Bell Acquires Astral Media

CTV owner buys Astral | BCBusiness
CTV parent company BCE will buy Astral Media, considerably boosting its television assets.

For the bargain price of $3.38 billion, BCE snaps up Astral Media to boost its television assets.

BCE Inc. has stepped up to the television big leagues.
 
On Friday, BCE announced it would purchase Astral Media Inc. for a whopping $3.38 billion. The acquisition represents a significant shakeup in the TV media biz, and bolsters the company’s presence in Quebec.
 
Astral has a valuable and diverse portfolio of specialty and premium paid TV channels, including HBO Canada, The Movie Network and a number of French-language channels in Quebec. The company’s paid channel holdings alone generates $70 million in revenue annually.
 
BCE has hinted the deal was meant to directly expand its previously unfelt presence in Quebec. With Astral’s numerous French-language channels, the deal puts BCE on equal footing with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) and Quebecor in the province.
 
In addition to its television holdings, Astral also operates dozens of radio stations and outdoor advertising businesses.
 
BCE operates well-known TV networks such as CTV, TSN and BNN. The deal is still subject to approval from the Canada Radio-television Telecommunications Commission. And considering the acquisition concentrates a wealth of different media properties into Bell’s portfolio, the world “monopoly” does come to mind.