Rogers Group: landmarks
Landmarks
This chronology is indicative only. It covers -
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- antecedents (1905)
- beginnings (1960)
- expansion into telco (1984)
- and into print (1994)
- consolidation (2000)
Context is provided by the broader communications and media timeline on this site.
Antecedents
1887 John Bayne Maclean founds Canadian Grocer
1907 founds Financial Post
1910 founds Farmer's Magazine
1911 launches Macleans magazine
1925 founds Canadian Homes & Gardens
1927 founds Mayfair
1927 Canadian inventor and radio manufacturer Edward Rogers launches CFRB (Canada's First Rogers Batteryless) radio station
1927 Maclean establishes branch in US
1928 Maclean founds Chatelaine
1930 Maclean establishes branch in UK
1931 Rogers awarded experimental TV licence
1945 Maclean-Hunter established
Beginnings
1960 son Edward and associates launch commercial television station CFTO in Ottawa
1961 founds Rogers Radio Broadcasting, which buys Ottawa FM station CHFI-FM
1962 founds CFTR-AM in Toronto
1962 Great Lakes Broadcasting (Maclean-Hunter, Clare Chambers and Donald Hildebrand) buy CFCO
1965 Great Lakes Broadcasting (CFCO and CFOR Orillia) and Kitchener-Waterloo Broadcasting (CHYM-AM/FM) merge as Great Lakes Broadcasting System
1967 Maclean Hunter buys out Hildebrand and Chambers
1967 Rogers buys Bramalea Telecable
1967 awarded cable television licenses for Toronto, Brampton and Leamington
1974 Rogers Cable TV becomes first Canadian cable company to expand past 12 channels
1978 Maclean-Hunter buys CKBY-CKOY
1978 amalgamation of Toronto Sun Holdings and Toronto Sun Publishing
1979 Maclean-Hunter buys Canadian Cablesystems
1980 buys Premier Communications, doubling subscriber base to become largest cable tv network in Canada
1982 Great Lakes Broadcasting System becomes Key Radio
1982 Maclean Hunter buys 50% of Toronto Sun for C$54m
1983 Toronto Sun buys Houston Post for US$100m
Expansion into telco
1984 buys 40% of CNCP Telecommunications, national telco formed by Canadian National railway and Canadian Pacific railway
1985 founds mobile telephone network Rogers Cantel (later renamed Rogers AT&T Wireless) in partnership with First City Financial Corporation and Telemedia Enterprises Inc
1987 Toronto Sun sells Houston Post to Singleton's Media News for US$150m
1987 buys Financial Post weekly from Maclean-Hunter
1987 Timothy Benn sells UK Press Gazette to Maclean-Hunter
1988 launches daily Financial Post
1988 Rogers Video rental chain founded
1988 Toronto Sun acquires Bowes Publishers (small dailies, weeklies and special interest magazines)
1988 launches Ottawa Sun
1989 buys Florida chain of papers for US$14.5m
1989 Rogers Communications sells US cable interests for C$1.6bn
1989 Maclean-Hunter buys CFNY-FM
1989 buys Selkirk Communications
1989 sells CFAC-TV to Western International Communications
1990 CNCP Telecommunications renamed Unitel Communications
1992 Canadian regulators allow Unitel to compete with BCE and other national long-distance services
1993 20% of Unitel sold to AT&T, with Rogers Communications stake reduced to 32%
And into print
1994 Rogers Communications buys publisher Maclean Hunter, which becomes Rogers Media, for C$3.1bn
1994 gains control (66.5%) of Toronto Sun Publishing through Maclean-Hunter acquisition
1994 sells Maclean Hunter European Publishing to EMAP for £60m
1994 sells Bluewater Broadcasting (CFCO, CHYR Leamington and CKTY-CFGX Sarnia) to Blackburn Radio for C$2.6m
1995 Rogers Communications sells out of Unitel Communications
1995 Toronto Sun sells commercial printing business in Washington for C$12m
1996 sells its 62% stake in Toronto Sun Publishing (later acquired by Quebecor) for C$411m
1999 Microsoft invests US$400m in Rogers
Consolidation
2000 Rogers buys Cable Atlantic cable tv network
2000 abortive C$5.6bn takeover bid for Vidéotron cable network
2000 buys US Physician Financial News
2000 buys Heating, Plumbing & Air Conditioning magazine
2000 buys Toronto Blue Jays and majority interest in Toronto Phantoms football team
2001 buys 40% of Sportsnet from BCE
2001 buys 13 radio stations in Toronto and Ontario from Standard Broadcasting for C$100m
2004 buys 50% of CTV's mobile production and distribution business (rebadged as Dome Productions) for C$21.3m