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Gone
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Fort Erie, ON

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Re: Great news! - CRTC blocks Astral buy by Bell

said by rogersmogers :

It will be overturned.
CRTC is wrong on this one just like on the WIND issue.

The only way they will get this overturned is through the federal court, and doing so will be exceedingly difficult because Bell will need to prove that the CRTC made an outright error in law.

Cabinet has no power to reverse this, and as has already been pointed out they will not send it back to the CRTC for review.

elwoodblues
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elwoodblues

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said by Gone:

said by rogersmogers :

It will be overturned.
CRTC is wrong on this one just like on the WIND issue.

The only way they will get this overturned is through the federal court, and doing so will be exceedingly difficult because Bell will need to prove that the CRTC made an outright error in law.

Cabinet has no power to reverse this, and as has already been pointed out they will not send it back to the CRTC for review.

What law? This is a regulatory issue, not a legal one.
I see this heading to the SCC, BHELL will not give up on this, they are like a rabid dog,who has had his bone taken away from him.

Gone
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Gone

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said by elwoodblues:

What law? This is a regulatory issue, not a legal one.
I see this heading to the SCC, BHELL will not give up on this, they are like a rabid dog,who has had his bone taken away from him.

Bell will try and claim that the Broadcast Act only allows for the CRTC to regulate ownership and content requirements, not issues of public interest. Bell will argue that by taking into account public interest the CRTC made an error in law and that the ruling should be overturned by the court.

They won't win, but it won't stop them from trying.

sbrook
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sbrook to elwoodblues

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to elwoodblues
To elwoodblues - Pardon? You just said it's a regulatory issue, not a legal one. In which case, why would it go to the Supreme court. If it's a regulatory overstep on the part of the CRTC, then that's up to the Minister to intervene. And whoever suggested that the minister(s) wouldn't intervene because it would shake a hornets' nest was dead on!

To Gone - Cabinet DOES have the power to intervene, but they won't.

General - The CRTC has guidelines established in conjunction with the two ministries responsible (Industry and Heritage) with regard to acceptable levels of media concentration at any given level. This is why they got away with buying CTV et al ... even though that was also bad for Canadians. In the case of CTV what was so wrong was the vertical concentration of BDU and media provider, but that wasn't part of their guidelines.

Gone
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Fort Erie, ON

Gone

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said by sbrook:

To Gone - Cabinet DOES have the power to intervene, but they won't.

Cabinet only has the power to send it back to the CRTC. They don't have the power to outright overrule like they did with Wind because it doesn't involve a license granted by Industry Canada.

But, they won't, for reasons obvious that have been stated here already.

El Quintron
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said by Gone:

They won't win, but it won't stop them from trying.

Of course, as a corporate entity they're obliged to push it as far as it can go... in fact Astral's shares dropped by about 17% today due to the refusal... so even if Bell were to drop it, Astral's shareholders would most likely demand that the matter be pushed all the way to the SCC

elwoodblues
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Sbrook,I'm speculating here, to me it's a regulatory issue, I say they are heading to the SCC, because the Federal courts may/will dismiss it, and up the chain it goes.

sbrook
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It could be said that Astral's board were acting in a fiscally irresponsible manner in accepting Bell's offer since the chances of failure were so high. In some ways it just turns out to be another pump and dump stock scam.
sbrook

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If it's a regulatory issue, then it has no business going to any court unless there was an error in law.

elwoodblues
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said by sbrook:

It could be said that Astral's board were acting in a fiscally irresponsible manner in accepting Bell's offer since the chances of failure were so high. In some ways it just turns out to be another pump and dump stock scam.

And the Audet family were trying to unduly enrich themselves with a premium demanded for their shares.

