Corus Entertainment granted lifeline as CRTC approves $357m recapitalisation plan
Corus Entertainment’s lenders are set to take ownership of the Canadian media group after Canada’s broadcasting watchdog approved its recapitalisation plan.
Through the debt-for-equity exchange, certain lenders have agreed to forgive around C$500m (US$357m) in debt for a 99% stake in a newly formed entity, NewCo, which will house Corus’s TV and radio assets.
NewCo’s ownership group consists of three Canadian investment funds, among them Toronto-based portfolio management firm Canso Investment.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on Thursday approved the transaction after the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved it in March 2026. With the CRTC approval in hand, Corus said the transaction is expected to close in the next few weeks.
Over the past few years, Toronto-headquartered Corus, which owns broadcast network Global and a portfolio of cable channels, has buckled under the weight of more than C$1bn in debt.
Its financial challenges have intensified as its linear TV business, which continues to be its main profit centre, declines due to cord cutting and shrinking advertising revenue.
Its situation significantly worsened in 2024 when it lost the trademark and licensing rights to Warner Bros Discovery (WBD)’s suite of lifestyle brands including HGTV and Food Network, with rival broadcast group Rogers Sports & Media picking up those rights.
Losing the WBD rights was a hammer blow as HGTV Canada and Food Network were Corus’s two biggest cable channels. However, the company rebounded with the launch of two new networks, Home Network and Flavour Network, and rebuilt its acquisition pipeline with new partners as well as continuing to commission original shows. The damage had already been done at that point, though, and the stock has traded at less than 10 Canadian cents per share since early 2025.
The company has made hundreds of lay-offs over the past few years, in addition to selling off assets, closing channels and shuttering its Nelvana studio (the distribution arm remains operational) and various other business units.
Corus said the recapitalisation plan will strengthen its financial position and provide a “long-term solution that supports a sustainable business strategy by materially reducing existing debt and maintaining secured lending facility and liquidity access.”
The approval comes around 10 months after Corus first officially floated the recapitalisation plan. It has also rejected the advances of French-Canadian media company, Quebecor, which tried to buy Corus and urged the CRTC to reject the recapitalisation plan.
The CRTC also said a “tangible benefits” package would not apply to this transaction, as Corus’s financial predicament is so strained. As noted previously by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Corus would likely have been forced into creditor protection if it was not able to secure a recapitalisation plan. Tangible benefits are payments that go back into the Canadian broadcasting system in situations where ownership of companies changes hands.
During the Banff World Media Festival in June, Corus CEO John Gossling was extremely candid about the company’s financial position and critical of the M&A moves that had saddled it with so much debt.
Gossling said the company was still “scarred” by the consequences of its acquisition of Shaw Media over a decade ago, adding: “Now we’re paying the price, going through a restructuring, trying to flush half a billion of debt down the drain.”
In its statement on Thursday, Corus added that “business is expected to continue as usual until and following transaction closing, with no anticipated impact to Corus’ obligations to clients, producers, suppliers or employees.”
