Australian Broadcasting Authority Concludes CanWest Investigation; Confirms that CanWest Has Rectified Breaches of the Broadcasting Services Act.

WINNIPEG, Canada--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 27, 1998-- CanWest Global (TSE:CGS.A) (TSE:CGS.S) (NYSE:CWG) -- CanWest Global Communications Corp. today announced that the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) had completed its review of the new shareholding structure of the TEN Television Network in Australia.

CanWest is pleased that the ABA has determined that the breaches of the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) have now been rectified.

"With our ownership position in TEN now confirmed, we and our fellow TEN shareholders are looking to continue the work of building TEN into one of Australia's great media companies," said Peter Viner, CanWest's President and CEO.

As a result of reviewing the large number of documents that comprised this major transaction, the ABA concluded that the inclusion of one clause in one transaction document resulted in CanWest still being in a position to exercise control over a matter that affected the broadcasting licenses of the TEN Group.

While the ABA felt that CanWest failed to strictly comply with the terms of its notices to remedy the breaches by the relevant April 1998 deadline, it determined that any non-compliance was both unintentional and of a minor technical nature. Upon the ABA drawing the clause of its concern to the attention of CanWest in July 1998, CanWest voluntarily waived its rights under the clause. The clause in question was subsequently deleted from the relevant transaction document at CanWest's request.

"During the course of completing the transaction with Ten Network Holdings, we worked cooperatively with the ABA in rectifying the breaches to its satisfaction. We believe that the transaction did rectify the BSA breaches and disagreed with the ABA that the clause in question provided us with any element of ongoing control over TEN. However, once we were informed by the ABA of its concern with the clause, we unilaterally waived any rights that we may have had under it. From our perspective, the clause was inconsequential and we had no difficulty in waiving our rights under it in order to allay the ABA's concerns," stated Mr. Viner.

"Now that the ABA has concluded its review of that transaction, we look forward to continuing the cooperative relationship that we have developed with the ABA," he added.

CanWest Global Communications Corp. (NYSE - CWG and TSE - CGS.S and CGS.A) is an international media company. In Canada, CanWest owns and operates the Global Television Network and Global Prime Cable Network, as well as Fireworks Entertainment Inc., a production and distribution company. Internationally, CanWest owns and operates New Zealand's TV3 and TV4 Television Networks and the More FM Radio Network. The Company also has significant investments in Australia's TEN Television Network, the Republic of Ireland's new TV3 Television Network, and Northern Ireland's Ulster Television.