there is presently 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, all currently CBC affiliates, and there is presently no indication of those stations switching to the Shaw-owned Global network.

Recent transactions

On April 30, 2010, it was announced that all Corus Québec stations, with the exception of CKRS, will be sold to Cogeco for $80 million, pending CRTC approval.^[4] Corus's reason for the sale is that their Quebec radio stations are less profitable than their stations in other parts of Canada.^[5] However, Cogeco must either apply with the CRTC for an exemption from the common ownership policy, or sell off some of these (or their own) stations as they will be over the maximum allowable number of stations in Montreal, Quebec City, and Sherbrooke.

On June 25, it was reported that Corus has agreed to sell CKRS to Radio Saguenay, a local business group.^[6]

The sale of the Corus Québec stations has been 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.^[7] On January 13, 2011, competing broadcaster Astral Media announced that they will 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.^[8]

Corporate governance

Board of directors

Current members of the board of directors of Corus Entertainment are: Fernand Bélisle, John Cassaday, Dennis Erker, Carolyn Hursh, Wendy Leaney, Susan Mey, Ronald Rogers, Cathy Roozen, Terrance Royer, Julie Shaw, and Heather Shaw.

Key executives

• John Cassaday, President and CEO
• Heather Shaw, Executive Chair
• Tom Peddie, Senior VP and CFO
• Hal Blackadar, VP Human Resources
• Mario Cecchini, VP Corus Quebec
• Scott Dyer, Chief Technology Officer
• Bryan Ellis, VP Development and Radio Operations
• Tracy Ewing, VP Communications
• Gary Maavara, General Counsel
• Kathleen McNair, VP Corporate Development and Strategic Planning
• Doug Murphy, President, Corus Television
• Chris Pandoff, VP, Ontario Radio
• Jack Perraton, Corporate Secretary
• Susan Ross, Executive Vice President and General Manager Pay and Specialty Television
• Doug Rutherford, VP, Western Radio
• David Spence, VP, Controller

See also

• List of assets owned by Corus Entertainment
• List of companies paying monthly dividends
• List of conglomerates

External links

• Corus Entertainment website
• CRTC chart of Corus Entertainment's Specialty Channel assets (PDF)
• CRTC chart of Corus Entertainment's Radio & TV assets (PDF)
• Corus Entertainment Inc. at the Canadian Communications Foundation website

References

v · Shaw Communications Inc. Corporate Directors Adrian Burns · Jim Dinning · George Galbraith · Ronald Joyce · Charles Keating · Don Mazankowski · Michael O'Brien · Harold Roozen · Jeffrey Royer · Bradley Shaw · Jim Shaw · J.R. Shaw · J.C. Sparkman · John S. Thomas · Bill Yuill Broadcast television Global CFRE Regina • CFSK Saskatoon • CHAN Vancouver • CHBC Kelowna • CICT Calgary • CIHF Halifax • CIII Toronto • CISA Lethbridge • CITV Edmonton • CKMI Montreal • CKND Winnipeg CTV affiliate CJBN Kenora Cable television/ specialty channels Action • BBC Canada • Cable 141 • CPAC • DejaView • DIY Network • Dusk • Food Network • Fox Sports World Canada • Global Reality Channel • HGTV • Historia • History Television • IFC • MovieTime • Mystery TV • National Geographic Channel • Séries+ • Shaw PPV • Shaw TV1 • Showcase • Showcase Diva • Slice • The Cave • TVtropolis • Twist TV Other assets Shaw Broadcast Services · Shaw Business Solutions · Shaw Direct · Shaw Media · Shaw Rocket Fund · Shaw Tracking Historical brands and predecessors Alliance Atlantis · Canwest · Mountain Cablevision · Videon Cablesystems · Western International Communications Related companies Corus Entertainment 1Community channels owned by Shaw Cablesystems. Many of the assets listed above are only partially owned by Shaw. Refer to full asset list for detailed information. Annual Revenue: $2.46 billion CAN (11% FY 2006) · Employees: 8,200 (FY 2006) · Stock Symbols: TSX: SJR.A NYSE: SJR · Website: www.shaw.ca