1961
In Montreal, four brothers founded a photo company, Angreen Photo Inc., which became the jumping off point for what was to become Astral Media, owner of the largest group of radio stations in Canada, with additional major ownerships in both conventional and specialty television channels. The brothers, Harold, Harvey, Sidney and Ian Greenberg, would each have significant contributions to make to the evolution of this exceptional company.

1967
Having acquired the Bellevue Pathe photo finishing labs in Montreal in 1963, Angreen was well placed to apply for and to be granted exclusive rights to sell cameras, film and photographic materials on the Expo '67 site in Montreal, as well as souvenir slides around the world. This venture helped develop a solid financial base for Angreen's ambitions to expand further.

1971
By 1971, Angreen had acquired two major film production entities, Pathé-Humphries labs and recording studios in Toronto (1968) and Associated Screen News Industries of Montreal (1969).

Having also acquired three retail camera stores in Montreal in 1968 from Centre Photographique de Montréal, and expanded to a chain of l25 stores across Canada under the name Astral Photo, the Greenbergs were by now ready to take their company public. A public offering was initiated, and on July 26th, Astral Communications Limited was launched.

1973
Astral Belleview Pathé Limited was formed through company mergers, to specialize in distributing television and theatrical films and series. The Greenbergs were the company's largest shareholders, and Harold Greenberg became its President and CEO. Astral also got into film production, and in the ensuing years Harold would be executive producer of several Canadian feature films, including The Neptune Factor (1973), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and Seizure (1974), City on Fire (1978), Death Ship (1979), and Tulips (1980).

1981
In the next stage of diversification, Astral founded a videocassette duplication facility named Pathé Video, in Toronto. In the same year, Harold Greenberg brought more success to Astral as co-executive producer of the hit box-office movie Porky's.

1982
In a ground-breaking move that was to have a profound effect on the future of Astral, in March the CRTC announced the awarding of Canada's first Pay-TV licences. First Choice Canadian Communications and Superchannel were granted national licences, and several regional licences were also granted.

1983
This was a crucial year in the evolution of Astral, from being a major producer of film and television product to being a leading player in the broadcasting field. The pay services First Choice and Superchannel launched on February 1st, but by the end of the year, Astral had acquired control of both First Choice and its French-language counterpart, Premier Choix , it being a condition of CRTC approval that Astral would get out of the production business altogether, to avoid any possibility of conflicts of interest.

1984
Harold Greenberg succeeded Don MacPherson as President of First Choice, a position he would retain until shortly before his death in 1995. During the year, after it had become apparent that all the pay services were sustaining substantial losses, various mergers resulted in First Choice gaining exclusivity for Eastern Canada, while Superchannel would serve the rest of the country from Winnipeg to British Columbia. By the end of the year, both channels had moved from general interest programming to concentrate almost exclusively on movies.

While out of the production business, Astral stayed very much involved in the hardware side of film and television, and in 1984 they went into wholesale distribution of videocassettes with the founding of Ciné-Maison Bellevue.

1985
This year saw the inauguration of AstralTech, a new video production centre.

1986
Although out of the production business, Astral remained totally supportive of the Canadian film production industry. To honour Harold Greenberg, Astral created The Harold Greenberg FUND, the capital letters standing for Foundation to Underwrite New Drama, to support the production of Canadian programming. Over the following twenty years, the FUND would invest over $50,000,000 in Canadian productions.

1987
Astral diversified further by launching Astral Media Outdoors, a company that would offer multiple advertising opportunities through such media as posters, billboards, transit shelters and street furniture.

1988
Two new specialty channels in which Astral had ownership positions were launched: The Family Channel and Canal Famille.

1989
After having served for six years as Chairman of the CRTC, André Bureau left the Commission. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that André would become President and CEO of Astral Communications Inc. He would later become President of Astral Broadcasting Group, and subsequently Chairman of Astral Media Inc.

1991
Astral launched a new national pay-tv specialty channel, Viewer's Choice, which would carry major feature films, sporting events, concerts and other special events.

1995
Astral launched two new speciality channels, Moviepix (later to be called simply Mpix), a channel presenting classic films, and Canal D, a French documentary channel.

