Slaight Communications
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Media |
Founded | 1925 1929 (Rogers Majestic Corporation Limited) 1941 (Standard Radio Limited, renamed Standard Broadcasting 1966) 1985 (acquired and merged into Slaight Broadcasting) | (Standard Radio Manufacturing Corporation)
Founder | J. Allan Slaight |
Headquarters | 22 St. Clair Avenue East, , |
Key people | J. Allan Slaight (CEO 1985-2000) Gary Slaight (CEO 2000-present) |
Divisions | radio broadcasting |
Slaight Communications is a Canadian
The company later sold off all of its original assets, and continued to operate its radio holdings through the Standard Broadcasting division after Slaight bought out that company in 1985. As Standard, it remained the largest privately owned multimedia company in Canada until it sold its radio and TV broadcasting assets to Astral Media in 2007.[1] Today, all of Standard Radio stations are either owned by Bell Media or Stingray Radio.
The company continues to operate holdings in non-traditional broadcast platforms such as satellite radio and Internet radio. Slaight also continues to hold minority investments in three other small radio station groups.
Standard Broadcasting
Standard Broadcasting was founded as Standard Radio Manufacturing in 1925 by
In 1929 Standard Radio Manufacturing Corporation was renamed as Rogers Majestic Corporation Limited
The broadcasting division of the company was renamed Standard Radio Limited in 1941 when the Rogers family sold off the assets of Rogers Majestic two years after the death of Edward Rogers. The Rogers family would later re-enter the broadcasting business in 1960 in a form of Aldred-Rogers Broadcasting, the company founded by Edward's son, Ted Rogers, which later became Rogers Communications.
In 1945, Standard Radio was purchased by Argus Corporation and in 1966 Standard Radio Limited was renamed Standard Broadcasting.[1] Argus was acquired by Conrad Black and his brother in 1978. Argus subsequently sold Standard to Slaight in 1985 and merged into Slaight Broadcasting.
Merged operations
As Standard, the company under Slaight operated 82 radio stations in English Canada and two television stations in northern
In 2006, the company announced an initial public offering via an income trust; these plans were later cancelled due to "market conditions". On February 23, 2007, Astral Media announced that it had signed a letter of intent and had entered into exclusive negotiations regarding the acquisition of "substantially all of the assets" of Standard.[3] A formal agreement was later announced, with the proposed transaction being approved by the CRTC on September 28, 2007. Astral would eventually be taken over by Bell Media on July 5, 2013.
Astral did not acquire Standard's Internet and satellite radio assets, nor its minority interests in various other radio stations.[4] The transaction was finalized on October 29, 2007, and Standard changed its name to Slaight Communications the following day.
Current assets
After selling its Standard Radio assets to
The company also retained its minority shares in the Haliburton, Milestone and Martz radio groups, although all three groups have since sold off many or all of their assets as well.
Standard's minority share in 3937844 Canada was also not transferred to Astral, but was wholly acquired by its majority owner,
In 2010, the company invested in Mediazoic, a webcasting software project.[6]
Slaight Communications owns a 7.19% stake in Fight Holdings, a minority partner in Anthem Sports & Entertainment.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d Canadian Communications Foundation – Fondation Des Communications Canadiennes Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ History of Standard Broadcasting - Canadian Communications Foundation
- ^ Astral Media announces signature of letter of intent to acquire Standard Radio
- Canadian Press (via Toronto Star), April 12, 2007. Article accessed September 28, 2007.
- ^ Richard Blackwell (April 13, 2007), "Slaight family hangs onto some assets, including Sirius, Iceberg. Hasn't decided what to do with proceeds.", The Globe and Mail, p. B3, retrieved October 26, 2013
- ^ "Mediazoic attracts investment from Slaight Communications". TechVibes, July 22, 2010.
- ^ "Anthem Digital Specialty Services" (PDF). crtc.gc.ca. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. January 6, 2017. Retrieved August 10, 2017.