Smaller BCE-Astral Deal Fails To Assuage CRTC

BCE Inc. plans to sell off many of Astral Media Inc.’s assets if its friendly takeover is approved, but Canada’s broadcast regulator still has questions about whether the combined company could take advantage of its expanded market position in negotiations with distributors.

Jean Pierre Blais, chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, repeatedly came back to that point Monday as a week of public hearings to consider a revised version of the transaction began in Montreal.

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