The recession has hit advertising revenue at Canadian media outlets already suffering from stiff competition from the internet — hard. Here's a timeline:

Canwest president Leonard Asper. (Ken Gigliotti/Canadian Press/Winnipeg Free Press)

November 2008

Canwest cuts 560 jobs.

CTV announces 105 positions will be cut, most in Toronto.

January 2009

A document posted on privately held CTVglobemedia's website reveals it had to decrease the balance sheet value of its television properties in the fourth quarter of 2008 by $1.7B.

February 2009

Data released by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) show profits at Canada's private broadcasters hit $8 million in 2008, a 13-year low.

March 2009

The CBC announces 800 job cuts.

April 2009

Quebecor Media Inc. CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau, whose company controls the TVA network in Quebec and cable operator Videotron, tells a parliamentary committee Canada could face bankruptcies in its TV industry.

June 2009

Unions at Canwest newspapers say they are being asked for wage cuts of up to five per cent, which would save the company $20 million a year.

July 2009

The CRTC announces a fund for local TV stations will be increased to more than $100M in 2009-10.

CTVglobemedia announces that because of that fund, it will keep its A Channel station in Windsor, Ont. open until 2010.

October 2009

Canwest announces that some of its business units, including the National Post newspaper and Global Television, have obtained court protection from their creditors.