The family's reach is becoming just as noticeable across the country, through the rapid growth of CanWest, which has shot up the rankings to become Canada's largest media company. In just the last two years, a spree of acquisitions has transformed what was once the smallest of the three national television networks into a sprawling empire of 16 television stations, 7 specialty channels, 26 daily newspapers and 120 community papers. In the United States, CanWest has a partnership with the Tribune Company's Tribune Entertainment unit to produce and distribute television shows like ''Mutant X'' and ''Andromeda.'' In Australia, CanWest controls Network Ten, one of the country's three privately owned networks, as well as its biggest billboard company. CanWest also has majority stakes in the No. 2 television station in Northern Ireland and in New Zealand's biggest radio network. The company's revenues have more than doubled in two years, and its work force has grown tenfold, to 9,000 workers.