dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
6764

moemoe888
@your-server.de

moemoe888 to Sandroid

Anon

to Sandroid

Re: Bell to acquire Astral media

Is it really true that the TV and internet leadership in Quebec is held by Videotron (Quebecor)?

If that's the case, good on Bell for buying Astral.
jfmezei
Premium Member
join:2007-01-03
Pointe-Claire, QC

jfmezei

Premium Member

Interesting that the future is in telecom, yet telecom companies are so busy trying to get out of telecom and invest in legacy media.

Like CP Rail investing in everything except railways for decades and eventually realise it is no longer competitive because the lwayers are so affraid of the cost of derailments that they are the ones imposing slow train orders that make CP Ral look terrible and uncompetitive.

Now that CP blew up/split apart, what is left of CP Rail is more focused on railways, they are also focused on alberta/BC and don't care about the rest of the country. They just don't have the cash to prop up their tracks that have been allowed to deteriorate since the early 1980s when CP Lte decided to focus on everything but the railway.

That should be a warning to Bell about investing in everything but telecom. Dressing up DSL as "VDSL2" is just some temporary solution which is already not competitive with cable. Stop wasting money on media, invest in FTTH.
freejazz_RdJ
join:2009-03-10

freejazz_RdJ

Member

said by jfmezei:

That should be a warning to Bell about investing in everything but telecom. Dressing up DSL as "VDSL2" is just some temporary solution which is already not competitive with cable. Stop wasting money on media, invest in FTTH.

I am also a bit concerned. BCE has twice danced with non-telecom with poor results: the property bubble/bust in the 80's and Bell Globemedia later in the .com era. But if they believe the key to attracting people to their product lineup involves having the best content, let them do so. If they lose money on it, shareholders eat the loss. It isn't as if they're likely to get a public bailout.

If FTTH-everyone project was going to earn them a better return than more incremental FTTN/FTTH + buying CTV or Astral, they would have spent the money there. FTTH requires that you sink a huge amount of cash with a very slow payoff period for products who are under intense pressure from alternatives: POTS with Wireless/OTT Voip, Internet with the indie players and TV with OTA+Netflix.

moemoe888
@your-server.de

moemoe888 to jfmezei

Anon

to jfmezei
Amen!

"In our view, Bell Canada's biggest problem is that it has only upgraded 31 per cent of its homes passed to FTTN or FTTH at the end of 2011 versus 65 percent for Telus. Consequently, while Telus is enjoying significant success against Shaw, the same cannot be said for Bell against its cable competitors. In our view, the Astral acquisition diverts managements' focus and the company's capital away from connectivity."-Dvai Ghose, analyst

BACONATOR26
Premium Member
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON

BACONATOR26

Premium Member

Good quote. And I would think it only makes sense to have connectivity before you have content else, what's the point in having content?
59677028 (banned)
join:2012-01-19
Pontypool, ON

59677028 (banned) to Guspaz

Member

to Guspaz
said by Guspaz:

I don't really care about the radio stations, but Astral owns or co-owns a ton of TV stations too, such as HBO Canada, Teletoon, MusiquePlus (MuchMusic and MusiquePlus, once again under the same house), all the Disney channels, The Movie Network, the family channel, etc. All told, I think they own or half own almost 30 TV channels.

when will we acquire anti trust laws in canada and end these socialist monoploies
59677028

59677028 (banned) to grunze510

Member

to grunze510
said by grunze510:

So let's see. Bell is a phone company, an internet company, has 2 wireless phone companies (Bell Mobility / Solo Mobile, and Virgin Mobile Canada which they fully bought out 3 years ago), 2 TV distribution mediums (Bell Satellite TV and Bell Fibe TV (IPTV)), they own a pretty huge media company (Bell Media), 2 electronics store chains (The Bell Store, and The Source which they bought about a year or 2 ago), and they own Bell Aliant in the Maritimes.

I guess that wasn't enough for them. With the buyout of Astral Media, would they be the largest media company in Canada? I'm assuming they they have quite a bit of control over Netflix content with this buyout.

wait till they buy into your food....now that the wheat board is done for.

why not
@videotron.ca

why not

Anon

said by 59677028:

wait till they buy into your food....now that the wheat board is done for.

Bread: 6.99/loaf
Bell customers get a 2$ off bread coupon* on their Bill.

* Coupon valid for 27 minutes after midnight upon the date of arrival of your bill. Valid for new customers only. Must be bundled with Bell Astral Radio Services (ARS for short).

J E F F4
Whatta Ya Think About Dat?
Premium Member
join:2004-04-01
Kitchener, ON

J E F F4 to elwoodblues

Premium Member

to elwoodblues
said by elwoodblues:

said by milnoc:

I've given up on radio a long time ago. Just got fed up with the endless stream of audible diarrhea.

Satellite Radio, its the only way to go.

Not sure about that. Sirius-XM have removed a lot of the channels I used to listen too, notably BBC Radio 1. Sound quality has also gone down over the years....although I suppose if you like hearing the latest gossip on Lilo and hearing the same 7 songs 100 times a day, you can't go wrong.