Are monopolization concerns “yesterday’s world?”
If BCE‘s $3.38 billion acquisition of Astral Media is approved by the CRTC and the Competition Bureau, the merger of the two Montreal-based media giants would further consolidate Canada’s media landscape. The addition of Astral Media’s pay and specialty TV holdings, as well as its 83 radio stations across Canada and its outdoor advertising business, would significantly boost BCE’s asset base across the country. It would also make the merged media juggernaut a stronger rival to Quebecor in Quebec.
In the meantime, the news has pundits and consumers talking. Here’s the chatter on the Bell/Astral deal.
Tim Kiladze @ The Globe and Mail
So what does BCE see in Astral? In one word: Quebec. Mr. Cope noted that while the CTV deal offered up some national stations, the real focus of that deal was sports. This time around, national channels such as HBO and The Movie Network are included again, but beefing up Bell’s Quebec television presence is the main driver. Combined, Bell and Astral will have a 32 per cent market share in French language television, only slightly behind Quebecor, which has a 35 per cent share. Because TV is the focus, can we assume that Astral’s outdoor media unit is chopped liver? Not at all, said Mr. Cope. In fact, telcos are one of the biggest users of outdoor media, so the deal creates some nice vertical integration in this space.
Broadcaster magazine
The transaction provides multiple other benefits for the Bell team and its strategy, including enhanced control of rising content costs, particularly French-language media, and strong opportunities for cross-platform innovation and advertising packages spanning digital, TV, radio and out-of-home advertising. Astral products currently represent Bell’s largest single content cost.
Jacqueline Nelson @ Canadian Business
Advantages for Bell abound, but it didn’t take long for the word “monopoly” to spring up in blog posts and tweets, and many questioned whether the deal would get Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) clearance due to regulations dictating how many radio stations a company can own in any one areas. The CRTC must approve the transaction before the deal can be completed and Bell could theoretically be forced to sell off assets if the regulator decides the deal could harm competition. (Bell has agreed to pay $150-million to Astral if the CRTC does not approve the sale.) But Cope tried several times to dismiss those concerns in a press conference that followed the announcement. Monopolization is a “yesterday’s world” phenomenon, he said. “We compete everyday in the marketplace.”
Comment from “anon550167050” @ Montreal Gazette
This is terrible, horrible news! Lets hope the competition bureau strikes down this merger as this only further monopolizes the industry leading to higher prices for consumers and even larger profit margins for Bell.
Steve Faguy @ Fagstein.com
I’m a bit surprised that Bell thinks it can get away with this. People are already worried about concentration of media ownership in Canada, and now one of our few big players is buying another. It’s not as significant as if, say, Bell decided to buy Shaw or Rogers, but it’s still very worrisome, especially in English radio and English specialty television. Even if the CRTC forces some assets to be sold off, they’d probably be sold to other major players. In short, it’s a horrible day for diversity in voices in media.
Dan Verhaeghe @ Techvibes.com
With Bell acquiring HBO’s rights, CTVGlobemedia having most of the highest viewed shows in the country, and The Movie Network being the premiere destination for Canadians to watch movies they certainly have a monopoly on premium content that they will not only showcase- but now also forcibly sell to other content providers. Still, the content world continues to become increasingly fragmented as there are more content curators than ever before in the YouTube era. It’s possible that the acquisition of Astral Media could prove to be short sighted if revenue models continue to change in the media industry as content shifts online and towards mobile devices.
Daniel Bader @ Mobile Syrup
The Astral deal cements Bell’s commitment to bringing content to multiple platforms and screens, including its Mobile TV app… The CRTC will have to approve the deal before it closes, and Bell may have to sell off some of its assets, but this further cements the big players in Canada (Rogers, Bell, Quebecor) as vertical integrators, and it’s going to be very interesting to see how mobile plays into all this.
Comment from “Info” @ Financial Post
The existance of the CRTC it’s self is the issue. Foriegn ownership and canadian content rules are what creates these oligopies and drive up prices. These smaller media companies only exist to satisfy Canadian content regulations. You buy your TV package and really only want a handfull of channels (mostly US based) and what you are forced to buy is a bunch of low end ‘Canadian’ content to meet some arbitrary ratio. (sic)
