BCE’s takeover of Astral a bad deal for Cdns: watchdog group

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Critics warn you will have less choice, now that a controversial media takeover has been given the green light.

Fewer media and telecom choices, higher prices, and less opportunity for free speech; those are just some of the concerns Open Media has with BCE‘s $3.38-billion takeover of Astral Media, which was approved yesterday by the Competition Bureau.

Open Media‘s Lindsey Pinto says it’s a bad deal for Canadians.

“We still want to encourage diversity of voices in our media system. We still have a very highly-concentrated media and telecommunications industry and Canadians simply want more choice and this is giving them less,” she says.

BCE, which owns CTV, is being forced to sell several of Astral’s specialty and pay-TV channels, including the Family Channel, Teletoon, and the Cartoon Network.

But Pinto doesn’t feel those conditions go far enough. She worries choices are limited when more companies control content and the way that content is delivered.

“When they own more content, when they have essentially more assets that they’re investing in content-wise, they have more incentive to restrict access to content that they don’t control over the pipes that they do control,” explains Pinto.

The Competition Bureau didn’t block BCE’s original proposal to buy Astral, but the application was later denied by the CRTC. The regulator has yet to sign off on this deal.

Public hearings should be announced this week.

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