CHUM Limited

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CHUM Limited

Type of Company	Subsidiary of Bell Globemedia held in trust
Founded	Toronto, Ontario (1945)
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario
Key people	Jay Switzer, president and co-CEO
Industry	Media
Products	Media, Broadcasting
Revenue	US$140 million (fiscal 2005)
Employees	1500 (Q2 2006)
Owner	John McKellar, in trust for Bell Globemedia
Website	Chum Limited Official Homepage

CHUM Limited is a media company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It currently holds full or joint control of two Canadian television systems — Citytv and A-Channel (incorporating the defunct NewNet network) — comprising 11 local stations, as well as one CBC affiliate, one provincial educational channel, and 20 branded specialty television channels, most notably MuchMusic and its various spinoffs. In addition, CHUM controls 33 radio stations across Canada.

In July 2006, CHUM announced it was to be taken over by Bell Globemedia, owner of the CTV network, pending regulatory approval. The takeover was completed on October 30. ^[1] Regulatory decisions regarding the takeover are not expected until mid-2007 at the earliest; in the interim CHUM has been placed in a blind trust under lawyer John McKellar. ^[2]

1 History
- 1.1 Proposed merger with Bell Globemedia
2 Corporate governance
3 Radio stations
4 Television stations
5 Television channels using CHUM trademarks or formats
- 5.1 Active
- 5.2 Inactive
6 See also
7 Footnotes
8 External links

[edit] History

CHUM-City Building, the headquarters of CHUM Limited.

CHUM began in 1945 with a single AM radio station in Toronto. In 1954 it was purchased by Allan Waters, and today several of his children stand on the board of directors of the company. In 1967 Waters founded CHUM Limited to control his growing number of media properties.

Although CHUM's radio holdings tend to retain traditional formats, their television stations reflect the avant garde philosophy of former senior executive Moses Znaimer, who turned his hip, local style of television broadcasting into an image as perhaps Canada's most flamboyantly visible media titan in the 1980s and 1990s. (Znaimer retired from active management at CHUM in 2003, although he continues to work on projects with the company.)

CHUM Limited's headquarters are located at 299 Queen Street West in Toronto, the famous CHUM-City Building.

On December 1, 2004, CHUM purchased Craig Media Inc., which owned five local TV stations, mainly in the Prairies, and three digital specialty services, for $265 million. While Craig's three largest stations were integrated into Citytv, Craig's Toronto station CKXT-TV (then branded "Toronto 1", now "Sun TV") was sold to Quebecor.

In addition to its own stations, CHUM is one of several sources (alongside CanWest's CH and Global TV) providing syndicated programming to independently-owned CBC and CTV affiliates.

[edit] Proposed merger with Bell Globemedia

Wikinews has news related to:

Canadian media company Bell Globemedia to acquire rival CHUM

On July 12, 2006, CHUM announced it had agreed to a planned take over by Bell Globemedia (hereafter abbreviated "BGM"), in a transaction valuing CHUM at $1.7 billion CAD. The takeover requires CRTC and Competition Bureau approval.

Few details are known about BGM's specific plans for the company, likely to remain the case until the transaction goes before the CRTC for approval. What is known is as follows:

BGM intends to retain Citytv as a separate, youth-oriented system with its current lineup of stations, potentially with the addition of the CTV-owned Atlantic Satellite Network, which airs Citytv programming in Atlantic Canada. The acquisition of Citytv would require an exemption from the CRTC's ownership policy (one station per market per language per owner - Public Notice CRTC 1999-97 at 17), which has never been officially revoked, even though both CHUM (with Citytv and A-Channel/Access) and CanWest (with Global and CH) have secured exemptions in many large markets. Even so, such large-market exemptions have almost never applied to stations licensed to the same city.
The company insists that the Citytv stations' news operations will remain separate from those of CTV, although, as noted below, most Citytv newscasts outside Toronto have already been cancelled ahead of the merger.
The A-Channel stations and the Access educational channel in Alberta are currently slated for sale; otherwise BGM would have owned three over-the-air stations in several markets. CKX-TV has not been slated for sale, although it is unclear what role this station, a CBC affiliate, will play in the combined company.
BGM plans to keep all the specialty channel and radio assets, which it views as "complementary" to its existing properties. This would give BGM ownership (in whole or part) of nearly 40 specialty channels. The only hurdles in terms of direct competition may be the merged company's ownership of two all-news channels, CTV Newsnet and Toronto's CP24, as well as both MuchMusic and MTV Canada. BGM may argue that MTV is not a direct competitor to MuchMusic, much as the previous MTV Canada (now Razer) was found not to be competing with MuchMusic following the CHUM/Craig merger. If no sale is required, the branding of one or both services might be changed, depending on the nature of BGM's current relationship with MTV Networks. It is rumoured that MTV Canada and MuchMusic might be merged into one channel, or that MTV Canada might be allowed to broadcast music videos if it is owned by the same people as MuchMusic.^{[citation needed]}

Immediately following the announcement, CHUM separately announced 281 layoffs, primarily at its local stations in western Canada; local newscasts (other than Breakfast Television and the Noon News in Calgary and Edmonton) at all Citytv stations in the region were immediately pulled. CHUM claims the layoffs were part of an ongoing process to streamline its operations and not directly related to the takeover.

