Western International Communications

Western International Communications, or WIC, was a Canadian media company, which was acquired by CanWest Global Communications in 2000. WIC also owned an interest in Cancom as well as various radio stations and specialty TV services; these were acquired by other companies.

WIC was subject to a number of takeover attempts by CanWest and Shaw Communications in the late 1990s.

Television stations

Although the WIC stations aired some common programming, such as the newscast Canada Tonight, WIC was an ownership group, not a television network. Some WIC stations operated as independent stations, and others were network affiliates of CTV or CBC.

At the time of its sale to Global, WIC owned the following stations. The year WIC first acquired each station is noted in parentheses.

WIC's CTV affiliates, CHAN, CHEK and CFCF, had a hostile relationship with the network, due to WIC's desire to take a greater role in program production. This relationship deteriorated even further in 1997, when rival Baton Broadcasting became the sole corporate owner of CTV, and opened its own independent station, CIVT, in Vancouver. Baton, which owned the national rights to many programs aired in Vancouver on CHAN or CHEK, was able to move these programs, by now considered part of the CTV network schedule outside B.C., to CIVT.

Under WIC's ownership, CHAN used the brand BCTV. WIC also changed CHCH's branding to OnTV in 1997, when the station added several rebroadcast transmitters throughout Ontario.

WIC also owned specialty cable television channels such MovieMax and SuperChannel, and partial shares of Report on Business Television, The Family Channel and Teletoon.

Radio stations

At the time of its sale to Global, WIC owned 12 radio stations. These were acquired by Corus Entertainment.

Global merger

Global's acquisition of the WIC stations finally brought that network's service to Alberta, where the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission had repeatedly denied Global's applications to open new stations. An earlier application by Global had been turned down in favour of Craig Media's A-Channel system. However, the WIC stations were already purchasing broadcast rights to some of Global's programming.

In Montreal, where Global chose to keep its existing regional station CKMI, the company was required to sell CFCF to CTV. Retaining CFCF would have given Global a monopoly on commercial English language television in Montreal.

In Vancouver and Victoria, Global's acquisition of CHAN set off what may be the largest single-market network affiliation switch in North American television history. Global already owned CKVU, but decided to sell that station and keep CHAN instead. As a result, on September 1, 2001, the Global affiliation moved from CKVU to CHAN, the CTV affiliation moved from CHAN to CIVT, and CKVU was purchased by CHUM Limited, adopting the Citytv brand the following year. CHEK also changed affiliation, from CTV to Global's new CH system; a NewNet station, CIVI, also launched in Victoria around the same time.

CHCH and CJNT's signals also overlapped with existing Global stations; these two stations were integrated with CHEK into the CH system. CKRD will be disaffiliated from the CBC in September, 2005, becoming the fourth CH station. CHBC's similar disaffiliation was approved by the CRTC on February 28, 2005, although the actual date of its affiliation switch has not yet been announced.

Global did not have a true national newscast before it acquired WIC, although it aired First National in Ontario and Manitoba. On acquiring WIC, Global cancelled First National, briefly aired Canada Tonight on stations carrying that program, and launched its successor, Global National, on September 4, 2001.

Global also retained WIC's interest in Report on Business Television.

Shaw Communications acquired WIC's interest in Cancom. The CRTC approved the sale of MovieMax, SuperChannel and WIC's video on demand services to Corus, but required WIC's shares of The Family Channel and Teletoon be sold to a new buyer. Astral Media acquired those shares in 2001. (Corus already held, and continues to hold, a minority interest in Teletoon.)

See also: Western International Communications, 1989, 1990, 1990s, 1991, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2005, A-Channel