In December, Harold Greenberg stepped down as Chairman and CEO, and was succeeded by his brother Ian.

1996
President Ian Greenberg announced Astral's intention to concentrate its endeavours on “pure play media" and its outdoor advertising business.

On July 1st, Harold Greenberg died of cancer after a long illness.

When a new pay-tv French channel, Canal Indigo, was launched, Astral held a 40% interest through its Viewer's Choice subsidiary.

In September, the CRTC approved the licensing of Teletoon, a new specialty channel to broadcast predominantly animated programming for children in both English and French. The Family Channel, jointly owned by Astral and WIC Western International Communications, held a controlling interest in Teletoon and its French counterpart, Télétoon.

1997
This was the year when Astral made its first move into the conventional broadcasting field, with the acquisition of a 25% share in Radiomutuel Inc., owners of a group of radio stations in the province of Quebec. The company also became sole owners of two French-language specialty channels, Premier Choix and Canal Famille.

The year also saw the launch of the Comedy Network, a new specialty channel, in which Astral had a 14.95% ownership position. The other shareholders were the Just For Laughs Festival, Baton Broadcasting and Shaw Communications.

The two Teletoon specialty channels were launched on October 17th.

1998
On February 7th, the Greenberg family was saddened by the loss of Harvey, another of the four brothers who had together founded Angreen Photo Inc. back in 1961.

Astral formed a joint venture with Radiomutuel to create TV Plus Media, to sell advertising and offer joint marketing opportunities to specialty television channels.

1999
In July, Astral applied to the CRTC for approval for them to acquire control of Radiomutuel Inc. The application was heard on September 3rd, but no decision was forthcoming before the end of the year.

2000
On January 12th the CRTC approved Astral's application to acquire ownership of Radiomutuel Inc. Astral thereby obtained control of eight French-language FM radio stations and three French-language AM radio stations in Quebec, the FM radio network Radio Énergie, consisting of the eight Radiomutuel FM stations, and two French-language specialty channels, Canal Vie and Canal Z.

In addition, Astral gained a 50% interest in MusiquePlus Inc., licensee of the specialty services MusiquePlus and Musimax (the other 50% being held by CHUM Limited), Les Entreprises RadioMédia Inc, licensee of AM radio station CKAC Montreal and the AM radio network RadioMédia (50% owned by Télémédia Radio Inc), and RadioMédia Inc., licensee of radio station CHRC-AM Quebec City (50% owned by Télémédia Radio Inc.)

The deal also brought Astral a number of non-broadcasting assets in the fields of outdoor advertising and broadcast sales.

Also in January, Astral launched three new specialty channels, Ztélé, which it owned outright, and Historia and Séries+, which were jointly owned with Alliance Atlantis

On February 25th, after having been known as Astral Communications for nearly 29 years, the company changed its name to Astral Media.

Michel Arpin, after terms with the CRTC and the Civitas Corporation, had been with Radiomutuel for eighteen years when the company was acquired by Astral. At that time, Michel became Senior Regulatory and Governmental Affairs Advisor to the Astral Broadcasting Group.

2001
Astral added three more Quebec radio stations to its broadcasting ownerships with the acquisition of CFOM-FM Levis, CFEI-FM St. Hyacinthe and CHRD Drummondville.

In the television field, the company acquired from Corus the balance of the shares in the Family Channel that it did not already own, and thereby increased its ownership in the Teletoon/Télétoon French and English specialty channels to 40%. In turn, Astral sold to Corus its interest in the Comedy Network.

The specialty channel Canal Famille was relaunched as VRAK-TV, targeted at the 3 – 14 years age group.

2002
On April 19th, with the prior concurrence of the Competitions Bureau, the CRTC approved an application by Astral Media Inc to acquire effective control of three companies, 3903206 Canada Inc., Télémédia Radio Atlantic Inc., and Radiomedia Inc., and with them ownership of seventeen radio stations in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The approval was conditional on Astral finding a buyer for CFOM-FM, Levis, PQ.

