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This
note considers Telemedia, now defunct, which encompassed
radio, television and magazine publishing operations in
Canada.
It covers -
the group
The company was founded by Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien
(1928- ) an organiser of the 1967 World Exhibition in
Montreal. During the 1980s it claimed to be Canada's largest
consumer magazine publisher and commercial radio network.
Telemedia's publishing assets included Canadian Living,
New England Monthly, Harrowsmith, Coup de pouce, Homemaker's,
Madame au Foyer, Style at Home, Sympatico Netlife, Western
Living, Vancouver Magazine, TV Hebdo and Canadian
editions of TV Guide and ELLE. It also
had direct marketing services through its Open&Save
unit. The publishing arm was progressively acquired by
Transcontinental in
1995 and 2000.
The group's broadcasting assets were acquired by Astral
Media and Standard Broadcasting.
The de Gaspé Beaubien family invested the proceeds
from sale of its media holdings in telecommunications,
real estate financial services and other interests.
studies
There have been no major studies of the group or the de
Gaspé Beaubiens.
landmarks
1968 de Gaspé Beaubien founds Telemedia
1975 launches Canadian Living and Coup de
Pouce
1981 James Lawrence launches Equinox
1983 Rogers Wireless founded
by a consortium of Rogers Telecommunications, First City
Financial Corporation and Telemedia Enterprises Inc as
Rogers Cantel Inc
1988 Telemedia buys majority stake in Camden House Publishing
1989 buys New England Monthly magazine
1995 sells 20 Quebec-area weeklies to Transcontinental
1996 sells Equinox to Montreal-based Malcolm
Publishing
1999 Telemedia acquires 4 Pelmorex radio stations
1999 buys 2 radio stations from Radiocorp
1999 buys 2 stations from London Commmunications
2000 buys Affinity's CKTB/CHTZ/CHRE in St Catharines,
CHAM in Hamilton and CKSL in London
2000 forms joint venture with American Tower Corporation
to develop and acquire broadcast and mobile phone towers
2000 sells Telemedia Publishing to Transcontinental for
US$102m
2001 sells eastern Canadian radio holdings (inc 19 radio
stations in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) to
Astral Media for C$255m
2001 sells 60 radio stations to Standard
2003 sells stake in Astral Media for C$130m
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