Cabler avoids tangling with CRTC, creates new co.
Shaw Communications, one of Canada’s leading cable operators, has created Corus Entertainment to house all of its media assets.
The move is designed to allow Calgary-based Shaw to grow its broadcasting business without running into trouble with federal regulator the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which has generally frowned on the big Canuck cable companies having too many broadcast holdings. Corus, which will have extensive holdings in radio and the specialty TV industry, will be a publicly traded company separate from Shaw. Shares in Corus Entertainment will be distributed, on a basis yet to be determined, to Shaw’s existing class A and class B shareholders. Corus also announced several executive appointments. Heather Shaw, previously president of Shaw Advertising Services, has been named executive chair; Thomas Peddie, most recently president and CEO of Western Intl. Communications, has been appointed senior veepee and chief financial officer; Paul Robertson, currently president of YTV, becomes president, television, and will remain president of YTV; and veteran broadcaster J. Terry Strain has been named president, radio.
