Corus / Shaw Media
And you thought you paid a lot for cable television: Corus Entertainment Inc. is acquiring Shaw Media Inc., the media arm of Shaw Communications Inc., for $2.65 billion in cash and stock. The sale includes 45 specialty channels such as BBC Canada, Food Network Canada and HGTV Canada and 39 radio stations, as well as digital assets, 15 television stations and the animation studio Nelvana.
The deal “makes Corus a very significant player in the Canadian television universe,” says Douglas Bryce of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, who is acting for Corus. Both companies are owned by the Shaw family; Corus was formed in a spinoff from Shaw Communications in 1999. “Corus and Shaw belong together,” says Vincent Mercier, of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg, who is acting for Shaw. “Scale is better.”
