board of directors

Vancouver: Arthur Griffiths has resigned from the board of directors of WIC Western International Communications and his sister, Mary Priebe, a chartered accountant, has been appointed in his place.

The announcement follows months of rivalry between wic’s major equity shareholders, the Griffiths family and the Allards of Edmonton, which peaked in April with an attempt by the Allard family to gain control of the communications giant. The Allards had criticized the company in court documents for its lack of ‘hands on entrepreneurially motivated shareholders.’

In announcing his resignation, Griffiths, president of Northwest Sports Enterprises, explained that increasing demands related to his other business commitments meant he could no longer dedicate the time necessary to his role as a wic director. Northwest Sports, owners of the Canucks hockey team, recently purchased an mba basketball franchise.

The announcements coincide with reports from wic earlier this month that revenues for the nine months ending May 31 rose 15% to $302 million.

Revenues from the television side of the company, which includes eight stations across Canada, were $186 million, up 16% over last year.

Pay-tv revenues from Superchannel and wic’s portion of Family Channel came in at $20.7 million, 11% higher than the same period last year. Operating revenues rose 9% to $4.7 million.

Revenues from Cancom, a satellite network service in which wic has a 52.6% stake, also rose 15%, to 52.1% Operating income was up 3% to $8.2 million.

In April, following the death of wic founder Frank Griffiths Sr., Cathton Holdings, a private company controlled by the Allards, made a bid to acquire control of wic by utilizing a rarely used ‘coat-tails’ provision that would automatically convert the family’s non-voting shares into voting shares to give them control of the company.

The case was due to be heard in B.C. Supreme Court in June but the hearing has been postponed at the Allards’ request until December.