The wave of consolidation that has washed over the media industry in the past year - with more than $5-billion worth of deals in the broadcast sector alone - is starting to subside, executives say.

In fact, the string of transactions that has reshaped Canada's media landscape may have already run its course.

John Cassaday, chief executive officer of Corus Entertainment Inc., told analysts yesterday that he believes the media industry will be quiet for the next few years, following three billion-dollar broadcasting takeovers that started last summer.

Corus is considered one of the few potential deal makers left - as either a buyer or a seller - since it has remained on the sidelines while rival companies have locked down major acquisitions.

However, Mr. Cassaday said he's not expecting any significant transactions to emerge.

"There's not going to be another big opportunity for at least the next two years," Mr. Cassaday told an investor conference hosted by BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. in Toronto.

At the same conference last year, Mr. Cassaday and CanWest Global Communications Corp. CEO Leonard Asper both predicted the media industry was on the brink of another major round of consolidation.

Within months, CanWest teamed up with U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to buy Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. for $2.3-billion. Then Standard Broadcasting Ltd. was bought by Astral Media Inc. for $1.1-billion.

Those deals were sparked by the $1.4-billion acquisition of CHUM Ltd. last summer by CTVglobemedia Inc., parent company of CTV and The Globe and Mail.

Following Mr. Cassaday's comments, Rob Prichard, CEO of Torstar Corp., also doused talk of a major media deal that some observers believed was in the cards.

Asked whether privately held CTVglobemedia is positioning itself for an initial public offering, Mr. Prichard said the ownership group isn't considering such a move. Torstar holds a 20-per-cent stake in CTVglobemedia.

"The goal of [CTVglobemedia] is to create the leading media company in Canada, period," Mr. Prichard said.

"That's where our focus will be - there's no need to engage in a financial transaction at the current time."

The owners of CTVglobemedia have said little about the prospects of an IPO. Woodbridge Co. Ltd. (which owns 40 per cent), Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (25 per cent) and BCE Inc. (15 per cent) have not commented.

With Woodbridge and Teachers combining to own 65 per cent, it's unlikely a public offering would be driven by the need for capital.

"Two thirds of the company is in no way capital constrained," BMO media analyst Tim Casey said. "They don't need to go public to do more acquisitions. There's no more acquisitions to do."

Though Corus has been mentioned as a potential takeover target, Mr. Casey noted the company's controlling shareholders, Calgary's Shaw family, said recently they're not interested in selling.

"I think the [mergers and acquisitions] game is over for a while. I'm not going to say it's over forever, but there doesn't seem to be an obvious transaction that can happen in the near term," he said.

Corus wanted to buy the 13 specialty channels owned by Alliance, including HGTV and Showcase, but didn't want to acquire the other assets, such as a half stake in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation TV series. "There's no mourning of what we missed, our focus is entirely on the assets that we have," Mr. Cassaday said.

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