Topic 'Re: Great news! - CRTC blocks Astral buy by Bell' in forum 'Canadian Broadband' - dslreports.com

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

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 20:03:56 EDT

anon posted :

said by Paolo:

i have nothing against bce wanting to buy astral, most of the people who want it to stop, cant give a good enough reason except they dislike bce and bell from a customer service point of view. that should not be a good enough reason to stop this deal, if i dislike mcdonalds cus of personal reaosns and they wanted to buy burger king, then id be dumb. let them do what they want, if anyone has a say, its the competition bureaw and the crtc.

Well maybe that is your myopic view. However, some of the people posting in this forum are in the IPTV business and know they cannot even get a station from Bell. Bell is being anti-competitive on all fronts. This in turn is preventing choice for the people.

So no, this isn't a MacDonalds situation. :uhh:

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

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:59:47 EDT

Paolo posted : let the crtc decide this one

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

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:52:40 EDT

Paolo posted : i have nothing against bce wanting to buy astral, most of the people who want it to stop, cant give a good enough reason except they dislike bce and bell from a customer service point of view. that should not be a good enough reason to stop this deal, if i dislike mcdonalds cus of personal reaosns and they wanted to buy burger king, then id be dumb. let them do what they want, if anyone has a say, its the competition bureaw and the crtc.
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Re: Great news! - CRTC blocks Astral buy by Bell

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:35:11 EDT

epsilon3 posted : Most likely they will try to keep all the French channels and sell all or some of the English ones ..

I hope it will not go thru ... If CRTC will approve it ...I hope The Competition Bureau will stop it!

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

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:15:08 EDT

mlerner posted : Yeah, as if I'm going to put my name on a mailing list that will probably be used to target me for Bhell advertising.

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

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:06:42 EDT

bt posted :

said by PuppetString :

Bell launched a website to show everyone how great this would be.
»www.canadiansdeservemore.ca/

Oh, isn't that priceless.

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

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:57:21 EDT

anon posted : Bell launched a website to show everyone how great this would be.
»www.canadiansdeservemore.ca/

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

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:09:51 EDT

bt posted : The new bid is officially submitted:

»www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2···rtc.html

Light on details though, with Bell/Astral saying we'll have to wait until the CRTC starts the public consultations to find out specifics.

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

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 13:05:27 EDT

Mont posted : Bell and Astral will never sell to Quebecor , Rogers and Shaw will be the one to help , Rogers was against the transaction since it wanted to be part of the transaction and wasn't.

Might be too that Bell knew it would be rejected so Rogers,Shaw or another company would be there when they do another offer this way Cogeco and Quebecor can't complain.

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

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:26:28 EDT

anon posted : I don't think the CRTC would give up TMN & HBO to either Bell or Videotorn. Would go to Rogers or Cogeco. Unless those two are split up between videotron and Rogers or Cogeco.

Also, nothing up to this point negates or shows that a 3rd player isn't coming in and filing *with* Bell and astral. Could be a small surprise on the way. No one knows.

Maybe the CRTC Broadcasting Vice-Chair they took out for a night on the town started a company w/ Bell money to snatch it :p

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

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:08:52 EDT

corster posted :

said by hm :

said by corster:

I can't see a viable buyer (short of TELUS deciding to get into content, which they've shown no interest in).

Both Cogeco and Rogers stated they want to buy.

But Rogers only really wants TMN and HBO Canada. Bell would never divest those.

As far as Cogeco is concerned, i'm pretty sure they want the whole thing, not just Bell's leftovers. Especially not their english-language leftovers.

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

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 12:53:02 EDT

anon posted :

said by corster:

I can't see a viable buyer (short of TELUS deciding to get into content, which they've shown no interest in).

Both Cogeco and Rogers stated they want to buy.

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

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:39:21 EDT

corster posted :

said by c2roth:

Lovely...so Bell is going to game the system and try to find a loophole. In no way am I surprised.

Can't see it going through. Even if Bell wants to divest most of the English assets, I can't see a viable buyer (short of TELUS deciding to get into content, which they've shown no interest in).

They won't let Rogers, Shaw, or Corus buy the divested assets. Not sure Cogeco has much of an interest in English language media, we know Quebecor doesn't.

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

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:10:21 EDT

c2roth posted : Lovely...so Bell is going to game the system and try to find a loophole. In no way am I surprised.

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

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:15:21 EDT

JunjiHiroma posted : Here We Go Again!(From Geist's twitter): RT @jacquiemcnish: Hello CRTC, we have a 2nd act: BCE, Astral back at takeover table, set to forge new deal »soc.li/EmE1wVH

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

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 14:37:53 EDT

elwoodblues posted : It's just a form.

