Cable TV operator Shaw Communications Inc. is reported to have signed a deal to acquire the television assets of CanWest Global Communications Corp. for $2 billion, a step which some analysts tag as a gamble on the future of new media.

It is reported that Dennis Skulsky, the president of Canwest Global Communications Corp.'s newspaper and publishing division, which owns The Gazette, resigned yesterday.

The longtime print executive posted that the decision to leave the Winnipeg-based company is entirely his own as he wanted to be with his family.

Reports have confirmed that the country's largest chain of newspapers, which is owned and controlled by Canwest Global Communications Corp., has been put under creditor protection and will be up for sale as early as next week by senior lenders led by a group of 5 Canadian banks.

CanWest Global Communication Corp's., proposal to transfer the National Post newspaper to one of its subsidiaries which already contains the firm's other assets such as the Vancouver Sun and Ottawa Citizen, has been given approval by both the court and lenders.