2004
Astral began offering Subscription-Video-On-Demand on The Movie Network on Demand and Super Écran sur demande.

2005
On January 21st, the CRTC announced conditional approval of a proposal for Astral Media Radio Inc. and Corus Entertainment Inc. to exchange ownership of a number of radio stations in the province of Quebec. The conditions related primarily related to the required scheduling of specific percentages of certain categories of program content.

As a result of the deal, Astral acquired radio stations CFVM-FM Amqui, CJDM-FM Drummondville, CJOI-FM Rimouski, CIKI-FM Rimouski and its transmitter CIKI-FM-2 Sainte-Marguerite-Marie and CFZZ-FM Saint-Jean-Iberville.

Corus acquired CKAC-AM Montreal, CHRC-AM Quebec, CJRC-AM Gatineau, CKRS-AM Saguenay, CHLKN-AM Trois-Rivieres, CHLT-AM Sherbrooke, CKTS-AM Sherbrooke and CFOM-FM Levis. In addition, Corus acquired ownership of digital radio stations CKAC-DR-2 Montreal and CJRC-DR-2 Gatineau, the Montreal Canadiens hockey radio network and the Montreal Alouettes football radio network.

May 1st saw Astral launching The Movie Network HD, offering high-definition programming 24 hours a day. They also launched Cinépop, a French language channel offering an exclusive service of classic movies.

On May 5th, Michel Arpin left Astral to return to the CRTC as Vice-Chairman, Broadcasting.

In June, the CRTC granted a licence for a terrestrial radio subscription service to a partnership of CHUM (80.1%) and Astral (19.9%). The service was initially planned to serve major cities in Ontario, Quebec and B.C., and to expand to other areas during the course of the licence term. Two satellite radio services, Sirius and XM, were licensed at the same time, and achieved some success. The CHUM/Astral project never got going (see Digital Audio Broadcasting), largely on economic grounds.

In October, Astral was awarded four new licences for French language digital specialty channels, Télé-Rêve, Canal Chez Moi, Canal Justice and Televitesse.

2006
Starting January 9th, Astral's Movie Network's Hi-Definition channel began offering movie classics in high definition, as well as offering an HD option for their other specialty channels, Canal D, Canal Vie, Historia, Séries+, ZTélé and Super Ecran. Its VRAK-TV licence was amended to permit programming to expand to target young people up to 17 years of age.

While by this time Astral had grown its radio ownerships to 30 stations, the company still had an appetite for further growth. In pursuit of this objective, Astral made a serious attempt in the summer of 2006 to acquire the assets of the CHUM group. Owner Allan Waters had died the previous December, and six months later the Waters family announced that they were prepared to entertain offers for the property. Astral made an offer, but were outbid by CTVglobemedia. Despite this set-back, it remained clear that Astral were still very interested in further expansion.

Astral increased their ownership position in both English and French Teletoon channels to 50%.

The year marked Ian Greenberg's tenth year as President of Astral, and the 20th year of the highly successful Harold Greenberg Fund.

2007
Astral Media and the Harold Greenberg Fund announced in February the launching of the Reel Support project, a new venture in association with Fujifilm that would provide a new source of funding for the Canadian film and television industry.

On February 23, 2007, there was little surprise when Astral announced that it had signed a letter of intent and was in the process of negotiating with Standard Radio to acquire all the firm's assets. Standard accepted Astral's offer, the deal received CRTC approval on September 28, and the transaction was completed on October 29 of the same year. The deal, which made Astral the largest radio station owner in Canada, with 82 stations in 29 markets, involved the acquisition by the company of 52 radio stations in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Albert and B.C., including CFRB-AM in Toronto and CJAD-AM in Montreal, plus two small television stations in Dawson Creek, Yukon, and Terrace B.C.

In June, Astral acquired from CHUM Limited their 50% holdings in the MusiquePlus and MusiMax specialty channels, and thereby assumed 100% ownership of each channel.

On October 1st, Astral launched yet another English language specialty channel, Teletoon Retro.

