Bell Media

Bell Media Inc.

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Mass Media
Predecessor	CTVglobemedia
Founded	2011
Headquarters	299 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Area served	Canada and the United States
Key people	Mary Ann Turcke President, Bell Media Randy Lennox President, Entertainment Production and Broadcasting, Bell Media Wendy Freeman President, CTV News Stuart Garvie President, Bell Media Sales Luc Quétel President, Astral Out of Home Mike Cosentino Head, Programming for CTV Networks and Crave TV
Number of employees	5,000+
Parent	BCE Inc.
Divisions	CTV Inc. Bell Media Radio
Website	www.bellmedia.ca

Bell Media Inc. (French: Bell Média) is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the parent company of the former telephone monopoly Bell Canada). Its operations include television broadcasting and production (including the CTV and CTV Two television networks), radio broadcasting (through Bell Media Radio), digital media (including CraveTV) and Internet properties including Sympatico.ca.

Bell Media is the successor-in-interest to Baton Broadcasting (later CTV Inc.), one of Canada's first private-sector television broadcasters. The company in its current form was originally established as Bell Globemedia by BCE and the Thomson family in 2001 combining CTV Inc., which Bell had acquired the previous year, and the operations of the Thomsons' The Globe and Mail. Bell sold the majority of its interest in 2006 (at which point the company was renamed CTVglobemedia), but re-acquired the entire company, excluding the Globe, in 2011.

Bell Canada has previously owned stakes in the company's predecessor, CTVglobemedia; it was originally formed when a consortium of Bell (80%) and The Woodbridge Company (owners of The Globe and Mail) bought CTV Inc. in 2000. In December 2005, Bell announced it would sell an 8.5% interest to Woodbridge (increasing their total ownership to 40%), a 20% interest to Torstar, and a 20% interest to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. BCE retained 20% of the group - a condition that ensured that Bell TV, Sympatico, and other Bell units continued to have access to Globemedia content. The transaction closed on August 30, 2006. On September 7, 2006, in order to pay for the acquisition of CHUM Limited, BGM sold additional shares to its existing shareholders. BCE did not participate in the refinancing; the net effect was an increase in Teachers' ownership to 25%, while BCE's interest was reduced to 15%. As a result of BCE's reduced ownership, the company was renamed as CTVglobemedia as of January 1, 2007. As of 1980, Ontario still had some 30 independent companies, and Bell has not acquired any; the smaller ones were sold to larger independents with larger capital resources. On September 10, 2010, BCE announced plans to re-acquire 100% of the company's broadcasting arm, including CTV Inc. Under the deal, Woodbridge, Torstar, and Teachers' would together receive $1.3 billion in either cash or equity in BCE, while BCE would also assume $1.7 billion in debt (BCE's existing equity interest is $200 million, for a total transaction value of $3.2 billion). Woodbridge would also regain majority control of the Globe and Mail Inc., with Bell retaining a 15% interest. The overall deal was expected to close by April 2011. However, the sale of the Globe, which did not require CRTC approval, was completed in late December 2010. The deal was approved by the CRTC on March 7, 2011, and officially closed on April 1, 2011.Cellcom Communications is the largest franchisee of Bell Canada, currently operating 25 Bell stores in both Québec and Ontario regions.