GATINEAU – Bell Canada and Astral Media say the list of new regulatory safeguards it has agreed to should allay any fears the CRTC has of a combined company – and that the deal should be approved.
In its final written submission to the CRTC filed late Tuesday, the companies say they have agreed to “an unprecedented package of regulatory safeguards relating to terms of trade with all independent producers, the negotiation of affiliation agreements (including tied selling, packaging flexibility, and other terms), the no head start rule, the availability of non-linear content, the timing of the Commission’s dispute resolution…
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GATINEAU – In their final written submissions to the CRTC on the proposed purchase of Astral Media by Bell Canada, various interveners say there are no words, no new rules the Commission can write which will sufficiently protect the Canadian TV system from the market power of a combined Bell/Astral.
That, tied to the fact Bell has told the Commission in no uncertain terms it will not proceed with the merger should it be required to divest any other assets, means the whole deal should be denied, just like the first one was rejected last fall. ( Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Spend long enough in a hearing room and you’ll zone out for a bit. Yes, we admit, it’s happened to us. “I wonder if we’ll be done in time for the hockey game… I really have to cut the grass when I get home…”
Then, one or more of the parties says something that makes you say: Did he/she just say that? Sometimes those moments make it into a story. Other times, not. Here are a few of those other times: ************************* DURING ITS INTERVENTION on Tuesday, Rogers SVP of video content David Purdy told commissioners he sees…
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Story and photo by Steve Faguy
MONTREAL – After Telus, Rogers, EastLink, Cogeco and Quebecor, the last word on Bell’s failed relationship with competing BDUs went to the little guys. And they had some eye-opening facts and figures to back up their claims that Bell isn’t playing fair.
“We are not here to engage in regulatory arbitrage,” said Jim Deane, chair of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, which represents about 115 small cable companies across Canada. “CCSA members are fighting for their lives.”
Speaking as one of the final interveners in the hearing over Bell Canada?s proposed purchase of Astral Media, the…
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Story and photo by Steve Faguy
MONTREAL – Maintaining the CRTC has no alternative but to "categorically refuse" Bell's purchase of Astral Media, Quebecor refused to provide the Commission with a list of assets that the combined company should be forced to divest if the transaction is approved.
"If approved, such a project would inevitably create prejudicial repercussions for consumers, the public interest, broadcasting policy, the Canadian broadcasting system and the Canadian companies that work in it," Quebecor CEO Robert Dépatie told the commissioners on Wednesday morning during its appearance as an intervener. Joined by TVA group president Pierre Dion and…
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MONTREAL – Interveners told the CRTC Tuesday that just because Bell Canada has decided it will spin off a few TV assets with this latest attempt to purchase Astral Media, that doesn’t make the deal any better for Canadians, or for them.
“This second application raises the very same concerns in the English-language television market,” Rogers SVP regulatory Ken Engelhart told commissioners on Tuesday morning. “The acquisition of Astral’s premium pay television services will threaten diversity and endanger the ability of distributors to deliver programming to Canadians at affordable rates and on reasonable terms on multiple platforms.
So for Rogers, the…
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TORONTO – A final reminder from CTAM Canada that registration is closing Friday May 10 for its 2013 Strategic Marketing Course taking place May 29-30.
The two-day executive strategic marketing program is an opportunity to join executives from a number of companies, including Astral, Bell Media, Blue Ant Media, Cogeco, Corus, Rogers, Shaw, Shaw Media, Stingray Digital, TVO and more. Space for the two-day event is limited to 50 participants and are being offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
Led by Harvard Business School Professors Bharat Anand and Rajiv Lal, this year’s program…
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MONTREAL – Bell Canada and Astral Media executives attempted a bit more of a conciliatory approach in presenting its new, sharper, different, application to the CRTC which seeks permission to bring the two companies together under changed conditions compared to last time; but the questions from the panel of commissioners were equally as tough as the first go-around in September 2012.
(The details of the deal – already approved by the Competition Bureau, can be found here – and the company’s opening presentation unveiled nothing new, as demanded by the CRTC. So, the real story was…
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MONTREAL – As part of its application to buy Astral Media, BCE is asking for an exception to the CRTC's common ownership policy that would allow it to own an extra English-language radio station in Montreal. This would allow it to keep sports talk station CKGM (TSN Radio 690) while buying three Astral stations. Without it, Bell says it will be forced to sell the station or turn in its licence.
But during questioning on Monday at a hearing in Montreal, commissioner Suzanne Lamarre floated the idea of another option: forcing Bell to keep CKGM in its current format and…
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GATINEAU – Applicants in the CRTC’s 9(1)(h) process this week have been on the hot seat during the first two days of the hearing trying to demonstrate that their respective services meet the “exceptional” test required to be a mandatory TV service.
“Given its exceptional nature, the CRTC has set the bar very high for obtaining a mandatory distribution order on digital basic pursuant to section 9(1)(h). The CRTC’s policy requires that a service seeking such an order must clearly demonstrate its exceptional nature and that it achieves important public policy objectives under the Act,” Commission chair Jean-Pierre Blais said…
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