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Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canada media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place (now called 201 Portage). It held radio, television broadcasting, and publishing assets in several countries, primarily in Canada.
Canwest was founded in 1974 by Izzy Asper through the formation of CIII-DT in Toronto under the Global Television Network. The company expanded through the 1980s and 1990s, with the initial public offering in 1991 as a publicly traded corporation and the international expansion of its operations in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Turkey. Throughout the years, under Leonard Asper, who became its president and CEO in 1999, Canwest grew into a major media powerhouse by acquiring media properties such as Western International Communications and the Postmedia News newspaper publishing. In 2007, with Goldman Sachs, Canwest acquired the broadcasting arm of Alliance Atlantis.
After years of debt, Canwest began to slowly collapse in 2008, amid the Great Recession and later entered bankruptcy protection in late 2009, which led to the sale of its publishing and broadcasting arms the following year to Postmedia Network, founded by National Post CEO Paul Godfrey and Shaw Communications, which later reorganized its media division as Shaw Media. On April 1, 2016, the broadcasting assets were subsumed into Corus Entertainment, an existing broadcasting firm also owned by the Shaw family.
Following the sale of assets, the company was renamed 2737469 Canada Inc., ceased to carry on business, and commenced bankruptcy proceedings under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act before finally being dissolved on May 27, 2013." Canwest's restructuring Plan successfully implemented ", 2737469 Canada Inc. press release (via Shaw Media), 2010-10-27. Retrieved 2010-10-27.
(prior to seeking creditor protection), Canwest owned, in whole or part, a variety of Canadian media assets, including:
The company had previously sold off some of the smaller newspapers it had acquired in the Southam purchase. Canwest also previously owned broadcasting operations in Australia (as majority shareholder of Network Ten), New Zealand (through CanWest MediaWorks New Zealand), the Republic of Ireland (as a minority shareholder of TV3) and Turkey (as the owners of four radio stations).
Canwest subsequently invested in or acquired other independent TV stations across Canada. Eventually, his station group became known as the "Canwest Global System." In 1997, Canwest bought a controlling interest in CKMI-TV, the privately owned CBC affiliate in Quebec City. Canwest then set up CKMI rebroadcasters in Montreal and Sherbrooke. With this move, Canwest's stations now had enough coverage of Canada that on August 18—the day CKMI officially disaffiliated from CBC—Canwest scrubbed all local brands from its stations, rebranding them as "The Global Television Network," Canada's third television network. Throughout the 1990s, Global (and its antecedents) held Canadian rights to hit U.S. series such as Cheers, Friends, and Frasier.
Canwest also bought broadcasting assets internationally, including outlets in New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, and Australia, although all were eventually sold off. In 1991, Canwest issued a successful initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In June 1996, Canwest was listed on the New York Stock Exchange." CanWest Global Communications Corp. ", New York Stock Exchange
Canwest was initially slow to invest in specialty channels due to the strength of its terrestrial network. In 1999, seeking to change this, the company announced a deal to buy out the Canadian partners of NetStar Communications, owner of TSN, but was stymied by U.S. partner ESPN, which had veto power over such a sale. ESPN instead came to terms with Canwest's main rival CTV, a longtime business partner of ESPN's parent company Disney, as an acceptable buyer, which the selling partners eventually agreed to.
In an effort to get into the entertainment business, the company had bought out producer/distributor Fireworks Entertainment in 1998, and gained interest in Seven Arts Pictures, a film production company. CanWest would sell its entertainment unit in 2005.
In 2005, CanWest launched a new website, Canada.com, which served as a digital media platform for its rebranded brands in the digital space. These brands encompassed various local news outlets, major newspapers, and other media entities. The brands were collectively presented under the "canada.com Network" and included the following (as listed in the website footer): Newspapers: National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, The Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, Regina Leader Post, The Saskatoon Star Phoenix, The Vancouver Sun, The Vancouver Province, Victoria Times Colonist, The Windsor Star, Dose, Vancouver Island Newspaper, VANNEET Newspaper; Television: Global, CH, Prime TV, Fox Sports World Canada, Lonestar, Mystery, Xtreme Sports, Deje View, mentv, Cool TV; Radio: CoolFM 99.1, 91.5 The Beat; Marketplace: working.com, driving.ca, connecting, celebrating, remembering, homes. The website experience revolved around news, city guides, activities, and events to enhance advertising revenue. The site was developed by Cossette/Fjord based in Toronto, Canada, in 2005.
In October 2005, CanWest's Canadian newspapers were sold into an IPO trust. Sold 25.8% of Canada's newspapers for C$550 million. Attached to the Canadian newspaper IPO was $850 million in long-term debt. CanWest bought back the 25.8% Newspaper Trust IPO (and debt) in November 2008, for cash considerations of $495 million. In April 2006, Canwest acquired four radio stations in Turkey: Super FM, Metro FM, Joy FM and Joy Turk FM from The Turkish Savings and Deposit Insurance Fund for aggregate cash consideration of US$61 million.
The company was already one of the largest owners of Canadian local TV stations when Canwest and Goldman Sachs, in 2007, announced they would jointly acquire Canadian producer and competing broadcaster Alliance Atlantis and its massive stable of wide-distribution specialty channels. Under the deal, Canwest took control of the broadcasting portion of AAC, although Goldman Sachs remained a major investor in those assets. Goldman retained or resold the remaining pieces of AAC, the distribution arm soon re-emerging as Alliance Films.
