Offline
The CRTC is slated to begin the hearing phase for Rogers $26 Billion (with a $ and a B) of Shaw Cable...
The federal competition bureau will also have to hold a separate hearing into the proposed acquisition as well at a latter date...
Should be interesting...
Offline
CBC.ca is apparently streaming the hearings ....nothing on right now but here is the link.
Offline
I literally laughed out loud when I saw the headline below on an article outlining how Rogers and Shaw are trying to sell this travesty to the CRTC.
Rogers and Shaw Tell CRTC Merger Will Enhance Competition, Help Lower-Income Canadians
Enhance competition? How exactly, do you do that by eliminating an option for consumers? In Rogers-speak, if you eliminate competition it will increase competition. How, exactly does that compute?
And as for bringing down prices for low-income consumers, when, exactly, did Rogers ever lower its bills for anyone without being forced to? If there's any justice in the world, this travesty will never be approved. But the CRTC chair is a former Telus lobbyist, so I suspect the real world won't enter into it and the outcome has long ago been decided in some back room.
I hope I'm wrong. But it won't surprise me if I'm not.
Offline
Competition Bureau of Canada, and ISEDC will each hold their own respective hearings dealing with Shaw wireless/cellular/telephone, and Satellite Relay Distribution Service (Shaw Business) etc.
CRTC Chair Scott, opening remarks...
---------
SpeechBy Ian Scott, Chairperson Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
Gatineau, Quebec November 22, 2021 (Check against delivery)
Good morning and welcome to this public hearing.Before we begin, I wish to acknowledge that the lands on which we are gathered are part of the traditional unceded Algonquin territory. I would like to thank the Anishnaabeg people and pay respect to their Elders.
I also recognize that many participants joining the hearing virtually are located in different places and therefore may be situated in a different Indigenous traditional territory. I encourage you to take a moment to think about this.Over the course of this hearing, we will consider Rogers Communications’ application to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Shaw Communications with respect only to its broadcasting assets, which include:
Last edited by Glen Warren (November 22, 2021 3:50 pm)
Offline
How could such a merger impact Global News?
How the Rogers-Shaw deal would affect Global News | Fagstein
Last edited by Media Observer (November 22, 2021 4:55 pm)
Offline
Great article Media Observer and another reason this should never be allowed. Rogers has way too much power and influence as it is, and its complaints that it's not well represented in Western Canada ring pretty hollow, given how many subs and stations they already have.
As to the crazy idea that fewer companies mean more competition, here's the pretzel logic from an article in the Toronto Star:
“Where is the competition enhanced?” [CRTC Chair Ian] Scott said. “I’m not quite getting your point that a combination of Rogers and Shaw will create more competition.”
Ted Woodhead, senior vice-president of regulatory at Rogers, said competition would happen at “the fringes,” as the company offers its IPTV (Internet Protocol television) cable service to new customers in Western Canada.
"Eric Bruno, senior vice-president of content and residential products, said expanding the company’s IPTV service, which is based on technology it licenses from U.S.-based Comcast, would help counter “one of the biggest threats (to) the Canadian broadcasting system.”
“Any Canadian can walk into their living room, turn on their TV, and go straight to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Disney Plus and completely bypass the Canadian broadcasting system,” Bruno said.
"He said IPTV lets customers access all of that digital content through one interface that also features traditional channels such as Rogers’ Citytv or other specialty stations."
Ah, the old CanCon canard. (At "the fringes" no less.) It never fails. I'm not surprised they pulled that one out already. It's the CRTC's constant pre-occupation. Besides, Rogers had its chance at a streaming audience and shut down Shomi before its time, leaving the market to Bell's Crave. They can't possibly be allowed to use that as an excuse now.
Offline
Further to the post about how this merger would affect Global, the fallout from this deal just keeps getting more and more confusing and bizarre.
At the hearings on Tuesday, Telus - which opposes the merger - worried that the newly combined company would have too much power, reminiscent of the conclusion that led to the split of CP24 and City TV in the late 2000s. The western-based phone provider demanded that Rogers be made to invest money into Global News if the deal is approved.
From the Toronto Star:
"...Telus executives said if the commission does approve the transfer of licences, it should require Rogers to continue funding Global News.
“Global News is a service that many Western Canadians rely on,” said Zainul Mawji, executive vice-president of home solutions at Telus, adding that Global attracts more than 20 per cent of viewers to its evening newscasts in B.C. and Alberta, compared to just over one per cent for Citytv stations."
For its part, the idea of Rogers having to fund its own competition is incredibly bizarre, but stranger things have happened - before the move to Yonge & Dundas, the now-Rogers owned City TV and the Bell owned CP24 were not only operating in the same building at 299 Queen St. W, but in the same newsroom!
I've been told of private line-up meetings held in back offices, so the other guys (who just days before the CRTC divided them had been their own colleagues) wouldn't be able to hear what the competition was doing. What an awkward mess that was!
The easiest thing is to simply say no to this power grab and leave things just as they are. But this is the CRTC, the architects of the previous outcome mentioned above. So it's anyone's guess what they'll do this time.
Toronto Star: Global News will take a $13-million hit if the Rogers-Shaw merger goes ahead, CRTC hears
Offline
The News Hour with Tony Parsons on BCTV (now Global BC) had the highest share of any local newscast in North America. The station had repeaters that covered 96 percent of the province.
Offline
An expert warns that if the Rogers-Shaw deal is approved, job cuts at both companies will not be far behind. This is not a surprise. Rogers has a history of doing this over the years - including at City TV. Not long after taking over the station from Bell, 10 people were cut in a single day, followed by many more a few months later.
In fact, they chopped so many employees at once they left themselves too short and were forced to hire back two of them in the newsroom. So, according to one expert, a yes to Shaw means a bloodbath will follow.
From the Toronto Star:
In a twist of Canadian competition law, the deal could hurt competition and be bad for wireless, home internet or TV customers, but still get the green light from the bureau if the companies can show it leads to significant savings. That’s bad news for workers, [Robin Shaban, public policy researcher and co-founder of economic consulting firm Vivic Research] said.
“We have a law that allows mergers that hurts competitors if the merger leads to sufficient job losses,” she said, referencing what’s known as the “efficiencies defence.”
Shaban said companies often cite job cuts as one of the top cost savings — or “synergies,” as Rogers calls the $1 billion it expects to save yearly within two years of closing.
“You can’t have $1 billion in annual cost savings and not have any job cuts,” she said.
Job cuts are likely in Rogers’ $26-billion deal to acquire Shaw, critics say
Offline
The Waterloo Record - which is owned by the Toronto Star's Metroland Media Group - has come out with a very strong editorial about this deal and why it will likely be bad for Canadians overall. A good read and I agree with their conclusions.
Rogers-Shaw deal could hit you in the pocketbook