BCE, Astral set to forge new takeover pact

[andysradio]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o ... le5358942/

[Jack Bennest]

I know this is news in certain quarters but:

what affect will this have on my life?

my almost non existant radio life or my view habits when the TV is switched on?

corporate gamesmanship, unless you own shares, seems irrelevant to my lifestyle. I need some sun I think.

not sure what the big news is today - vietnam-no war, middle east-still war, people in greece, spain and other euro countries still eating
and using the commode

lights go on at night, christmas is coming and Astral and BCE are making money.

[jon]

How you view the BCE-Astral merger, and the general trend of the large corporate broadcasters getting larger, depends on whether you feel that Radio in Canada is:

1. going the direction of Radio in the U.S., or
2. well protected by the CRTC

A lot has happened since 1996 when the following was written, on the eve of the "Telecommunications Act of 1996" which pretty much deregulated ownership and many other restrictions on U.S. broadcasters, but it is still a good place to start, especially if you, like me, tend to forget how far we have come in the last 20 years:
http://www.reelradio.com/editorial/index.html

[Jack Bennest]

The article, Jon, says it best

They always said TV would kill radio.
Every new technology has been the death of radio.
But this is different.
It will most likely be radio that kills radio.

[jon]

For those of us who may have forgotten, here is what Bell and Astral currently own:

FACTBOX-Assets owned by Canada's BCE and Astral
by Thomson Reuters

Nov 16 (Reuters) - Canada's Astral Media Inc is in talks with its suitor BCE Inc to revive a C$3 billion ($3 billion) takeover deal facing regulatory hurdles around concentrated ownership of broadcasting assets.

The following is a summary of what both companies own:

BCE INC

Segments:

* Bell Wireline, Bell Wireless, Bell Media and Bell Aliant.

Services offered: Bell home phone local and long distance; Bell Mobility; Virgin Mobile and Solo Mobile wireless; Bell Internet; Bell Satellite TV and Bell Fibe TV.

Bell Media:

28 conventional television stations, 29 specialty channels and more than 30 radio stations; entertainment websites including Sympatico.ca. Bell Media contributed 7 percent to BCE's 2011 revenue of C$19.50 billion.

Television properties include:

* CTV, lead broadcaster of the London 2012 Olympics

* CTV Two, provides local news and community programming in seven regions across Canada

* The TSN and RDS sports networks

* Radio stations, including TSN Radio in Toronto, Winnipeg and Montreal.

ASTRAL MEDIA

The company runs pay and specialty-TV services in English and French, and operates Canada's biggest radio broadcaster. It also has billboard advertising and digital media operations. The television segment accounted for more than half of Astral's 2011 revenue of C$1.02 billion.

Television: 22 services, including 13 French-language channels.

The English-language portfolio includes:

* The Movie Network - a pay-TV service available in Eastern Canada.

* HBO Canada - a multiplex channel offered by The Movie Network in Eastern Canada and Corus Entertainment's Movie Central in Western Canada.

* Mpix - A 24-hour pay-TV service in Eastern Canada

* Disney Junior - A commercial-free channel available in both English and French.

* TELETOON - Cartoon channel available in English, French.

* Viewers Choice Canada - A pay-per-view service. Astral owns 50.1 percent of Viewers Choice.

French-language services include:

* Super Ecran - Canada's only French-language pay television

* Cinepop -- Canada's first French-language digital television channel

* Canal D - A documentary channel

Radio: Astral Radio operates 84 licensed stations in eight Canadian provinces, including big brands NRJ, Virgin Radio, Rouge fm, EZ Rock and Boom.

Astral Out-of-Home has a network of nearly 9,500 advertising signs and billboards in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.

Astral Digital operates an extensive range of websites that connect with 4.2 million unique visitors every month.

Source: Companies' websites, financial statements

[jon]

I don't recall any complaints by the CRTC about the radio stations Bell would acquire from Astral, so my best guess is that the new Bell proposal to the CRTC will not change the Radio side of the deal. Or did I miss something?

