The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has approved an application by Astral Media to sell its pay and speciality television channels, conventional television stations and radio stations to BCE. The CRTC's approval comes with a number of conditions that are necessary to uphold the public interest. The application filed in agreement with the Competition Bureau included a proposal to sell ten radio stations and eleven television services as well as certain restrictions, such as a prohibition on imposing restrictive bundling requirements on providers. Following the divestures, BCE's share of the French-language television market will be 22.6 percent. In the English-language market, its share will be 35.8 percent.
The Commission said the conditions on the transaction address potential anti-competitive behaviour and aim to ensure Canadian listeners and viewers will continue to have access to a diversity of voices in the market. Among other things, BCE must adhere, as a condition of license, to certain sections of the CRTC's code of conduct for commercial arrangements that limit potential anti-competitive behaviour and ensure fair treatment for independent programming services and distributors; not unduly withhold non-linear rights from competing distributors, even if BCE is not exploiting rights itself; provide reasonable access to advertising opportunities on its radio stations to all competitors; file with the CRTC affiliation agreements with programming services and television distributors and enter into a CRTC-supervised dispute resolution process if an affiliation agreement is not reached 120 days before the expiry date of the existing agreement.
BCE will be required to invest CAD 246.9 million in tangible benefits over the next seven years, which is CAD 72 million more than it had proposed. In particular, BCE must spend CAD 175.4 million on initiatives related to the television sector, which is equivalent to 10 percent of the value of Astral's television services. BCE will also support youth programming and initiatives designed to promote Canadian content on multiple platforms. A portion of the programming expenditures will be reserved for official-language minority communities in each language. Additionally, BCE will be required to support the development, production and promotion of Canadian feature films, notably through additional contributions to the Harold Greenberg Fund and Telefilm Canada, financial support of Canadian film festivals and initiatives to promote Canadian feature films.
BCE must also spend CAD 71.5 million on initiatives related to the radio sector, which is equivalent to 7 percent of the value of Astral's radio stations. The company will provide funding to not-for-profit organisations that contribute to the growth and development of the Canadian music industry, help launch the careers of emerging artists and support campus and community radio stations.
The CRTC is also ensuring that Canadians in 29 markets across the country continue to have access to local programming on television, including local news and information. BCE must keep open all of its existing local television stations, as well as the two stations it has acquired from Astral, at least until 2017. BCE must also maintain the stations' current levels of local programming during this period.
Finally, the CRTC is allowing BCE to operate four English-language radio stations in the Montreal market, including CKGM. BCE will have to maintain its current sports format for at least seven years. The CRTC also approved two corporate reorganisations, one within Astral and the other within BCE, which are necessary to finalise the transaction.
