Yesterday, the Toronto-based M2 Universal agency was awarded a three-year contract to handle media strategy and buying for the CBC’s English-language services – which include the Ceeb’s television and radio operations, specialty channels CBCNewsworld and Country Canada, plus the CBC.ca website.

‘We’re absolutely thrilled and we’re ready for the challenge,’ M2 president Hugh Dow tells MiC. ‘More than anything else, we’re convinced there is tremendous consumer and advertising support for the CBC, and we intend to fully capitalize on that sentiment through innovation and engaging communications. And obviously, in today’s highly fragmented television and radio marketplace, promotion and especially impactful, engaging promotion is the key to success. So that’s what we’re going to be doing.’

CBC’s current media agency, Toronto-based MBS, will complete its two-year contract at the end of December, and was among the short-listed unsuccessful bidders in the net’s compulsory agency review. Also on that list, besides M2, were Cossette Media and Mediaedge:cia. According to a recent Nielsen Media Research estimate, CBC spent $14 million on all measured media in 2005.