This new deal seems to have fueled a lot of speculation elsewhere about who will go after the Astral leftovers, as if there were suddenly going to be a lot more radio stations available. Pattison, Rawlco, Harvard, and Golden West are the most likely candidates given that the bigger companies are mostly at their limits in Astral markets. Newcap and perhaps Vista probably aren't in a position for any new acquisitions right now. Vista because they just bought Haliburton. And Newcap because they just got hit hard in Lloydminster with the loss of the small market TV subsidy. I don't know enough about Evanov to comment about them.

[andysradio]

If Bell wanted to sweeten the deal to take over Astral, they should offer to convert some of their OTA TV stations to digital. Shaw offered to convert all its Global channels to digital - an offer that found favour with the CRTC.
BCE has made no change in there remaining analog TV network since the manditory change over date of Aug. 31/2011. There are places like Timmins, Sudbury etc still transmitting in analog.
George Cope [Bell CEO] said recently regarding the revised pitch to take over Astral "We're ready to deliver more choice for listeners and viewers,...". Here is a prime chance!

[jon]

CRTC takes second look at Bell-Astral deal after turning it down the first time
By LuAnn LaSalle, The Canadian Press
May 5, 2013

MONTREAL - Bell is heading to the CRTC for a second time in hopes that its plan to sell off the majority of Astral Media's TV channels will be enough to appease the regulator's worries its takeover of the media company would not be good for Canadians.

A new round of public hearings on Bell's revised plan to buy Astral starts Monday after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission killed the plan last fall, citing concerns it would restrict choice and raise prices for consumers.

Janet Lo, legal counsel with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, said the revised deal isn't all that different from Bell's first attempt to win approval to buy Astral.

"For us, it raises the same concerns for competition as the first transaction," said Lo, who will appear before the CRTC at the hearings.

This time, parent company BCE Inc. will keep just eight of Astral's 25 specialty channels, including premium Movie Network, and 77 of its 84 radio stations.

Lo said the deal still raises questions about whether independent broadcasters will be able to provide the diversity of voices that Canadians expect.

"We are continually concerned by media concentration and what that means for independent producers being viable, what that means for Canadians being able to access content they want to pick and pay for, and whether a very concentrated market means less competition for consumers."

Bell (TSX:BCE) and Astral Media Inc. (TSX:ACM.A) have pointed out it will control less of the market under the revised deal.

"Even after the sale of half of Astral's French-language specialty TV services, Bell Media would increase its viewing share in this market to 22.6 per cent — still less than the 31 per cent viewing share enjoyed by Quebecor, but a significant enhancement to market competition nevertheless,'' Bell Media president Kevin Crull said recently.

Telecom consultant Eamon Hoey said the question remains whether the acquisition is in the public's best interests.

"It's going to take some guts for the CRTC to turn it down," said Hoey, managing partner at Hoey Associates Management Consultants Inc. in Toronto.

Media concentration is still a big concern, he said.

"It's only moving the pieces of chess around the board," Hoey added.

Cogeco Cable Inc. has said it's still opposed to the deal, arguing that consumers will have higher costs and less choice.

Bell has said it wants to buy Astral to put content from its television channels and radio stations across traditional TV screens, smartphones, tablets and laptops, and to compete with foreign online TV and movie services like Netflix.

Bell already has approval of its revised deal from the federal Competition Bureau to keep eight of Astral's TV channels including the Movie Network, which includes HBO Canada, and TMN Encore as well as the French-language SuperEcran, CinePop, Canal Vie, Canal D, VRAK TV, and Z Tele.

Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX:CJR.B) has approval from the Competition Bureau to buy the remaining half of Teletoon and other specialty TV interests from Astral.

In addition, Bell said it will also sell the English-language Family including Disney Junior English and Disney XD services, and the French Disney Junior, Musimax and MusiquePlus services.

When the CRTC killed the deal last October, commissioner Jean-Pierre Blais said had the regulator allowed the deal, BCE would have controlled almost 45 per cent of the English TV viewership and almost 35 per cent of the French.

As well, it would have become the largest radio station operator in Canada and would have controlled over half of TV pay and specialty services.