As many of you are aware, Bell’s $3.38 billion bid for Astral media was recently shot down by the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), a decision that surprised many observers. Bell had hoped to get some help from the government, however the Federal Industry Minister, Christian Paradis stated that Ottawa doesn’t “have any intention to intervene.” This may be the final nail in the coffin regarding the controversial deal between BCE Inc. and Astral Media.
After the CRTC’s rejection of the deal on October 18, Bell petitioned the federal cabinet to ask the Canadian regulatory authority to re-evaluate the situation. However, the option was shut down when Paradis stated the following at an industry conference; “At this point, there is an appeal possible according to the law but we don’t have any intention to intervene.” He went on to say, “The CRTC has its own jurisdiction, they tabled their decision and we acknowledge it’s within their jurisdiction so there’s no point in the government to intervene.”
Bell has not given up on the matter as a spokesman for the telecom giant stated that the firm still considers their application active. The reason Bell is stead fast on its stance is because they have yet to officially hear back from the government about their request. This may be true but the minister’s public comments don’t leave much room for any other interpretation and Bell may not be able to merge its Bell Media arm with Astral Media. Currently, Bell owns Canada’s largest telecommunications and media company. The deal would have made it much stronger and larger than any of the competition.
The CRTC had rejected the deal because they believed the newly formed company would hamper competition and would have monopolistic power in the sector because of its size and ownership of media properties. At the time the decision was made, Paradis and the cabinet had indicated that they would not take the matter forward. BCE still filed a petition in hopes to get the decision overturned. The latest remarks from Paradis may be restating the government’s stance and should let BCE know that its request is not going to garner any positive results.
George Cope, Bell’s CEO, was extremely angry with the CRTC’s decision to axe the multi-billion dollar deal. According to the Financial Post, the company head claimed that the “commission swayed from its own rulebook on assessing metrics such as total TV audience share in order to kill the bid.” Cope made his thoughts clear in an interview when he stated that, “People re-jigged the numbers. We had the rules changed in front of us.”
Source: Financial Post
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