[edit] Corporate governance

Current members of the board of directors of CHUM Limited are: Gordon Craig, Lawrence Lamb, John Mattenley, Fred Sherratt, Robert Sutherland, Jay Switzer, Catherine Tait, James Waters (chairman), Marjorie Waters, and Ron Waters. Allan Waters retired from the board on Friday, October 29, 2005.[1]

[edit] Radio stations

City	Call Sign	Frequency	Format
Brockville	CJPT	FM 103.7	"Bob FM" Adult Hits
	CFJR	FM 104.9	"JR FM" adult contemporary
Edmonton	CHBN	FM 91.7	"The Bounce" Rhythmic Top 40 (Co-owned with Milestone Radio)
Halifax	CJCH	AM 920	oldies
	CIOO	FM 100.1	"C100" CHR
Kingston	CKLC	AM 1380	oldies
	CFLY	FM 98.3	"FLY-FM" CHR
Kawartha Lakes	CKLY	FM 91.9	"Bob FM" Adult Hits
London	CHST	FM 102.3	"Bob FM" Adult Hits
Montreal	CKGM	AM 990	"The Team 990" sports
Ottawa	CFRA	AM 580	news/talk
	CFGO	AM 1200	"The Team 1200" sports
	CKKL	FM 93.9	"Bob FM" Adult Hits
	CJMJ	FM 100.3	"Majic 100" adult contemporary
Peterborough	CKPT	AM 1420	"1420 Memories" oldies
	CKQM	FM 105.1	"Country 105"
Toronto	CHUM	AM 1050	"1050 CHUM" oldies
	CHUM-FM	FM 104.5	"CHUM-FM" hot adult contemporary
Vancouver	CKST	AM 1040	"The Team 1040" sports
	CFUN	AM 1410	news/talk
	CHQM	FM 103.5	"QMFM" adult contemporary
Victoria	CFAX	AM 1070	news/talk
	CHBE	FM 107.3	"Kool FM" hot adult contemporary
Waterloo	CKKW	AM 1090	"Oldies 1090"
	CFCA	FM 105.3	"Kool FM" hot adult contemporary
Windsor	CKWW	AM 580	"580 Memories" oldies
	CKLW	AM 800	news/talk
	CIMX	FM 88.7	"89X" modern rock
	CIDR	FM 93.9	"939 The River" Rock
Winnipeg	CFRW	AM 1290	oldies
	CHIQ	FM 94.3	"Q94 FM" Hot Adult Contemporary
	CFWM	FM 99.9	"Bob FM" Adult Hits

In November, 2004, CHUM and Astral Media filed an application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for a subscription radio service in Canada. That application, along with two satellite radio services, were approved by the CRTC on June 16, 2005. While the two satellite services have already launched, there is no word on when, or even if, the CHUM service will launch.

[edit] Television stations

[edit] Local stations

Citytv
- CITY - Toronto, Ontario (and rebroadcasters in Woodstock, Ontario and Ottawa, Ontario)
- CKVU - Vancouver, British Columbia
- CKAL - Calgary, Alberta (and rebroadcaster in Lethbridge, Alberta)
- CKEM - Edmonton, Alberta (and rebroadcaster in Red Deer, Alberta)
- CHMI - Winnipeg, Manitoba
A-Channel
- CKVR - Barrie, Ontario
- CHRO - Pembroke, Ontario/Ottawa, Ontario
- CFPL - London, Ontario
- CKNX - Wingham, Ontario (semi-satellite of CFPL)
- CHWI - Wheatley, Ontario/Windsor, Ontario
- CIVI - Victoria, British Columbia (and rebroadcaster in Vancouver, British Columbia)
CBC Television affiliate
- CKX - Brandon, Manitoba
Provincially-authorized educational broadcaster
- CJAL (ACCESS) - Edmonton, Alberta (and rebroadcaster in Calgary, Alberta)

[edit] Analogue specialty cable channels

[edit] Digital specialty cable channels

[edit] Co-owned

MusiquePlus 50% (with Astral Media)
MusiMax 50% (with Astral Media)
TV Land 80% (with Viacom)

[edit] International joint ventures

Citytv Bogotá
MuchMusic Argentina
MuchMusic Mexico (programming block on Once TV)
Channel m Manchester (not Channel M Vancouver)

[edit] Television channels using CHUM trademarks or formats

[edit] Active

Citytv Puerto Rico
Citytv Bogotá
MuchMusic Argentina
MuchMusic Malaysia
MuchMusic Mexico (programming block on Once TV)
Star! Scandinavia (programming is a mix of several CHUM channels, such as Star!, FashionTelevisionChannel and MuchMoreMusic)