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

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:55:20 EDT

Gone posted :

said by MaynardKrebs:

"Supreme Court of Canada justices always have their votes reported to the public on matters which are both 'larger' and 'smaller' in nature than the Bell-Astral deal. The SCC justices don't hide their votes as it would reflect badly on the administration of justice.

Bzzzt wrong. Look up rulings by The Court (hint: the same-sex marriage reference was one of them)

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

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:27:41 EDT

MaynardKrebs posted :

said by Future LuLs :

said by elwoodblues:

quote:
I am seeking information on how the commisioners voted on CRTC decision 2012-574.

Finish the letter off with:

Thanking you in advance for your new found transparency.

Best regards,

Elwoodblues

This way we can all giggle a month from now when you re-post your letter and rejection :p

@Elwood

If you have not already sent the letter, consider adding something to the effect:

"Supreme Court of Canada justices always have their votes reported to the public on matters which are both 'larger' and 'smaller' in nature than the Bell-Astral deal. The SCC justices don't hide their votes as it would reflect badly on the administration of justice. So too would withholding the results of CRTC votes on matters of great importance - both to the participants and the public at large.

Thanking you in advance for your new found transparency."

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

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:36:14 EDT

resa1983 posted :

said by Future LuLs :

*snickers* I like that.
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Re: Great news! - CRTC blocks Astral buy by Bell

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:40:35 EDT

anon posted :

said by elwoodblues:

quote:
I am seeking information on how the commisioners voted on CRTC decision 2012-574.

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

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:31:22 EDT

elwoodblues posted : I hate weasels so I want to make sure my request is crystal clear.

I filled out the form and will send it off tomorrow, and in the section ask what information I'm seeking I wrote

quote:
I am seeking information on how the commisioners voted on CRTC decision 2012-574.

Is that clear enough?
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Re: Great news! - CRTC blocks Astral buy by Bell

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:05:45 EDT

Gone posted :

said by elwoodblues:

It's access to Information, FOIA is American.

For what it's worth, the provinces call their own acts Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Acts. I'd give him a pass.

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

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:02:15 EDT

El Quintron posted :

said by elwoodblues:

It's access to Information, FOIA is American.

You get the idea.

said by elwoodblues:

And yes you can. 5 bucks I fill out a form and mail it (in this fucken day and age) and then I'll get a nay or yeah response. And if it's nay I can take it further.

I would do it to prove a point... I've corresponded with the CRTC on multiple occasions and I've found they're fond of sending form letters and when questioned on their form answer I usually get "because we said so" so if you file an access to information request, you'll probably be making a point about their dismissiveness.
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Re: Great news! - CRTC blocks Astral buy by Bell

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:47:29 EDT

elwoodblues posted : It's access to Information, FOIA is American.

And yes you can. 5 bucks I fill out a form and mail it (in this fucken day and age) and then I'll get a nay or yeah response. And if it's nay I can take it further.

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

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:08:54 EDT

anon posted : In a way you have to laugh. They are saying they are putting the consumer first and make a bullshit hoopla out of a statement saying companies need to be more transparent.

Then they turn around and tell you, "It's a secret".

This CRTC isn't anything new. It's all smoke and mirrors with some bullsh*t PR and marketing tossed in.

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

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:03:26 EDT

mlerner posted : In other words, ### ### ####

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

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 18:56:46 EDT

anon posted :

said by elwoodblues:

It's not public information was the response.

Laff

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

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:10:06 EDT

El Quintron posted :

said by elwoodblues:

Not sure which thread this was in, but I finally got back my answer on the who voted which way for the Bell Astral deal.

It's not public information was the response.

That's interesting; can you file under the FOIA?

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

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:24:12 EDT

elwoodblues posted : Not sure which thread this was in, but I finally got back my answer on the who voted which way for the Bell Astral deal.

It's not public information was the response.

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

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 18:04:27 EDT

anon posted : From what I see Bell-Astral (their contract together to get this going) is extended till ~Dec 15 with another option for another extension till ~Jan 15.

So if something happens, it should happen the latest by Jan.

So the Fat Lady has a few months to wait while Bell and that CRTC Broadcasting VP take in a couple of more hockey games :p

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

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:06:08 EDT

El Quintron posted :

said by GeoStar:

its back ;)

»business.financialpost.com/2012/···ral-bid/

So prepare to bend 945 degrees and pay double the last bill :p

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

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 10:06:39 EDT

GeoStar posted : its back ;)

»business.financialpost.com/2012/···ral-bid/

So prepare to bend 945 degrees and pay double the last bill :p

Re: Bell's words and demands

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:26:37 EDT

anon posted :

said by resa1983:

the 'market forces' (ie golfing) nonsense has finally gone out the window.

