Rogers buying Channel M in Vancouver

[Russ_Byth]

From the release:
TORONTO, July 6 /CNW/ - Rogers Media and Multivan Broadcast Corporation
("Multivan") today announced an agreement under which Rogers Broadcasting, a
Rogers Media subsidiary, will acquire Vancouver based multicultural television
station Channel M.
The acquisition of Channel M significantly expands Rogers' ethnic
television operations into the richly diverse lower Vancouver mainland and
Vancouver Island markets, Canada's gateway to the Pacific Rim and home to
three million residents.
In just four short years Channel M has built a highly successful and
award winning multicultural television offering in Vancouver and Victoria,
broadcasting in 22 different languages and producing and airing hundreds of
hours of original local programs each month. Expansion into these Greater
Vancouver Area markets represents a natural extension to Rogers' proven and
successful OMNI TV multicultural platform in Ontario and is further
complemented by the multilingual and ethnic television station licenses in
Calgary and Edmonton which Rogers was recently awarded.
"Rogers has built its successful television business by serving
community-focused and niche audiences," said Leslie Sole, CEO Television,
Rogers Broadcasting. "The addition of Channel M to Rogers' ethnic broadcasting
portfolio greatly enhances our position as Canada's premier multicultural
broadcaster and furthers our objective of bringing a vision of diversity,
respect and inclusiveness to the communities that Rogers serves. We pride
ourselves in providing a primary bridge to first generation Canadians in the
language of their origin and in relaying multicultural experiences at both a
local level and now with the acquisition of Channel M, across other regions of
the country."
"We are proud of the success that Channel M has had in bringing our
citizens in Vancouver and Victoria a comprehensive and meaningful
multicultural television experience," said Art Reitmayer, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Channel M. "Rogers is a highly respected Canadian media
company with a terrific track record building media brands, and is an
excellent fit to lead this channel forward. I know they will continue to grow
Channel M and apply their significant expertise and commitment to TV
broadcasting to ensure that Channel M will continue to thrive long into the
future."
This transaction is subject to Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission ("CRTC") approval and is expected to close at
the end of 2007 or early in 2008. No further details of the transaction are
currently available.

[Glen Livingstone]

Interesting that the press release arrived late on a Friday afternoon.

The sale is subject to CRTC approval of course, but what affect does anyone see this having in the Vancouver market?

[Stn Brk]

Hold on a cotton picken' second here! I thought Rogers was buying Vancouver's CITY tv station because the CRTC didn't want CTV owning two stations in the same market. How does Rogers expect to own two stations (three if you count OMNI in Surrey) in the Vancouver market?

Or did I miss a news release on another Friday afternoon?

[Mike Cleaver]

Rogers plans to sell Omni here.
You can have two stations in a market if one is multicultural.
But it's sad to see a so-called independent station being snapped up by another of the conglomerates.