In November, in a fitting tribute to his success in leading the growth of Astral to its pre-eminent position in the broadcasting industry, Ian Greenberg received the Ted Rogers and Velma Rogers Graham Award for his unique contributions to the Canadian broadcasting system.

2008
On May 30th, Astral Media Radio Inc learned that they had been unsuccessful in a competitive application for a licence for a new FM station in Vancouver.

In August, Astral Media Radio Inc. received CRTC approval for licences for two new English language FM radio stations, to serve Ottawa and Gatineau. However, following petitions from concerned parties, the decision was referred back to the CRTC on November 20th via an Order-in-Council which required the Commission to rehear the original applications, and to “... fully consider and explain its approach to evaluating the needs of official-language minority communities, and how it applies in this case".

A new hearing was scheduled for March 31st 2009.

During the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' annual convention in Ottawa, on Monday November 3rd, Harold Greenberg (posthumously) and Ian Greenberg were inducted into the CAB Hall of Fame. On Tuesday, November 4th, the 40th Anniversary of the formation of the CRTC was marked by a video presentation. Following the presentation, Astral Media Chairman André Bureau – himself a former Chairman of the Commission - made a speech saluting the Commission and praising the work it had done over the previous four decades.

2009
New CRTC hearings were held on March 31st and June 12th regarding Astral's application for a new English language radio station to serve Ottawa and the Gatineau, and on August 11th the Commission reaffirmed its decision to grant Astral the licence for which they had applied. The new station would operate at 99.7 MHz.

2010
Astral's new Ottawa/Gatineau station, CJOT-FM, launched on May 27th.

2011
On September 26th, the CRTC denied an application by Astral to acquire ownership of Shore Media, licensee of CHHR-FM Vancouver, considering that the application contravened the Commission's Licence Trafficking Policy.

However, on December 19th, Astral announced that it had received authorization from the CRTC to acquire Shore Media Group Inc., the radio licence holder for CHHR-FM 104.3 (Shore FM), broadcasting in Vancouver, British Columbia. The acquisition was set to be completed in early 2012.

"We are very proud to have Shore FM join the Astral family and reinforce our multiplatform presence in Vancouver and British Columbia," said Astral Radio president Jacques Parisien.

2012
On March 16th, the CTV Network's parent company, BCE, announced that, subject to CRTC and Competitions Bureau approval, it had agreed to acquire Astral Media for a price of 3.38 billion dollars. BCE chief executive George Cope was quoted as saying: "We think bringing together Astral and BCE puts both organizations in a stronger competitive position."

On May 25th, Astral Media Inc. announced that the Québec Superior Court had approved the previously announced acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Astral by BCE Inc. pursuant to a plan of arrangement under section 192 of the Canada Business Corporations Act. The Québec Superior Court declared that the Arrangement was fair to shareholders of Astral.

On July 10th, the CRTC announced that it would hold a hearing commencing on 10 September 2012 at 9:00 a.m. at the Palais de Congrès de Montréal, 1001 place Jean-Paul-Riopelle, Montréal, Quebec, to consider the BCE Inc application for authority to change the effective control of Astral's broadcasting undertakings so that it was exercised by BCE Inc.

Immediately following the announcement, a group of broadcasting entities led by Quebecor Inc. Cogeco Inc. and Bragg Communications launched a "Say No To Bell" media campaign, which produced nearly ten thousand comments from various sources.

On October 18th, the industry was very surprised when the CRTC announced that it was denying the application by BCE Inc. (BCE), on behalf of Astral Media inc. (Astral), for authority to change the effective control of Astral’s broadcasting undertakings. The Commission said it was "...not convinced that the transaction would provide significant and unequivocal benefits to the Canadian broadcasting system and to Canadians sufficient to outweigh the concerns related to competition, ownership concentration in television and radio, vertical integration and the exercise of market power."

See also attached article from Broadcast Dialogue.

Written by Pip Wedge – December, 2011
Updated by Pip Wedge - October, 2012

Astral Radio stations owned as of December, 2011
(click on call letters for individual station histories)

Astral Television stations owned as of December, 2011
(click on call letters for individual station histories)

Astral specialty channels as of December, 2011
(click on channel names for individual profiles)