It must be Hallowe’en….

…. because Canwest has risen from the dead. A judge agreed to whatever legal/economic reasons necessary to move the National Post in with Canwest’s newspaper group, thus allowing the “national” (it only delivers in four provinces) newspaper to live again.
Bloomberg, Oct. 30 2009

National Post to die today?

Apparently it will, unless CanWest gets a court order to transfer it to its other newspapers (I have no idea why Canwest has such a complex business design, other than it’s just badly managed.) Reuters provides some detail into the complicated legal manoevering necessary to get CanWest into bankruptcy protection, then sold.
The creditor group “will [...]

Canadian newspapers profitable, stock rising

Take that blogosphere! Yes, this boring old technology trivialized as MSM is alive and well, even able to withstand incompetant ownership.
 
J–Source.ca, Oct. 27 2009.

CBC spends big on new look

Well, they hired a US consultant to add US glitz and hype to their newscast, now for Saturday and today have bought no less than three full page ads each day in the National Post, their newspaper partner. Will it work? We’ll find out in about six months when the ratings come in and it’s [...]

Conrad Black’s long legacy sinks CanWest

The Guardian has provided the long view on CanWest’s demise that I’ve been putting forward for some time: Conrad Black outfoxed Izzy Asper when he sold him the Southam chain of newspapers and The National Post. Too bad Tubby didn’t just take the money and run. Another five and a half years before he gets [...]

Supremes ponder confidential sources

Interesting summary in today’s Globe on the rights of media to withhold information to protect a source, and the right of an accused to know the identity of people bringing information against them. A bundle of cases are involved, and it will be a precedent-setter either way.
Globe and Mail, October 22 2009

CanWest re-org underway

I’m thinking of changing the name of this blog to CanWestslateststruggles. Anyway,  now in bankruptcy proctection, the main issue is whether the creditors can find a buyer for the whole shebang, or break it into its constituent parts and sell of piece by piece. I suspect the latter, since it will likely bring in more [...]