CTV TO ACQUIRE CFCF, BELL GLOBEMEDIA TO ACQUIRE ROBTV
By Adnews Staff
Toronto-based CTV Inc. has signed an agreement with Global Communications Limited to acquire Global's 70% interest in CF Television, an English-language television station in Montreal. The purchase price is $141.5 million. The sale of CFCF was part of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's approval of CanWest's acquisition of eight television stations previously owned by Western International Communications Ltd. In a separate deal, Thomson Canada Limited, a holding company of The Thomson Corporation, will acquire CanWest Global Communications Corp.'s 50% interest in ROBTv, a business news specialty channel. That deal is valued at $30 million. Thomson Canada plans to transfer ownership of ROBTv to Bell Globemedia Inc. as part of a previous agreement. Both acquisitions are subject to approval by the CRTC. Leonard Asper, CanWest's president and CEO, also announced that CanWest has secured carriage for a new digital specialty channel called Financial Post Television which will launch on October 1. The channel will combine the business news and analysis resources of Global Television and the National Post newspaper, Asper said.