BELL/ASTRAL: Independents with different goals; CCSA, Blue Ant take their shots

MONTREAL – One wants the Bell deal to purchase Astral stopped, the other doesn’t – but in the end, independent cable group CCSA and Independent Broadcaster Blue Ant both say Bell is big enough to need to be held back. Up first on Friday morning, the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance demonstrated directly how, in its view, the existing market power of Bell Canada (without Astral) negatively impacts the price and availability of choice available to its member companies’ customers. The CCSA represents independent distributors who collectively serve about 750,000 Canadians and is worried the addition of Astral Media to Bell...