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ARCHIVED - Decision CRTC 2001-226

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Decision CRTC 2001-226

Ottawa, 18 April 2001

BY TELECOPIER
(Original to follow)

Mr. C. Christopher Johnston, Q.C.
Barristers & Solicitors
Johnston & Buchan
275 Slater Street, Suite 1700
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 5H9

Dear Mr. Johnston:

Re:  Application No. 200104191 - Denied
Request for a transfer of the shares of Lifestyle Television (1994) Limited to another trustee under a separate voting trust arrangement
Licensee of Women Television Network (WTN) - National

Reference is made to your letters of 15 March and 28 March 2001. The Commission has considered your request for authority to set up another independent voting trust arrangement (including another Voting Trustee) under a separate Depository Agreement.

The Commission understands that this would have allowed the parties, Shaw Communications Inc. (Shaw) and Corus Entertainment Inc. (Corus) to complete the sale of the shares in Lifestyle Television (1994) Limited (Lifestyle) while at the same time, would have prevented Corus from effectively having control of WTN pending the Commission's approval of a forthcoming application by Corus.

The Commission notes that the proposed transaction does not fall within the guidelines concerning the use of trust arrangements. The Commission is not convinced that the policy should not apply in this case. Consequently, the Commission denies your application. The shares of Lifestyle are to remain under the current Moffat Depository Agreement (approved by Letter of authority A00-0141 in the context of Shaw Communications Inc.'s acquisition of the control and ownership of Moffat Communications Ltd.). The Commission notes that the appointed voting trustee is Mr. Fred Wagman and that its authority expires on 30 April 2001.

All letters of approval issued by the Commission are made available for public examination at the Commission's central office and reference to this letter will be made available at the Commission's web site at www.crtc.gc.ca. The Commission also requires you to append this letter to the WTN licence.

Finally, this letter is not to be interpreted in any way as an indication that the Commission is predisposed to authorize the subsequent applications relating to the transaction.

Yours sincerely,

Ursula Menke
Secretary General

c.c. Fred Wagman

Date Modified: 2001-04-18

Date modified: