Vancouver: If, by Dec. 23, Torstar Corp. is successful in wooing 67% of Sun Media’s common shares through an offer equivalent to $16.60 per share, the change in ownership may create potential synergies for the companies’ minor television assets.

As publisher of the Toronto Star newspaper, Torstar owns an unlicensed alpha-numeric station called Toronto Star Television, which broadcasts infomercials along with headlines, weather forecasts and sports scores. Sun Media – which publishes tabloid newspapers such as the Toronto Sun and Edmonton Sun – has a 29.9% interest in crtc-regulated CablePulse 24, an all-news station in southern Ontario, which is majority owned and managed by CHUM Ltd.

Rocco Rossi, vp of strategic planning and new media for the Star and spokesman for Toronto Star Television, says: ‘Assuming the deal goes through, we’d be delighted to talk to chum about anything we could do together. At the level of studios, facilities and so on, there might be opportunities and we want to explore those.’

Rossi adds that CP24 is more flexible in what it can do, given that it is a licensed signal.

Representatives of chum were not available for comment.

However, analyst Tom Batho, executive vp and managing director of Genesis Media in Toronto, says the two recently launched stations can easily co-exist.

‘Both have small viewership,’ he explains. ‘They are very niche. [The signals offer] provides Sun Media and Torstar other distribution methods to recoup the cost of the news-gathering process. The goal behind the merger is critical mass.’

Sun Media executives were not available to comment about the effect a takeover might have on the television holdings. However, in media reports, Sun Media has urged shareholders to wait as the company tries to find another buyer with a better deal. On Nov. 24, Sun Media’s shares closed at $16.70 on the tse.