CRTC Denies Bell’s Bid To Purchase Astral
The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission has denied Bell Canada’s $3.4 billion takeover of media giant Astral.
Bell had planned to acquire them in order to provide content through their networks and internet services. But there was some concern in regards to access to this content by the competition.
Though some believe Bell may shelf their plan to offer a Netflix type service because of this decision, I believe they will eventually offer this service to compete with Shaw Go, a service offered by Shaw Communications.
Bell Canada has stated they will contest the decision by requesting “the federal cabinet to direct the CRTC to actually follow its own in-place policy”. But they have since been advised that the Federal Court of Appeal may be their only legal recourse.
Universal EMI Merger Approved In Canada
The Competition Bureau approved the Universal and EMI merger proposal last Friday, with no objections.
The merger proposal has cleared regulators in Japan and New Zealand but is still under review in Europe and the United States, where decisions are expected in September.
Citigroup / EMI Update
EMI has been taken over by Citigroup and now people are wondering if a merger with Warner Music Group is possible because of EMI‘s dept.
According to Billboard, Warner Music Group has a debt of $2.4 Billion whilst EMI‘s debt is $1.9 Billion.
EMI had been $5.5 Billion dollars in debt before Citigroup “recapitalized EMI through a debt-for-equity swap”.