Shaw Media
 |
|
| subsidiary | |
| Industry | Mass media |
| Fate | Acquired by Corus Entertainment |
| Predecessor |
Western International Communications Canwest Global Alliance Atlantis |
| Successor | Corus Entertainment |
| Founded | 1974 (as Canwest) 2010 (as Shaw Media) |
| Defunct | April 1, 2016 |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
|
Area served
|
Canada |
| Parent | Shaw Communications (2010–2016) |
| Website | www |
Shaw Media was the television broadcasting division of Shaw Communications. Shaw Media owned the Global Television Network, which broadcasts nationally via 13 television stations, as well as 19 specialty channels including Slice, HGTV Canada, Showcase, Food Network Canada, and History.
It was acquired by Corus Entertainment (a company also controlled by the Shaw family) for $2.65 billion on April 1, 2016.
In 1974, a group led by Israel Asper bought the assets of Pembina, North Dakota television station KCND-TV from broadcaster Gordon McLendon, moving the station to Winnipeg as independent station CKND-TV. Asper, through his company, Canwest, eventually bought out his partners in the Winnipeg station. A few months later, the Asper group joined a consortium that bought CKGN-TV, a network of six simulcasting transmitters across Ontario that carried many of CKND's programs and was known on-air as the Global Television Network. Canwest bought controlling interest in 1985, thus becoming the first western-based owner of a major Canadian broadcaster.
Canwest subsequently invested in or acquired other independent TV stations across Canada. Eventually, his station group became known as the "Canwest Global System." In 1997, Canwest bought controlling interest in CKMI-TV, the privately owned CBC affiliate in Quebec City. Canwest then set up CKMI rebroadcasters in Montreal and Sherbrooke. With this move, Canwest's stations now had enough coverage of Canada that on August 18—the day CKMI officially disaffiliated from CBC—Canwest rebranded its station group as "The Global Television Network". Throughout the 1990s, Global (and its antecedents) held Canadian rights to hit U.S. series such as Cheers, Friends, and Frasier.
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