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Telemedia

Table of contents 
  1. The group
  2. Studies
  3. Landmarks

This note considers Telemedia, now defunct, which encompassed radio, television and magazine publishing operations in Canada.


It covers -

  • The group
  • Studies
  • Landmarks

The group

The company was founded by Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien (1928- ) an organiser of the 1967 World Exhibition in Montreal. During the 1980s it claimed to be Canada's largest consumer magazine publisher and commercial radio network.

Telemedia's publishing assets included Canadian Living, New England Monthly, Harrowsmith, Coup de pouce, Homemaker's, Madame au Foyer, Style at Home, Sympatico Netlife, Western Living, Vancouver Magazine, TV Hebdo and Canadian editions of TV Guide and ELLE. It also had direct marketing services through its Open&Save unit. The publishing arm was progressively acquired by Transcontinental in 1995 and 2000.

The group's broadcasting assets were acquired by Astral Media and Standard Broadcasting.

The de Gaspé Beaubien family invested the proceeds from sale of its media holdings in telecommunications, real estate financial services and other interests.

Studies

There have been no major studies of the group or the de Gaspé Beaubiens.

Landmarks

1968 de Gaspé Beaubien founds Telemedia

1975 launches Canadian Living and Coup de Pouce

1981 James Lawrence launches Equinox

1983 Rogers Wireless founded by a consortium of Rogers Telecommunications, First City Financial Corporation and Telemedia Enterprises Inc as Rogers Cantel Inc

1988 Telemedia buys majority stake in Camden House Publishing

1989 buys New England Monthly magazine

1995 sells 20 Quebec-area weeklies to Transcontinental

1996 sells Equinox to Montreal-based Malcolm Publishing

1999 Telemedia acquires 4 Pelmorex radio stations

1999 buys 2 radio stations from Radiocorp

1999 buys 2 stations from London Commmunications

2000 buys Affinity's CKTB/CHTZ/CHRE in St Catharines, CHAM in Hamilton and CKSL in London

2000 forms joint venture with American Tower Corporation to develop and acquire broadcast and mobile phone towers

2000 sells Telemedia Publishing to Transcontinental for US$102m

2001 sells eastern Canadian radio holdings (inc 19 radio stations in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) to Astral Media for C$255m

2001 sells 60 radio stations to Standard

2003 sells stake in Astral Media for C$130m