Home » CTV Television Network » Recent Articles:

Consolidation: Financial Sector Wants Bell Canada To Buyout Maritime’s Bell Aliant

Phillip Dampier January 22, 2014 Bell (Canada), Bell Aliant, Broadband Speed, Canada, Competition, Data Caps, Public Policy & Gov't, Rural Broadband, Video Comments Off on Consolidation: Financial Sector Wants Bell Canada To Buyout Maritime’s Bell Aliant

bellCanadian investment analysts are recommending that Canada’s telecom giant Bell (BCE) should explore buying out Bell Aliant, Inc. the largest telephone company in the Maritimes, to further consolidate Canada’s telecommunications marketplace.

Bell already effectively controls the phone company serving provinces east of Quebec through its 44 percent stake in the venture. Picking up the rest through a takeover would make financial sense, said Maher Taghi, a telecom analyst at Canada’s Desjardins Securities.

The Globe and Mail reports Yaghi explained in a note to investors a buyout would boost overall free cash flow for Bell (BCE), primarily from the increased revenue paid by customers for phone, television, and Internet service.

Bell_AliantBell Aliant has been one of Canada’s most conservative telecom companies serving the country’s smallest provinces in Atlantic Canada, as well as parts of rural Ontario under the NorthernTel brand and Télébec, which serves rural Quebec.

Unlike Bell (BCE), Bell Aliant has aggressively deployed fiber to the home service in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia to stem landline losses. Bell Aliant’s FiberOP customers avoid stingy usage caps that are pervasive across the rest of Canada. Its fiber network delivers strong competition to cable operators.

Bell (BCE) is already a major player in Canadian telecommunications, both with its landline operation and Fibe — mostly a fiber-to-the-neighborhood service — wireless phone and broadband, owner of more than two dozen specialty cable networks, a satellite TV service, owner of the CTV television network, new owner of Astral Media, and a few dozen radio stations across Canada. With this level of media concentration, Bell (BCE) would have a tough time trying to buy any additional media assets, but with its current de facto control, Bell would likely have little regulatory scrutiny merging Bell Aliant into its existing operations.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Bell Aliant FiberOP Intro Video 1-2014.flv[/flv]

Bell Aliant’s FiberOP introductory video explains the network and its features for Atlantic Canada. (2:20)

Bell’s Idea of Cost Savings: Fire 100 “Redundant Workers” at Acquired Astral Media

Phillip Dampier August 22, 2013 Bell (Canada), Canada, Competition, Consumer News, Public Policy & Gov't Comments Off on Bell’s Idea of Cost Savings: Fire 100 “Redundant Workers” at Acquired Astral Media
Astral Media... digested by Bell.

Astral Media… digested

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s approval of Bell-BCE’s $3.4 billion acquisition of specialty broadcaster Astral Media has resulted in the loss of at least 100 jobs in Toronto, with more to come in Montreal, all deemed “redundant” by the Canadian telecom giant.

A union representing many of the workers indicated Bell had posted notice of the workforce reduction in Astral’s offices and notified the Minister of Labour “approximately 100 people will be laid off in Toronto” as the merged companies restructure.

The layoffs are expected to include Bell Media workers at locations in downtown Toronto and the Agincourt neighborhood of Scarborough and at newly acquired Astral stations and networks.

Local 723M president Kelly Dobbs told the Toronto Star that the cuts at 299 Queen St., where she represents Bell Media workers at MuchMusic, CP24 and BNN and other television employees, haven’t hit union employees yet. So far, she said, the cuts are in management.

“So far we haven’t been hit. It doesn’t mean we won’t be,” Dobbs said Thursday, adding the notice went up about two weeks ago. “At this moment, we haven’t.”

Bell committed to spend $246.9 million on what the CRTC calls “tangible benefits” over the next seven years to create more Canadian content for its networks and stations after the CRTC initially objected to the merger last fall.

Those tangible benefits do not include Canadian employees.

Last fall, the CRTC claimed the merger would have brought no benefits to Canadian radio and television audiences and would result in the creation of an over-dominant entity, particularly in Montreal, controlling an excessive amount of Canadian media, undermining competition and diversity.

By this spring, the CRTC changed its mind.

Bell’s acquisition includes 84 Astral radio stations — 52 of which were acquired in a $1.08-billion purchase of Standard Radio in 2007. Bell now owns 107 radio stations in 55 markets across Canada as well as the CTV television network and more than three dozen major cable networks.

bell television

Bell’s television outlets include the CTV television network and many of Canada’s largest cable networks.

bell radio

Bell’s radio stations often use the same logos, formats and identities in different Canadian cities.

Search This Site:

Contributions:

Recent Comments:

Your Account:

Links:

Stop the Cap!