TORONTO — It’s a far-flung town in far Upstate New York that is technically within the Watertown TV market but is in air miles just a few miles away from Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
As such, one of Canada’s biggest media companies in 2011 grabbed a 20% stake in a 6kw FM licensed to this tiny municipality, using it to form a three-FM group serving Kingston.
Now, with fresh CRTC rules that can allow Rogers Media to own a Canadian property serving Kingston outright, it has engineered a deal that will not only see it shed its 20% stake in the FM but also see its remaining 80% equity holders say goodbye to the property.
The buyer? The co-founders of an owner of Ontario radio stations hyperfocused on small and medium-sized markets that just expanded to the Niagara Region.