Toronto-based Slaight Communications owned a significant minority interest in the group, which was not included in that company's 2007 sale of most of its broadcasting assets to Astral Media.
The company also announced subsequent deals to acquire CJJM's former sister station CFSF-FM in Sturgeon Falls,[7] as well as CJCS and CHGK-FM in Stratford; these transactions were approved by the CRTC on February 21, 2011.
[17] Haliburton's strategy has been based on the conversion of former AM radio stations to FM, adoption of generally more contemporary-oriented music formats, modest staffing levels, and economies of scale through shared voice tracking, production and advertising sales across the regional group.
CHNO in Sudbury was an AM oldies station when Haliburton acquired it from Pelmorex; a stipulation in the CRTC's approval of the transaction allowed it to move to FM.
The CRTC, wary of potential "license trafficking," accepted the sale on the grounds that Haliburton had been losing money with CHNO, and would reinvest the proceeds into its contemporaneous purchase of CKLP in Parry Sound.
[20] On March 17, 2005, the CRTC published notice of an application Haliburton filed in 2004 to launch an FM country station in North Bay,[21] which was approved on August 11, 2005.
[29] In May 2008, Haliburton announced a deal to sell the CHYC stations to Le5 Communications, a firm owned by Sudbury lawyer Paul Lefebvre, for a purchase price of $425,000.
Newcap's formal application to acquire the stations was published for public hearings by the CRTC on November 13, 2008,[33] but was subsequently withdrawn in January 2009.
[34] Newcap CEO Rob Steele indicated that in light of the credit market crisis, the company did not feel that it was the right time to increase its debt load.
[36] On October 19, 2012, the CRTC approved Vista Broadcast Group's application for authority to acquire Haliburton's AM and FM radio stations located in Ontario.