Shaw Cable Turns Down Deal to Buy Three TV Stations for $1 Each

Shaw Cable, a Canadian cable operator, yesterday announced it would not proceed with a deal to purchase three CTV-owned television stations in Canada for $1 each.

CTVglobemedia, owner of Canada’s largest commercial television network, said it could no longer profitably run the stations unless Canadian regulators allowed them to charge cable operators “carriage fees” for carrying the TV stations on cable systems.  Shaw, owner of one such cable system, strongly rejected the idea and agreed to purchase the stations after CTV offered to sell them for just one Canadian loonie each.

Yesterday, CTV announced Shaw would not be proceeding with the deal, although Shaw has yet to publicly comment.

The three stations, a CTV affiliate in Brandon, Manitoba and two “A” network affiliates in Windsor and Wingham, Ontario, were planned to be shut down by August if buyers could not be found.

Had Canadian regulators agreed to cable carriage fees, it would have brought an additional $300 million in revenue to CTVglobemedia.

As the economy continues to struggle, many smaller Canadian cities could potentially lose network affiliated TV stations that have been running unprofitably in the difficult current economic climate.  The CRTC (similar to the FCC in the United States) plans to release details of a new Local Programming Improvement Fund, designed to help underwrite expenses at Canadian stations serving fewer than one million viewers, early this month.