After rejecting the planned merger of Bell Media and Astral in October, the two companies plans have have been approved by the Competition Bureau.
In order to do so, a few swaps will be made with Corus Entertainment and Shaw Media mainly involving ownership stakes in cable television networks but one that has ramifications on the radio industry as Corus will acquire two radio stations in Ottawa: Classic Hits “Boom 99.7” CJOT and Rock “106.9 The Bear” CKQB.
Additionally Bell/Astral have agreed to auction off eight additional radio stations. Those stations are Rhythmic AC “Kool 101.5” CKCE Calgary, Urban “Flow 93.5” CFXJ and Classic Hits “Boom 97.3” CHBM Toronto, Oldies “AM 650” CISL, CHR “Virgin Radio 95.3” CKZZ, and AAA “Shore 104.3” CHRR Vancouver, and Classic Hits “Fab 94.3” CHIQ and Country “QX 104” CFQX Winnipeg. These are the same stations the combined company planned on spinning off last year.
Bell is seeking a waiver to retain Sports “TSN 690” CKGM Montreal following the merger after discarding plans to flip it to French Sports last year.
The merger must still gain CRTC approval in order to be consummated.
Joseph
I wonder if Moses Zaminer will be interested in the Calgary, Vancouver, and Winnipeg stations being spun-off so that they could become local versions of the Zoomer Radio format heard on CFZM-0740 Toronto.