ClutchPR has published a fascinating infographic on the concentration of media ownership in Canada.
Their self-admitted non-exhaustive list is Toronto and Ontario-centric but nevertheless does a great job of illustrating various TV, Radio and Print media empires.
The companies listed are:
- TorStar (Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator, Waterloo Region Record, Guelph Mercury, versions of commuter paper Metro in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Halifax, and 116 community papers)
- Woodbridge (Globe and Mail, Thomson Reuters)
- Postmedia (Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and Windsor Star, in addition to tabloid Sun family: Toronto Sun and others in Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver’s The Province, magazine Financial Post Business and Canada.com)
- Rogers (Rogers TV, OMNI, Shopping Channel, OLN, Sportsnet and City, SVOD player Shomi (which it co-owns with Shaw,) 53 radio stations, including 680 News, Kiss 92.5 and 98.1 CHFI, plus magazines Canadian Business, Chatelaine, Maclean’s, Today’s Parent, Marketing, Flare, Glow and Hello! Canada)
- Bell (CTV and CTV News, CP24, MUCH, Bravo, Comedy Network, Space, E! and HBO Canada, radio stations NewsTalk 1010, TSN Radio, 104.5 CHUM-FM and 999 Virgin Radio and Sympatico.ca)
- Newcap (all but two radio stations in Newfoundland, 22 in Alberta and Toronto’s Flow 93.5 and Boom 97.3)
- Shaw (Global Television Network, along with BBC Canada, Food Network, History, HGTV, Showcase and Slice, among other stations)
- Corus (YTV, Teletoon, Treehouse, and Canadian versions of Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney channel, W network, Oprah Winfrey Network Canada and 80 percent of Cosmopolitan TV, radio stations Talk Radio AM 640, 102.1 The Edge and Q107)
- Zoomer (Zoomer Radio 740AM and Classical 96, and TV stations Vision and One)
- Quebecor (Le Journal de Montréal, Le Journal de Québec, TVA Group, Vidéotron and TVA Publishing)
- CBC (CBC and CBC News networks, and CBC Radio 1, 2 and 3, other assets including Radio Canada International and 40 per cent of Sirius Canada)
- APTN, TVO and VICE
My take: it looks like only a dozen or so companies own the vast majority of media outlets in Canada. What’s missing from this list is Internet Connectivity: Bell, Rogers and Shaw also control the bulk of that.