Gone
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said by El Quintron:

Of course, as a corporate entity they're obliged to push it as far as it can go... in fact Astral's shares dropped by about 17% today due to the refusal... so even if Bell were to drop it, Astral's shareholders would most likely demand that the matter be pushed all the way to the SCC

If Bell drops it they owe Astral a bucket of cash, but that bucket of cash would probably end up being cheaper than taking a legal challenge like this all the way to the supreme court.
Gone

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said by sbrook:

If it's a regulatory issue, then it has no business going to any court unless there was an error in law.

Bell will try to and claim it was an error in law, you can bet on that.

dillyhammer
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said by elwoodblues:

And the Audet family were trying to unduly enrich themselves with a premium demanded for their shares.



Mentioning the Audet family in the same thread that Astral Media is mentioned in makes my skin crawl. Just sayin....

Mike
dillyhammer

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said by El Quintron:

Of course, as a corporate entity they're obliged to push it as far as it can go... in fact Astral's shares dropped by about 17% today due to the refusal... so even if Bell were to drop it, Astral's shareholders would most likely demand that the matter be pushed all the way to the SCC

If Astral's shareholders had half a brain collectively they'd nix the Bell deal and start looking for another suitor pronto.

Having their share value held hostage by a Bell/CRTC/SCC imbroglio - which could potential take a year or more - could be deadly.

They best be putting on a pretty dress and start flashing their little hiny around town.

Mike

El Quintron
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said by dillyhammer:

Mentioning the Audet family in the same thread that Astral Media is mentioned in makes my skin crawl. Just sayin....

Mike

I didn't know what you were talking about until I looked it up... and now I have the crawlies too.

Thanks Mike.
El Quintron

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said by dillyhammer:

Having their share value held hostage by a Bell/CRTC/SCC imbroglio - which could potential take a year or more - could be deadly.

They best be putting on a pretty dress and start flashing their little hiny around town.

Mike

I'd like to propose that what you just said up there is part of the reason the CRTC ruled the way they did, by doing this, they effectively killed Bell's bid for Astral.

dillyhammer
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said by El Quintron:

I didn't know what you were talking about until I looked it up... and now I have the crawlies too.

Thanks Mike.



I think we'll probably see Audet take a[nother] pretty good run at Astral sooner rather than later. Like, any minute now.

»www.theglobeandmail.com/ ··· 4622241/

I mean, the nails are already in the coffin for Bell on this. If Audet were even seen as mildly interested, and he surely is, that would just drive those nails home even further.

That would go a long way in shoring up Astral's stock I think.

I'm just wondering what Cogeco would have to cook up to raise that kind of cash. Some unholy partnership with someone, I'm sure.

Mike

elwoodblues
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elwoodblues

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I read something else today, that they could all collectively create a company to hold and share the channels from Astral.

Of course I see that working like water and oil. I'm waiting for the Bell/Robbers fight over MLSE to start,you know it's going to happen.

El Quintron
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said by dillyhammer:

I think we'll probably see Audet take a[nother] pretty good run at Astral sooner rather than later. Like, any minute now.

»www.theglobeandmail.com/ ··· 4622241/

I mean, the nails are already in the coffin for Bell on this. If Audet were even seen as mildly interested, and he surely is, that would just drive those nails home even further.

I'd be betting he'll pick it up for about 85% or what Bell was going to get it for... I don't know how they get away with this crap...

dillyhammer
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said by El Quintron:

I'd be betting he'll pick it up for about 85% or what Bell was going to get it for... I don't know how they get away with this crap...

Yeah, for sure something tangibly lower. But only because I think Bell was willing to pay an inflated price. Astral may have been able to play hardball with Bell on some stuff, but that's a game Audet is familiar with. That, and I think Astral is a bit spooked and would probably just want to get something done.

Yeah, 85% sounds about right give or take.

Interesting times ahead.

You know what else I'm wondering about?

Which heads are going to roll at Bell over this. Has to happen. No way a deal of this size can get killed and no-one takes a fall. Somebody has to take the fall. Willingly or otherwise.

Mike

El Quintron
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El Quintron

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said by dillyhammer:

You know what else I'm wondering about?