It's not "game" over yet. Matter of fact, Bell Canada paid for a CRTC VP at it's hockey "game" in Montreal.

The nonsense is far from over. It would take a corruption inquiry and investigation to even touch base on the "golfing" nonsense.

The proverbial Fat Lady hasn't sung yet. And in Kevin Crulls world, the Fat Lady is a guy student (*shiver*) who sings only when told to sing. :p

Re: Bell's words and demands

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 14:34:07 EDT

resa1983 posted : All in all, its looking like there's been a major change with Blais being appointed chair.

It seems the consumer is finally being put first, and the 'market forces' (ie golfing) nonsense has finally gone out the window.
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Re: Bell's words and demands

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 14:24:40 EDT

dillyhammer posted :

said by hm :

Let's all face the truth here, the CRTC is a court of baboons with no basis in actual law or regulations. They rule by the seat of their pants (or pay-off). This was seen in the throttle case, UBB, wholesale rates, and now this.

That's what I'm thinking, right?

BCE thinks Astral is taking the big brown envelope over. Astral thinks BCE is taking the big brown envelope over.

Big brown envelope never makes it over.

Application denied.

BCE appeals, sending big brown envelope over.

Appeal allowed, application approved.

It was all just a... you know... misunderstanding.

Mike
--
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Re: Bell's words and demands

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 12:56:52 EDT

anon posted : Kevin Crull on the astral deal that failed:
»m.theglobeandmail.com/globe-inve···e=mobile

And then he said this: “I expect the people who regulate our industry to understand our industry. I expect them to be students of the industry. I expect them to be intellectually open, honest, and curious.” During the hearing, said Mr. Crull, “one of the panelists spent the entire time chiding us for not having a woman sitting at the main table, or not having a woman on the leadership team. It may be a worthy discussion for another time. But I don’t know what that has to do with a multibillion-dollar acquisition of a media company.

and other gems...

For those who missed it, in a single paragraph (and there are a few) Crull states that the CRTC should be students of Bell's vision & version of the telco and media industry.

He goes on to state that women in leadership roles have no bearing on this multibillion dollar deal dominated by the men of Bell. And it's total nonsense to even bring up gender equality with Bell Canada since they, you know, have women in call centres or something.

Talk about putting your foot in your mouth. :p

Re: Bell's words and demands

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 21:30:55 EDT

anon posted : Someone help me out here since I'm to very well versed or the bureaucracy of how these things works.

If bells petition gets accepted, should we not find it in this coming Saturdays Part 1 section of the Canadian Gazette?
»www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/index-eng.html

Part 2 of the Gazette was published this past Wed and has nothing in it about this petition. So I'm assuming it will be found in part 1, if accepted, this Saturday. Correct??

Or will the notice, if accepted, be found elsewhere in this Canadian Gazette?

Anyone know?

Re: Bell's words and demands

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:02:54 EDT

elwoodblues posted : If in the end the CRTC says yes the competition bureau probably says no (which they probably should)

Re: Bell's words and demands

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 18:55:59 EDT

anon posted : yeah. I am taking Bell's numbers at face value, since I don't know the real figures. No one does.

I also take the CRTC's percentages at face value. And their values are much higher than Bell's.

Both percentages, be it from Bell or the CRTC are still within the norm of that reg.

Let us assume the CRTC percentages are the correct ones, and Bell is just a liar (which we all know they are anyhow).

In one case, one of the highest percentages is around 43%, per the CRTC. The cut off for the CRTC to clearly state no is defined in that regulation as 45%. Below 45% it's supposed to be allowed with conditions. But the CRTC flatly reused it. And that was only one of the percentages, the highest percentage (which I think was total viewership for English channels). Everything else was well below, and even below some of Quebecors own percentages.

Bell does indeed raise the valid point.

I mean, all the values, percentages, and the regs are there for all to see in black and white and Bell is correct. They are below going by CRTC values.

If this goes to court I can see them winning based on the values. The rest of it I have no clue (ie. the other 18 points Bell says never should have been considered since it's not in the reg's).

So let us look at this from a different perspective from the last few years:

In the throttle hearings: Bell lied, and wins
In the UBB hearings: Bell lied, and wins
In this hearing: Bell tells some of the truth, and lost

The CRTC if baffling.

