Canadian Media Ownership
Here are flowcharts illustrating who owns what in the Canadian media scene. They are from records publicly available from the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). It should be noted that all the television networks owned by these media conglomerates, as well as the public broadcaster (CBC), are reliant on programming purchased from the "Big Six" companies through their television network holdings. Without this American programming, none of the Canadian networks could remain financially viable. It could be argued that this makes them, to a certain extent, "branchplants" of the Big Six.
With the current financial crisis (as of April 2009 ... I will keep this updated) there is probably going to be even more concentration of ownership in Canada. The main reason the private companies are in trouble is that they spent a lot of money consolidating their holdings when interest rates were high. Now they are in debt, cash poor, and holding onto money-losing assets. Blaming their financial problems and subsequent massive job cuts on declining advertising is disingenuous ... they have all had record profits for many years. Most observers agree that they are the authors of their own misfortune.
The latest rumour is that Rogers may buy some or all of Canwest, which is struggling to avoid bankruptcy.
For a complete breakdown of all private media ownership go to my links page and follow the CRTC link.