Which heads are going to roll at Bell over this. Has to happen. No way a deal of this size can get killed and no-one takes a fall. Somebody has to take the fall. Willingly or otherwise.

Mike

The tone of their press releases is pretty shrill, so my impression is that they thought this was in the bag.

I'm wondering what possessed them to treat this like a done deal when many have been refused for less.

Gone
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Gone

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said by El Quintron:

I'm wondering what possessed them to treat this like a done deal when many have been refused for less.

Under Konrad they more or less got everything they asked for without even so much as a second thought. The winds of change started when Clement put the kybosh on it. Since then things have tightened up, and this is especially evident now that a new sheriff is running the show.

As I said, there were some very recent rulings related to simsubs and local content requirements that one would have thought would be a formality and approved under Konrad, yet were outright denied with scathing reasons by the CRTC. To call it an about-face switch would be an understatement. After seeing those, the writing was sort of on the wall for this deal to be denied. Bell are merely so delusional and so full of themselves that they were the only ones who didn't see it.

I'm hoping that the CRTC really starts forcing local news and content requirements on the networks, which in turn will mean that the CKVR transmitter Bell has applied for in Fonthill - to which they openly and completely admit is for no purposes other than simsubs - is either denied, or approved on the condition that it is a full transmitter that provides local coverage to the half a million people who live in the Niagara Region. CTV Two Niagara - I like the sound of that.

El Quintron
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El Quintron

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said by Gone:

Under Konrad they more or less got everything they asked for without even so much as a second thought. The winds of change started when Clement put the kybosh on it. Since then things have tightened up, and this is especially evident now that a new sheriff is running the show.

I'm going to assume the policy direction is being changed, and the new CRTC chair is probably making sure decisions are in line with it.

Good news over all I'm pretty happy with this "new" CRTC so far.

EQ
HeadSpinning
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said by El Quintron:


I'd be betting he'll pick it up for about 85% or what Bell was going to get it for... I don't know how they get away with this crap...

I wonder if Cogeco would have done the Atlantic Broadband deal knowing that Astral might come back in to play.

Gone
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Gone

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said by HeadSpinning:

I wonder if Cogeco would have done the Atlantic Broadband deal knowing that Astral might come back in to play.

They'll probably make a move on it anyway. That, and they're from Quebec, so the whole whining over Quebec losing its voice won't apply and they'll be in a good position to take it whole.

silvercat
join:2007-11-07

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said by Gone:

I'm hoping that the CRTC really starts forcing local news and content requirements on the networks, which in turn will mean that the CKVR transmitter Bell has applied for in Fonthill - to which they openly and completely admit is for no purposes other than simsubs - is either denied, or approved on the condition that it is a full transmitter that provides local coverage to the half a million people who live in the Niagara Region. CTV Two Niagara - I like the sound of that.

CTV Two (CKVP) is already broadcasting out of Fonthill. Not sure if they are broadcasting local content. Probably not ? I agree that they should. Would be cool to have local Niagara news.
MaynardKrebs
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MaynardKrebs

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said by silvercat:

Would be cool to have local Niagara news.

What, like:

Tonight's top story - Vern's truck didn't start again. Film at 11.

silvercat
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silvercat

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Gone
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said by silvercat:

CTV Two (CKVP) is already broadcasting out of Fonthill. Not sure if they are broadcasting local content. Probably not ? I agree that they should. Would be cool to have local Niagara news.

It has dedicated call letters, that's rather interesting. I didn't even know it was approved, though. I know they ran into all sorts of problems in Hamilton. I'm going to have to run a rescan on my TV to see if anything comes up, but I doubt it will.
Gone

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said by MaynardKrebs:

Tonight's top story - Vern's truck didn't start again. Film at 11.

Probably incessant bitching about the NHS and car accident after car accident on the QEW.

In other words, identical to what you'd get out of London, Kitchener, Barrie and Windsor.