TORONTO – The Commissioner of Competition has put the kibosh on Corus Entertainment’s plan to sell French-language specialty channels Historia and Séries+ to Bell Media.
Corus announced the decision in a statement early Monday, adding that both it and Bell Media are reviewing the decision “and considering the appropriate course of action." Corus also pledged to provide further updates “in due course”.
The $200 million proposed sale, first announced last October, requires both Competition Bureau and CRTC approval, plus “other customary closing conditions," added Corus. The application is currently before the CRTC.
As readers will recall, Historia and Séries+ (plus the remaining 50% of Teletoon Canada Inc.) were originally divested by Bell to Corus in January 2014 as part of a broader remedy package to address competition concerns raised during Bell’s acquisition of Astral Media Inc.
As part of the consent agreement, Bell cannot re-acquire a divested programming service without written approval of the Commissioner for a period of 10 years. The Commissioner of Competition informed both Bell and Corus on Friday that he would not approve this proposed transaction.
“The Bureau’s review determined that it would not be appropriate for the Commissioner to approve the transaction since the competitive circumstances that led to the consent agreement have not materially changed to the point where the remedy is no longer required," a Competition Bureau spokesperson told Cartt.ca on Monday.
Corus says that it remains “an active contributor to the Quebec broadcast and production community," noting its ownership of Global Montreal, Télétoon and La chaîne Disney, plus animation software company Toon Boom.
Bell Media currently operates 10 French-language TV channels in Quebec, including Canal D, Canal Vie, Cinépop, Investigation, RDS, RDS Info, RDS2, Super Écran, Vrak, and Z.
