OTTAWA – Canada’s largest media union, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union is against the Astral Media purchase of Standard Radio, too.
"Another billion-dollar deal further concentrating ownership in Canada’s media and the response from government is catatonic," shouts its release.
CEP has issued press releases opposing any and all media mergers announced in Canada, including CanWest/Goldman Sachs-Alliance Atlantis and CTV-CHUM.
"This radio mega-merger is yet another threshold in a dangerous concentration of Canada’s media," said Peter Murdoch, CEP’s vice-president, media.
"These are public airwaves, broadcasters earn enormous profits, but average Canadians are losing out," he added. "Both government and the CRTC have become muted by corporate media power."
(Ed note: Left unsaid – as always in this type of release – is to whom, exactly, were the Slaights to sell to then? They decided this was their time to leave the business. Were they to sell to a jeweler? A bottled water company?)
"Radio broadcasters earn profits unheard of in other sectors of the economy, yet employees earn pitiful wages, original news and information programming is on the decrease, and we are headed toward an American-styled radio system, which is controlled by one or two broadcasting empires," the release continues.
"The CRTC must act and act now. It should hold public hearings on the impact of these mega mergers before they happen. It is laughable that even before the CTV/CHUM deal has been approved, pieces are being sold off. Public policy regulation is a charade.
"The federal government needs to grant specified funding to the CRTC to conduct a thorough, extensive and public inquiry into the concentration of media ownership in Canada," concluded Murdoch.