Canwest executives testified in the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission hearings over fee-for-carriage, requesting that the commission force cable and satellite companies to pay for their signals without passing the fees on to their subscribers. In his testimony, Canwest president Leonard Asper blamed the current rules for the poor financial condition of Canada's broadcast television stations, a position which has subsequently been adopted and addressed through rule changes by the CRTC and FCC.
In May 2009, Canwest sold off four radio stations in Turkey to Spectrum Medya.
On August 31, 2009, Canwest shut down its secondary system E! (the former CH). Three of the former E! owned-and-operated stations – CHCH-TV Hamilton, CHEK-TV Victoria, and CJNT-TV Montreal – were sold to third parties, while a fourth, CHBC-TV Kelowna, was converted to a Global station. The remaining station, CHCA-TV Red Deer, was closed as of the same date. "CHCA-TV fades to black" . Red Deer Advocate, Albertalocalnews.com (July 23, 2009).
On September 24, the company announced that it would sell its 50.1% stake in Ten Network Holdings for A$680 million, in order to pay down its significant debt. The sale of CanWest's Australian media operations reduced some C$582-million in debt tied to the Australian TV network, raising the total value Canwest can erase from its overall debt to more than C$1.2-billion. Before the Ten deal, Canwest held about C$3.8-billion of debt on its balance sheet. In court documents, Goldman Sachs alleges "fraudulent" and "abusive" changes to the internal operation of Canwest in the days before it filed for creditor protection. As part of the filing, the Wall Street investment bank is seeking to undo these changes, and has also claimed that CanWest's creditors should return the C$426 million they received from Canwest balance sheet in September, after CanWest sold its stake in Ten. Globe and Mail via FCB Nov 2, 2009 . Friends.ca (November 2, 2009).
On October 6, the company voluntarily filed for creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), due to billion mounting debt across radio, television broadcasting and publishing assets in several countries. At the same time it announced it had agreed to a recapitalization transaction with some of its lenders, which will likely require the approval of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). When completed, bondholders – led by West Face Capital, GoldenTree Asset Management, and Beach Point Capital Management – will own a majority of shares, leaving existing shareholders, including the Asper family, with a total of 2.3% of the "new" Canwest. However, the Aspers are expected to invest a further C$15 million in the restructured entity.
In January 2010, CanWest's bonds commanded about 70 cents on the dollar. CanWest's bonds at one point traded for as little as 15 cents on the dollar. Several sources say that as CanWest notes increased fivefold in price, distressed-debt funds took profits on part of their position, with Angelo Gordon among the buyers.
On February 3, 2010, it was reported that a group led by Golden Tree Asset Management LP complained that "it was unfairly frozen out of the auction of Canwest Limited Partnership."
As part of the transaction, Canwest and some of its subsidiaries, including Canwest Media Inc., National Post, and Canwest Television LP (the licensee of Global, MovieTime, DejaView, and Fox Sports World Canada) filed for creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). Canwest Limited Partnership, a subsidiary that owns the company's other newspaper assets and online properties, is negotiating separately with creditors and is expected to file for creditor protection at a later date. Specialty channels operated in partnership with other companies (such as TVtropolis, Mystery TV, MenTV, and the former Alliance Atlantis properties) are also not included in the present filing. Canwest shares were also suspended from trading on the TSX.
Canwest said that it was not being liquidation at this point, and the company insisted that the proceedings would make Canwest "a stronger industry competitor with a renewed financial outlook." Nevertheless, some analysts expected that the conglomerate would sell assets or be broken up entirely as the restructuring process continues, noting that the publishing division has a separate set of lenders. As it turned out, the company would indeed be broken up.
Although Goldman, Catalyst, and the Aspers continued to work on their own bid after the Shaw agreement, Shaw announced a revised agreement, following court-ordered mediation, under which it would purchase the entirety of Canwest's broadcasting operations, including the portion owned by Goldman. This deal was later modified following a second court-ordered mediation to include a settlement agreement between Shaw, creditors, and the Official Ad Hoc Committee of Shareholders, led by the Aspers, Blott Asset Management, L.L.C. and two other hedge funds. "Asper willing to bid on Canwest TV assets". Toronto Sun. June 21, 2010. This marked the first successful equity committee campaign in Canada under CCAA. A modified deal, including the Settlement Agreement, received the approval of the Ontario Superior Court on June 23, 2010, the Competition Bureau as of August 13, 2010, Competition Bureau clears Shaw's acquisition of Canwest. Digitalhome.ca. and was given final approval from the CRTC on October 22, 2010, with Canwest delisting itself from the TSX and officially ceasing operations that same month. CRTC Hearings into Shaw Takeover of Canwest Global Set to Start. Broadcaster Magazine (September 20, 2010). Final closing would officially occur in October 2011 following the official CMI Transition Order. Meanwhile, Shaw Communications reorganized Canwest into Shaw Media.
After bankruptcy proceedings concluded under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, Canwest, by this point known as 2737469 Canada, Inc., finally dissolved on May 27, 2013, after 39 continuous years of operation. Asper, through his Syngus Corp. holding company, went on to establish Anthem Media Group in 2010 and has since grown into the portfolio through the ownership of Impact Wrestling, AXS TV, Fight Network and GameTV.
In April 2016, the Shaw Media assets were subsumed by Shaw's sister company Corus Entertainment.
Conflict over Canwest editorial control and policy has focused in particular on three issues:
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