Rogers Media has added to its Ontario radio portfolio with the acquisition of the family-owned Tillsonburg Broadcasting Company (TBC). A purchase price was not disclosed.
TBC operates two FM stations in the Ontario market of approximately 15,000: Country 107.3 CJDL-FM and Easy 101 CKOT-FM. The stations serve greater Southwestern Ontario, primarily the markets of London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Woodstock and St. Thomas.
TBC is one of the few remaining family-owned and operated commercial radio companies, with a history dating back more than 60 years.
Julie Adam, senior vice-president of Rogers Radio, said the two stations fill a geographic need in the company’s network of 27 Ontario stations. The company currently operates one station in London, Ont. (102.3 JACK-FM) as well as three stations in Kitchener, Ont. (AM 570 News, 96.7 CHYM-FM and Country 106.7 FM).
“To be able to round out that Southwestern Ontario portfolio is great,” said Adam. “Both London and Kitchener are strong markets for us; we’re not over-indexed in that area, so geographically it’s a terrific fit.” She said that the two stations are also a fit with the company’s existing assets, with adult contemporary and country representing two of the company’s largest formats.
Adam told Marketing that the deal has been in the works “for quite a while.” She described the two properties as “heritage stations that are very popular in their communities,” both boasting a loyal advertiser base.
According to the most recent CRTC data for the 101 FM stations in Ontario’s non-designated markets, local airtime sales fell 0.3% $80.2 million in 2015, while national sales were up 3.6% to $19.2 million.
Adam said that Rogers has not developed a go-to-market strategy for the stations, pending CRTC approval of the deal. Rogers said that it expects the transaction to close by early 2017.
“We don’t anticipate any issues, but we do have follow standard procedure,” said Adams. If the federal regulator approves the deal, Rogers will operate 53 stations across the country, 29 of them in Ontario. It also operates stations in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia.
Adam said that radio advertising remains “very stable” as a whole, with market-related slowdowns in Western Canada being offset by small gains in Eastern Canada. “It’s not growing by leaps and bounds, but it remains buoyant,” she said.
“Advertising budgets depend on the local economy, so in the West it’s a real challenge,” said Adam. “Calgary and Edmonton are really in tough this year (revenues for both markets are down around 12% year-to-date) but in the east there is some growth.”
Revenues for select eastern markets including Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax are up slightly year-over-year, said Adam. “It’s nothing to do with radio,” she explained. “It’s just the economy.”
Adam said that Rogers remains in acquisition mode, particularly if stations are an appropriate fit with its existing assets. “Rogers feels strongly about radio,” said Adam.
