Maclean-Hunter
Maclean-Hunter was a
Canadian communications company, which had diversified holdings in
radio,
television,
magazines,
newspapers and
cable television distribution.
The company began in
1887, when founder
John Bayne Maclean launched his first trade publication,
Canadian Grocer & General Storekeeper. His company subsequently expanded into other areas of publishing, launching the general interest magazine
Maclean's in
1905, the business newspaper
Financial Post in
1907 and the women's magazine
Chatelaine in
1928.
Horace Talmadge Hunter joined Maclean Publishing in
1903, moving up the management ranks to succeed Maclean as president in
1933; in
1945 the company's name was changed to Maclean-Hunter.
In
1961, the company began to diversify, adding its first broadcasting asset, radio station
CFCO in
Chatham, Ontario. In
1982, the company acquired a controlling interest in
Sun Media; ownership of the
Financial Post was transferred to Sun Media in
1987 to facilitate the publication's expansion from a weekly to a daily newspaper.
By the early
1990s, Maclean-Hunter's assets also included cable television services in 35
Ontario markets, 21 radio stations, television station
CFCN in
Calgary and a significant minority share in
CTV.
Maclean-Hunter was acquired in
1994 by
Rogers Communications. The
CRTC approved the transaction, but required Rogers to divest itself of some of Maclean-Hunter's individual assets to alleviate concerns around
concentration of media ownership.
Shaw Communications acquired some of the cable holdings and radio stations,
Telemedia and
Blackburn Radio acquired other radio stations, and the consortium of
Baton Broadcasting and
Electrohome acquired CFCN and the CTV shares. Sun Media was sold in an employee buyout in
1996.
Maclean-Hunter also had cable holdings in the
United States, which were acquired by
Comcast in
1994.
*
CRTC decision approving the acquisition of Maclean-Hunter by Rogers
