paterson wrote:I sometimes wonder if radio generally is healthier than we think. Corus Entertainment is on the block, and you could argue if their radio division was doing well they would keep the radio and unload the conventional television stations and specialty channels. Is it possible that in order to make the television division easier to sell or more attractive, they also have the 39 radio stations on the market as well?
Bell Media got into the radio business late in life (2007) when they acquired the CHUM Group. In 2010 purchased Astral Communications and all of their various TV and radio stations, and Bell also bought back the shares they had previously sold under BellGlobeMedia.
Almost overnight Bell went from having no radio stations to almost 100. And they are still acquiring (a few months back the 4 Larche Communication stations in Ontario). They currently operate 105 radio stations and are the largest radio broadcaster in Canada. And also into the mix is the relatively new arrangement with iHeartRadio. I can't see Bell Media being so aggressive if radio was a poor investment with low returns, or if radio was viewed as a dying media. Another great example is Stingray Digital purchasing all of Newcap's radio stations last month, pending CRTC approval. Stingray like Bell with become a major radio broadcaster very quickly.
For some reason I always felt that Bell would sell off the radio division in chunks to smaller regional broadcasters after they acquired CHUM and Astral radio. I wrongly assumed that radio would never be part of their core business, since they seemed much more focused on television content, specialty channels, on demand, digital platforms etc. Bell hasn't been backing off of radio at all. Makes me wonder if radio in Canada with all of it's watering down, cuts and downsizing is actually in better shape than other traditional media.
Newspapers whether weekly or daily have been shutting down, various small and medium sized television stations have either closed or simply turned into a rebroadcaster of larger stations. Rumours persist that CTV and Global are not profitable, with major cutbacks in national advertising similar to newspapers. Right now we have more radio stations than ever and the CRTC continues to license new commercial community stations in every province.
Well said, paterson. I think that's absolutely correct. I can't say I didn't expect Bell to keep their radio division, but in the back of my mind, I worried about them keeping only the "big city stations" and selling off the small- and medium-sized stations piecemeal, which, generally speaking, hasn't happened. That being said, I hate the current iHeartRadio streaming platform. They mandate use of their mobile or web-based app player and no longer provide functional direct streams to their ad-filled player. If they'd just get rid of the mandatory interstitial video ads before loading every stream, or refreshing the webpage, it wouldn't be half bad.
I think Corus Radio, whether on its own as a standalone publicly-traded company or bulked up with a partner, would be successful, but I do think they lack a certain "cohesion" that Newcap (soon-to-be Stingray Digital), Pattison, and Bell Media have. I tend to think their management needs a changeover (certain many on here would agree with that [under]-statement of the year!). I think they'd make a great pairing for Jim Pattison Broadcast Group to acquire, allowing him to expand east of Saskatchewan and/or Manitoba. It'd require some major divestitures, unless the CRTC boosted ownership caps, which I'd be in favour of on the AM side (potentially allowing 4 AMs and 2 FMs for a total of 6 per market) to try and re-stimulate attractiveness to the AM side of the radio dial. He could have his radio guys "cherry pick"
which stations to keep and
which to divest. Newcap/Stingray Digital, Vista Radio, My Radio, and others could certainly pick up the "spoils". Otherwise, I think a pairing with Vista Radio could potentially work well, giving them large market station access that they currently lack and it'd likely require
less divestitures. Downside to that is I'm somewhat
less inspired by Vista's current management expertise.
Cheers,
Doug