История радиосети Corus Québec: от Radiomédia до Cogeco

Canadian news/talk radio network
Corus Québec, until May 2005 Radiomédia, was a French language Canadian news/talk radio network serving most of Quebec. The network and most of its affiliates were owned by Toronto based Corus Entertainment.

After Astral Media (successor to Radiomutuel) bought all Telemedia Quebec radio properties in 2001, it was forced by the Competition Bureau to sell their AM stations due to concentration of ownership concerns. After two failed attempts (see article on CKAC for more details), a deal with Corus Entertainment was finally approved in early 2005 and took effect in May of that year. Corus Entertainment, which already owned all news station CINF (Info 690) in Montreal, promptly renamed Radiomédia as Corus Québec, and simultaneously dismantled the local CKAC newsroom, even though that newsroom was much more respected by listeners than the one from Info 690. News bulletins on the Corus Québec network were now provided by CorusNouvelles, which consists of the old Radiomédia team outside of Montreal combined with the Info 690 team in Montreal. Production of CorusNouvelles would shift to CHMP FM in January 2010, following the closure of CINF and its English language sister station, CINW 940 AM.

On April 30, 2010, it was announced that all Corus Québec stations, with the exception of CKRS, will be sold to Cogeco for $80 million, pending CRTC approval. Corus's reason for the sale is that their Quebec radio stations are less profitable than their stations in other parts of Canada. However, Cogeco must either apply with the CRTC for an exemption from the common ownership policy, or sell off some of these (or their own) stations as they will be over the maximum allowable number of stations in Montreal, Quebec City, and Sherbrooke. On June 25, it was reported that Corus has agreed to sell CKRS to Radio Saguenay, a local business group; the sale of that station was approved by the CRTC in November 2010. The sale of the Corus Québec stations to Cogeco has been approved by the CRTC on December 17, 2010, on the condition that Cogeco owned CJEC FM and Corus owned CFEL FM and CKOY FM (since re called CJTS FM) be sold to another party by December 2011. On November 9, 2011, it was announced that Cogeco would sell CFEL FM and CJEC FM to Leclerc Communication Inc., a company owned by Quebec City businessman Jacques Leclerc, owner of Laura Secord Chocolates and Biscuits Leclerc. CJTS FM would cease operations on December 6, 2011, when Cogeco was unable to find a buyer for the station by the deadline. The CorusNouvelles news service will also be converted to a new division, Cogeco Nouvelles, with CHMP FM being the flagship. On January 13, 2011, competing broadcaster Astral Media announced that they will seek legal action to stop the sale of these stations to Cogeco, citing the fact that it would own more stations than Astral in the Montreal market, making the competition unfair. Cogeco chief executive Louis Audet said that he expects the transaction to close by February 1, and that the case filed by Astral is "without merit and the company will vigorously challenge them with a view to having them dismissed by the court."