Canadian incumbent BCE, otherwise known as Bell, has postponed the closing date for its C$3.38bn (US$3.41bn) deal to acquire Astral Media to 16 December.
Last week the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) blocked Bell from…
Canadian incumbent BCE, otherwise known as Bell, has postponed the closing date for its C$3.38bn (US$3.41bn) deal to acquire Astral Media to 16 December.
Last week the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) blocked Bell from acquiring the Quebecois media firm saying it was not in the best interests of Canadians.
Bell subsequently called on the government to override the CRTC’s decision by issuing “a policy direction to the CRTC that directs the regulator to follow its existing policies when reviewing change of control transactions in broadcasting”.
Both parties have the option to further postpone that date by thirty days to 15 January 2013, Astral said in a statement.
Bell agreed to purchase Astral Media in March.
BCE currently owns a range of broadcaster services, including a national broadcasting distributor. It is also the largest ISP, the second largest wireless service provider and the third largest television distributor. The CRTC was reluctant to give the company any more size and scale.
