Tuesday, April 18, 2006

CanWest's Turkey Venture

Winnepeg-based, CanWest Global Communications Corp says its subsidiary, CGS NZ TV Shareholdings (Netherlands) B.V. has completed the acquisition of Turkish radio stations Super FM, Metro FM, Joy FM and Joy Turk FM from The Turkish Savings and Deposit Insurance Fund for an aggregate cash consideration of US $61 million.

CanWest has been negotiating for months and the deal is a complex one.

Tom Strike, President of CanWest MediaWorks International ays that Turkey continues to be one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a rapidly expanding advertising market. He intends to leverage the radio expertise from CanWest's New Zealand and Canadian operations in the development of the Turkish stations -two of which are national and two local in Istanbul.

In brief, the stations are:

- Super FM is a top-40, popular national music station, which also broadcasts local news coverage to reach 45% of Turkey's 70 million people, including listeners in the major cities of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. It appeals to the youth market. - Metro FM is Turkey's most popular national music station broadcasting in English that appeals to the urban affluent youth market. - Joy FM broadcasts a combination of English-language pop, rhythm and blues, soft rock, jazz and Latin music, and appeals to young, upwardly mobile urban dwellers in Istanbul. - Joy Turk FM broadcasts a mix of traditional Turkish music along with music that appeals to urban and rural listeners in the Istanbul region.

The stations were part of a successful broadcast group that fell foul of Turkish politics and put up for sale.

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