Proving the power of specialty, in a media environment where conventional stations can’t sell for a buck, Corus Entertainment is moving to buy SexTV and Drive-In Classics from CTVglobemedia – putting up $40 million for the cable channels in a deal revealed late Tuesday.

‘These services are currently available in over two million households and provide a great base to grow their audiences and increase their appeal to our advertising customers,’ said Corus boss John Cassaday in a statement.

The deal is subject to CRTC approval.

CTVgm acquired both digichannels during its takeover of CHUM. SexTV takes its name from a former CHUM show, and runs programming on human sexuality, while Drive-In Classics plays old movies. Both launched in 2001.

With its Q3 results, released this morning, the broadcaster also announced that Bakugan, Pay TV and Women’s advertising sales contributed to a strong quarter for Corus Television. Its quarterly revenues of $129.8 million, though down 1% from $131.0 million last year, showed continued growth in advertising targeted to women, led by subscriber revenue growth of 13%. Quarterly segment profit is down 5%, decreasing to $50.7 million, from $53.4 million last year. Television revenues for the nine months ending May 31 were at $394.5 million, up 3% from $383.6 million last year. Year over year, segment profits increased to $162.4 million, up 1% from $161.2 million last year.

Corus Radio revenues were $65.5 million, down 15% from $77 million last year. Segment profit at $16.1 million, is down 35% from $24.7 million last year. Radio revs for the nine months ending May 31 were down 9% from $218 million last year to $199 million and segment profit was down 25% from $60.4 million last year to $45.2 million.

From Playback Daily