Also, what Bell stated about the reg's not being followed is 100% correct. If it was followed they would have won. The CRTC seems to be relying on non-existant "consumer" reg's.

If they are going to do that, then why not actually have a "consumer" reg within the broadcasting/telecom act that actually has some teeth?

All this goes to show that the CRTC is operated by the "whim of the day" and nothing based in Canadian law or facts. The next CRTC chair will create his/her own laws like KvF did. This also shows KvF was right in concluding the telecom & broadcasting acts are outdated and no longer serve their intended purpose.

Unless someone can actually show me something, this may be the very first time I am in complete agreement with Bell (as it pertains to the reg's).

Let's all face the truth here, the CRTC is a court of baboons with no basis in actual law or regulations. They rule by the seat of their pants (or pay-off). This was seen in the throttle case, UBB, wholesale rates, and now this.

Re: Bell's words and demands

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:45:35 EDT

En Enfer posted :

said by hm :

The Diversity of Voices reg does state all this and Bell is within the standards set in order for this to go through.

Everytime a broadcasting company buys another, there's one less independent voice.

Taking news as an example, Toronto market have CTV, CTV Two, CTV News Channel, CP24, and all of Bell Media owned radio stations. These all count for ONE voice. Taking over Astral radio stations, there's one less voice. It doesn't take percentages to figure it out.

Skimming throught the document, Bhell points out on paragraphe 12 and 42 about non-Canadian market shares, per example, CNN, A&E, Spike and TLC... "Indeed, non-Canadianservices have a 13.2% viewing share in Canada" and "there are over 220 non-Canadian services distributed in Canada".

Choose your words and example carefully is what Bhell did.
Only problem, out of the 220 non-Canadian services, how many of them are in english? and how many in french? Only the significant english ones were mentionned in the document, because adding a 13.2% in the share would significantly reduce Bell+Astral share below the treshold, but how many ethnic ones are part of the list (»www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/satlist.htm) and how much share are those hindi, spanish, chinese, etc., are taking?

See, they're trying to tune the numbers in their favor. Bell Canada will use old 1970's policies to obtain gain of favor in any situation, but ourtirght ridicule the CRTC's decision to make a reference to a 1978 policy... because it doesn't swing in their favor. See what happens when your own tricks are used against you: lawsuit.
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Re: Bell's words and demands

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 18:37:53 EDT

anon posted :

said by El Quintron:

So basically Bell is pissing and moaning that they didn't get their way, and their friends with vested interests in the investment industry agree.

I only just started reading it. I'm on para 20 so far. But, hmm. Well, hate to say it, but Bell does have a point that should be clarified. As stated up above here, »Re: Great news! - CRTC blocks Astral buy by Bell Bell is making that same claim, and they are right to. The Diversity of Voices reg does state all this and Bell is within the standards set in order for this to go through.

Everything else I read so far though is pure horse dodo.

They sure as hell mention the "consumer" a lot. But as a consumer I don't agree to the stance they are taking with me and every other consumer. It's all BS. k... now to finish reading this.

oh, did this petition to cabinet get accepted? Bet it did. If cabinet had it's way they would do everything Bell states, but they are in a political-consumer pickle now. They can't do anything or they will feel a consumer backlash.

Re: Bell's words and demands

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:52:19 EDT

El Quintron posted : Wow, I just skimmed through that...

So basically Bell is pissing and moaning that they didn't get their way, and their friends with vested interests in the investment industry agree.

What a bunch of arrogant jackasses.
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Re: Bell's words and demands

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:50:10 EDT

elwoodblues posted : The Google, Netflix Amazon boogey man

WOW

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

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:38:29 EDT

Guspaz posted : I think the most appropriate headline one can take from that filing is:

Bell Canada declares Saturday Night Fever "king of the box office"

Although another amusing and completely accurate headline:

Bell Canada declares Happy Days "TV ratings leader"
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Bell's words and demands

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:51:38 EDT

mazhurg posted : Link to copy of complaint:

»www.scribd.com/doc/110812434/Req···ct-Final

I'd put the PDF here, however I will not prostitute myself to Facebook in order to download the PDF from scribd.

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

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 08:48:52 EDT

anon posted : Today Bell will submit a file to GiC.

If anyone spots the filing, or the link the gov gives (if GiC accepts it), please upload it or paste it!

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

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 19:36:33 EDT

anon posted :

said by MaynardKrebs:

If there is a hooker or two in the closet (or another babysitter banger) then Bell might get their day in Cabinet.

Sad, but true.

»www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCF19cBWb0I