Source : National Post

Astral Media Inc. has finally received regulatory approval to unload eight
Quebec radio stations after operating them for three years in legal limbo.

Yesterday, the Montreal-based company was granted CRTC approval to swap one
FM station and its entire Quebec AM network of seven stations to Corus
Entertainment Inc. in return for five FM stations.

"We look forward to ... integrating these stations in our existing three
networks, Energie, RADIO RockDetente and Boom FM, and developing new markets for our Radio Group," said Jacques Parisien, president of Astral Media Radio.

Astral has tried and failed to sell the block of eight stations twice before.

The media company was forced to put the stations on the block because of
bureaucratic feuding. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications
Commission first approved Astral's ownership of the AM stations, which were
purchased as part of a larger transaction with Telemedia Inc. In May, 2001,
however, the federal Competition Bureau prohibited Astral from keeping them, due to concerns the AM stations would give Astral a stranglehold on advertising rates in certain Quebec markets.

Astral and the Competition Bureau went to court and eventually reached a
settlement that would have seen the stations sold to TVA Inc. That deal was then blocked by the CRTC, which raised concerns over TVA parent Quebecor Inc.'s increasing media concentration and cross-ownership.

Last year, a subsequent Astral deal to sell the stations to a private group
for $12-million fell through at the last minute.

"We're getting professional at this: It is the third time we're selling it,"
Ian Greenberg, the company's president and chief executive, quipped last March.

Under yesterday's swap, Astral gains control of five Corus-owned FM stations
in Rimouski, Amqui, St. Jean-sur-Richelieu and Drummondville. In return, Corus takes over Astral's Radiomedia network and one FM station: CKAC Montreal, CHRC Quebec City, CKRS Saguenay, CHLN Trois Rivieres, CHLT Sherbrooke, CJRC Gatineau and CFOM-FM Levis. In return, Corus will transfer five FM stations to Astral Media: CJOI-FM Rimouski, CIKI-FM Rimouski, CFVM-FM Amqui, CFZZ-FM Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu and CJDM-FM Drummondville.

Yesterday, Corus also said it sold its two Red Deer radio stations for
$9-million to Newfoundland Capital Corp., subject to adjustment in accordance
with the purchase and sale agreement and subject to review and approval by the CRTC.

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