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CanWest files for bankruptcy
Wednesday October 07th 2009MONTREAL — Winnipeg-based broadcaster CanWest Global Communications announced early Tuesday that it is filing for court-sanctioned bankruptcy protection, the latest step in its long-running efforts to come up with a new plan to recapitalize the company.
This is a voluntary filing on the part of Canada’s largest media company and it is not expected to lead to interruption of operations of any of its major TV assets.
CanWest owns Global Television and a host of cable channels. CanWest picked-up most of its cable channels when it bought Alliance Atlantis a few years ago and those channels — which include Showcase, The Food Network and HGTV — are not part of this bankruptcy-protection filing.
CanWest has been struggling for months to reach a deal with its creditors ever since it failed to make a $30.4 million interest payment this past March. The company has kept setting — and then extending — deadlines to come up with an arrangement to restructure the company. CanWest’s problem is its excessively high debt load. At the start of the process, it had debt of $3.6 billion, though the company’s debt was recently lowered when it sold its stake in Australian TV web Ten Network for $600 million. It also took the debt owed by Ten Network off its books, for an overall debt reduction (including the sale price) for CanWest of $1.1 billion.
The filing for bankruptcy protection is expected to help give time to CanWest to reach a new agreement with its lenders.
“This pre-packaged financial restructuring is intended to minimize business disruption and preserve the value of these business operations,” CanWest CEO Leonard Asper said in a statement. “Because it has the support of the Ad Hoc Committee (of noteholders), we believe that we can use the stability offered by the (bankruptcy protection) to implement this plan in four to six months, which will renew the financial prospects of our operations and put CanWest on a stronger footing for the future.”
All of the Canuck TV networks are in dire financial shape as a result of the downturn in the economy over the past year and the pressures facing general-interest broadcasters right across North America. But CanWest’s problems have been intensified by its high debt load.
That’s why all of the Canuck TV networks will be pleading their case in front of broadcast regulator the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission later this fall, asking that the cable and satellite operators be forced to pay a fee to carry these networks.
Source: Variety
Front Page, Industry News
CanWest files for bankruptcy
Wednesday October 07th 2009MONTREAL — Winnipeg-based broadcaster CanWest Global Communications announced early Tuesday that it is filing for court-sanctioned bankruptcy protection, the latest step in its long-running efforts to come up with a new plan to recapitalize the company.
This is a voluntary filing on the part of Canada’s largest media company and it is not expected to lead to interruption of operations of any of its major TV assets.
CanWest owns Global Television and a host of cable channels. CanWest picked-up most of its cable channels when it bought Alliance Atlantis a few years ago and those channels — which include Showcase, The Food Network and HGTV — are not part of this bankruptcy-protection filing.
CanWest has been struggling for months to reach a deal with its creditors ever since it failed to make a $30.4 million interest payment this past March. The company has kept setting — and then extending — deadlines to come up with an arrangement to restructure the company. CanWest’s problem is its excessively high debt load. At the start of the process, it had debt of $3.6 billion, though the company’s debt was recently lowered when it sold its stake in Australian TV web Ten Network for $600 million. It also took the debt owed by Ten Network off its books, for an overall debt reduction (including the sale price) for CanWest of $1.1 billion.
The filing for bankruptcy protection is expected to help give time to CanWest to reach a new agreement with its lenders.
“This pre-packaged financial restructuring is intended to minimize business disruption and preserve the value of these business operations,” CanWest CEO Leonard Asper said in a statement. “Because it has the support of the Ad Hoc Committee (of noteholders), we believe that we can use the stability offered by the (bankruptcy protection) to implement this plan in four to six months, which will renew the financial prospects of our operations and put CanWest on a stronger footing for the future.”
All of the Canuck TV networks are in dire financial shape as a result of the downturn in the economy over the past year and the pressures facing general-interest broadcasters right across North America. But CanWest’s problems have been intensified by its high debt load.
That’s why all of the Canuck TV networks will be pleading their case in front of broadcast regulator the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission later this fall, asking that the cable and satellite operators be forced to pay a fee to carry these networks.
Source: Variety
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Front Page, Industry News
CanWest files for bankruptcy
Wednesday October 07th 2009MONTREAL — Winnipeg-based broadcaster CanWest Global Communications announced early Tuesday that it is filing for court-sanctioned bankruptcy protection, the latest step in its long-running efforts to come up with a new plan to recapitalize the company.
This is a voluntary filing on the part of Canada’s largest media company and it is not expected to lead to interruption of operations of any of its major TV assets.
CanWest owns Global Television and a host of cable channels. CanWest picked-up most of its cable channels when it bought Alliance Atlantis a few years ago and those channels — which include Showcase, The Food Network and HGTV — are not part of this bankruptcy-protection filing.
CanWest has been struggling for months to reach a deal with its creditors ever since it failed to make a $30.4 million interest payment this past March. The company has kept setting — and then extending — deadlines to come up with an arrangement to restructure the company. CanWest’s problem is its excessively high debt load. At the start of the process, it had debt of $3.6 billion, though the company’s debt was recently lowered when it sold its stake in Australian TV web Ten Network for $600 million. It also took the debt owed by Ten Network off its books, for an overall debt reduction (including the sale price) for CanWest of $1.1 billion.
The filing for bankruptcy protection is expected to help give time to CanWest to reach a new agreement with its lenders.
“This pre-packaged financial restructuring is intended to minimize business disruption and preserve the value of these business operations,” CanWest CEO Leonard Asper said in a statement. “Because it has the support of the Ad Hoc Committee (of noteholders), we believe that we can use the stability offered by the (bankruptcy protection) to implement this plan in four to six months, which will renew the financial prospects of our operations and put CanWest on a stronger footing for the future.”
All of the Canuck TV networks are in dire financial shape as a result of the downturn in the economy over the past year and the pressures facing general-interest broadcasters right across North America. But CanWest’s problems have been intensified by its high debt load.
That’s why all of the Canuck TV networks will be pleading their case in front of broadcast regulator the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission later this fall, asking that the cable and satellite operators be forced to pay a fee to carry these networks.
Source: Variety
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