Who owns Canada's Media

A blockbuster deal

Broadcast Date: July 31, 2000
CanWest Global Communications Corp. has gained control of a huge chunk of Hollinger Inc. in a monster deal worth over $3.2 billion. Canada's newest and second-largest private national TV network, CanWest Global, is now the biggest owner of newspapers. The Winnipeg-based broadcasting company will take control of more than 200 publications, including 14 major dailies, numerous Internet sites and a 50 per cent share in Hollinger's flagship newspaper, the National Post.

Media concentration, once frowned upon, seems to have become a national goal. Publishers argue that if Canada doesn't get on board it will get left behind in the new global economy. "We don't intend to be one of the corpses lying beside the information highway," says Israel Asper, chairman of CanWest Global. In Vancouver, where the merger results in CanWest owning two main TV stations and the city's two major newspapers, readers and viewers voice concern about the shrinking diversity of opinion.
http://www.canwestwatch.org/leonard.html

Israel "Izzy" Asper and his son Leonard control Can West Global Communications. In addition to having purchased the National Post in its entirety from Conrad Black, Can West Global owns Southam Publications whose daily papers include:

Halifax Daily News
St. John's Telegram
Charlottetown Guardian
Montreal Gazette
Ottawa Citizen
Windsor Star
St. Catharines Standard
Regina Leader Post
Saskatoon Star Phoenix
Calgary Herald
Edmonton Journal
Vancouver Province
Vancouver Sun
Victoria Times-Colonist

Asper also owns 126 other daily and weekly papers across Canada. In BC, these papers include:

Abbotsford Times
Alberni Valley Times
Burnaby Now
Campbell River Courier-Islander
Chilliwack Times
Coquitlam Times Now
Comox Valley Echo
(partnership interest)
Cowichan Valley Citizen (Duncan)
Delta Optimist
Harbour City Star
Lake Cowichan News
Langley Advance
Maple Ridge Times
Monthly Star Homes
Nanaimo Daily News
New Westminster Record
North Shore News
Now Community
Parksville/Qualicum Beach
Morning Sun
Pennyworth Shopper
Real Estate Weekly
Richmond News
TV Scene
Vancouver Courier
Westerly News

In addition, the Aspers control the following televised media sources:

Global Television Network (8 regional channels including Edmonton's ITV and Vancouver's VTV)
Fox Sportsworld Canada
Lone Star
Deja View
Mystery Channel
CHEK Victoria
CHTV Hamilton
CHBC Okanagan

They also own Fireworks Entertainment and 8 other foreign channels and numerous radio stations across the globe.

Other notable Jews in positions of power in the Canadian media include Robert Rabinovitch, President and CEO of CBC Radio and Television, and Heather Reisman, who owns Indigo Books and Chapters.

Southam magazines include

Automotive Service Data Book
Southam Medical
Auto Vision
Southam Medical Lists
Body Shop
The Drugstore File
Jobber News
Dental Directories
L'automobile
Canadian Health Facilities
Le Body Shop Directory
Service Station and Garage
Rehab Services Guide
Canadian Medical Directory
Jobber News Annual
Pharmacists Directory
Broadcaster
American Mines Handbook
Cablecaster
Canadian Mines Handbook
New Media.pro
Canadian Mining Journal
Mining Source Book
Canadian MineSCAN
Cabling Systems
Northern Miner Newspaper
Canadian Architect
Northern Miner
Combo
Canadian Consulting Engineer
Architectural and Design Solutions
Dental Health
American MineSCAN
Dental Practice Management
Oral Health
Dental Directories
OH&S Canada
New Technology Magazine
Back to Work Petroleum
Explorer Canadian
Nickels Energy Group
Safety News
Daily Oil Bulletin
Canadian Occupational Health & Safety
Canadian Oil Register
Safety Legislation
Energy Analects
Statistics Quarterly
Energy Information Services
Canadian Plastics Directory
Structures Buyers Guide
Petroleum Explorer
Environmental Industry Convention Reporter
Hazardous Materials Management
Les Papetieres du Quebec
Solid Waste Recycling
Pulp & Paper Canada
Ecology Week
Scott's Government Index
Mutual Fund Source Book
Canadian Source Book
Fund Profiler
Scott's Directory of Canadian Associations
Canadian Underwriter
Canadian Underwriter
Statistical Centre Magazine
Gifts and Tablewares
Ontario Insurance Directory
Canadian Industrial Equipment News
Laboratory Product News
Laboratory Buyer's Guide
Canadian Transportation Logistics
Trucking
Motor Truck
Truck News
Truck West
Industrial Sales
Scott's Directories
Canadian Transportation Guide

film distribution and development

CanWest has followed the traditional path of new broadcasters by buying film libraries, trying to break into the distribution business and developing a film/video production presence. (For Australian experience see writing about moves by the 7 and Ten Networks to buy MGM or other production/distribution houses during the 1990s.)

The highlights are
licensing of the Endemol (game show and 'Big Brother') library
Fireworks Entertainment, Toronto-based film/tv financier and developer
Fireworks Pictures, Los Angeles-based feature film distributor
Fireworks Television, also in L.A., television program developer
Fireworks International, London-based television program distributor

Multimedia

In the Hollinger purchase CanWest acquired some of Canada's leading internet portals,such as canada.com and faceoff.com, along with newspaper portals.

Closer to home the performance of TEN Ventures, the new media subsidiary, has been underwhelming, with negative results from online entertainment and leisure destination SCAPE (a 50% investment with Village Roadshow).

Advertising

Network TEN has a 100% interest in Eye Corp., Australia's second largest outdoor advertising company, which competes with an APN subsidiary.

Eye has a network of outdoor signage, airport advertising, visual merchandising, and shopping centre advertising in Australia and has been seeking to extend its presence in Malaysia and Indonesia.

CanWest, Reuters remain at odds

Reuters news agency says it's "just going to continue to clarify [its] policy" with Canada's largest newspaper chain after an editorial in the chain's flagship daily, the National Post, indicated it would continue to insert the word "terrorist" in stories from Reuters and other wire services.

Speaking yesterday from New York, Stephen Naru, Reuters' global head of media relations, said his organization "hasn't responded" to the editorial, published on Saturday, which said Reuters' "use of euphemisms" such as "militant," "insurgent" and "extremist" to describe some of the people in the Middle East and Iraq "merely serves to apply a misleading gloss of political correctness." The Post editorial concluded: "We believe we owe it to our readers to remove it before they see their newspapers every morning."