CKVU-TV to be Sold to CHUM

CanWest Global Communications Corp.’s station in Vancouver, CKVU-TV, will be sold for approximately $125 million to CHUM Limited under an agreement entered into by the CRTC trustee holding CanWest Global’s shares of CKVU-TV. The station is being sold to satisfy a condition imposed by the CRTC on its approval of CanWest’s acquisition of the WIC television stations last year. The transaction represents a further expansion by CHUM into the British Columbia market, the company having recently received CRTC approval to operate a station out of Victoria (CIVI Victoria). The legal team for CanWest was led by its General Counsel Richard Leipsic and Associate General Counsel Pamela Harrod, working with a team from Torys that included Sharon Geraghty, Melanie Shishler, Graham Rawlinson and Antonella Deo, with assistance from Lucia ten Kortenaar (tax), Charles Dalfen (regulatory advice), Dennis Mahony and Len Griffiths (environmental), and Jay Holsten and Michael Choiselat (competition). Timothy Samson, Q.C. and Nigel Thompson of Aikins, MacAulay & Thorvaldson acted for the Trustee. Representing CHUM were its in-house counsel Peter Miller, Denise Cooper and Mark Lewis with a team from Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP comprised of Robert Sutherland, Q.C., Roxanne McCormick, Barbara Miller and Kelly Callon-McLean, assisted by Lynne Golding (corporate), Daniel Law (real estate), Peggy McCallum (pensions), Douglas Cannon (tax), Patrick Gannon (employment) and Christine Chen (insurance).