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Broadcaster

CanWest sells SBS stake for $44.1 million

7/9/2003

WINNIPEG - CanWest Global Communications today announced that it has sold, in a private transaction, its holding of 2,032,300 common shares of SBS Broadcasting S.A., to a U.S. institutional investor, for US$16.10 per share. The net cash proceeds from the transaction, approximately US$32.7 million (Cdn$44.1 million), will be used to reduce corporate debt.

SBS Broadcasting serves Scandinavia and parts of Europe with TV and radio stations in Norway, Finland, Sweden, Poland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Greece and Hungary.

"This sale of CanWest's shares in SBS is consistent with the previously announced intention of the company to divest non-core, non-strategic assets," said today's press release. "While valuable in its own right, CanWest's investment in SBS was no longer considered to be of strategic importance in terms of the company's overall media strategy."

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