Sun News Network received 11th-hour bid from Leonard Asper
Sun News Network received 11th-hour bid from Leonard Asper before it was shut down
Hours before the lights went out for the final time last Friday at the Sun News Network, one man was making an 11th-hour bid to keep the struggling TV station from going dark.
Leonard Asper, whose family built, and later lost, the Canwest Global Communications Corp. empire, had scrambled a last-ditch effort to buy the conservative all-news channel last week, sources confirmed to the Financial Post. That was less than 72 hours before its owner, Quebecor Media, officially pulled the plug on Sun Media Corp. on Feb. 13, putting its roughly 200 employees out of work.
Mr. Asper, now the CEO of specialty channel operator Anthem Media Group Inc. which controls the Fight Network, the Fantasy Sports Network and the Pursuit Channel, was given access to a data room to review confidential information about Sun TV’s financial condition, after directly appealing to Pierre Dion, president and CEO of Quebecor. He spent time poring over Sun TV’s books on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10.
On Feb. 11, Mr. Asper tabled his opening bid for the station, which had won a mandatory distribution licence from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in 2013, meaning all cable and satellite carriers must offer it as an optional subscription to customers. The Financial Post has learned the offer involved no cash up front but provided the opportunity for Quebecor to receive equity to a maximum of $5-million at the back end after three years. In return, Mr. Asper’s company would receive Sun TV’s licenses and some — but not all — of the station’s employees.
The following day, Quebecor declined Mr. Asper’s “very creative” offer, a source familiar with events said, but it reportedly did not counter or engage in any negotiation. The company informed him it was “pursuing other options.” Less than 24 hours later, Sun Media Corp. announced it was shutting down the provocative all-news station. In a release, Sun Media expressed regret for the “end of this venture,” citing reasons beyond its control, namely “numerous obstacles to carriage that we encountered.”