Canada’s telecoms regulator has conditionally approved the sale of broadcaster Astral Media to telecoms and DTH giant Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) more than 15 months after the transaction was agreed.
The companies now anticipate closing the all-cash…
Canada’s telecoms regulator has conditionally approved the sale of broadcaster Astral Media to telecoms and DTH giant Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) more than 15 months after the transaction was agreed.
The companies now anticipate closing the all-cash deal, which was approved by the antitrust regulator in March, on 5 July.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) blocked the C$3.2bn acquisition last October saying it would reduce competition in radio and television. The companies submitted a reworked proposal last November which included a package of remedies to address the CRTC’s concerns.
Jean-Pierre Blais, chairman of the CRTC, welcomed the new proposal but still had concerns.
“To ensure the public interest is served, we are requiring BCE to invest in new Canadian programming and sell more than a dozen services, and we are putting in place a number of competitive safeguards,” he said.
The combined Bell and Astral will be divesting 11 television channels and 10 radio stations. Bell will be closely monitored by the CRTC to ensure it is not behaving in an anti-competitive manner, and is required to invest more than C$175m on making original Canadian television shows as part of a C$247m package of “tangible benefits”.
In a statement rival operator Cogeco Cable said it was disappointed the merger had been allowed but its CEO Louis Audet welcomed the remedies imposed by the CRTC.
Earlier this month Bell sold C$1bn notes which it said would in part be used to fund its Astral acquisition.
Bell has a variety of holdings in broadcast services, including a national broadcasting distributor. It is also the largest ISP, the second largest wireless service provider and the third largest television distributor.
