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.
Astral To Launch Online Service In December
Astral Radio will be launching a online music service in December, which will be followed by a mobile compatible service in January.
The bilingual on demand streaming music and music video service will feature major and independent recordings and will be compatible with the major social media sites.
Additional information on this service can be found on this press release.