BELL GLOBEMEDIA SHUFFLES ONLINE PROPERTIES
By Adnews Staff
The functions of Bell Globemedia Interactive have been dispersed within its parent company. Full ownership of the Sympatico.ca Web site has been transferred from Bell Globemedia to Bell Canada. BCE has reduced its ownership of Bell Globemedia from 70% to 68.5%. "The Sympatico.ca portal is a key component of Bell Canada's Internet offering," said company CEO Michael Sabia. "As the role of a portal evolves from providing search functions to providing communication tools it is critical that continued development and ongoing management of Sympatico.ca be more closely tied to our Sympatico access services." Bell Globemedia's other online properties will be handed over to the various media entities to which they are related. Globeandmail.com and globeinvestor.com will be aligned with The Globe and Mail. The TSN.ca Web site will be aligned with the TSN television network. Technical support for all of Bell Globemedia's interactive products will be provided by the Globe and Mail division. Bell Globemedia will continue to supply content to Sympatico.ca through commercial agreements.