In most countries of the world television has nothing to do with the telephone, but in Canada that is far from the case.
Most viewers failed to follow the endless saga that led to Rogers’ acquisition of Shaw Communications. Little did they know that this mega transaction could have a direct impact on the future of our television.
Last Friday, Minister François-Philippe Champagne gave his approval for the largest transaction that will take place in our communications world: more than $23 billion for Rogers’ purchase of Shaw Communications. At the same time, the minister approved the sale of Freedom Mobile (which Shaw owned) to Videotron for $2.85 billion. Suddenly the number of Videotron mobile phone subscribers doubled.
A BIG ORDER
When the Prime Minister of Canada appoints a minister, he follows his appointment with a letter of mandate, which is actually a shopping list. Of all these letters, the letter received by the Minister for Innovation, Science and Industry is perhaps the most overwhelming.
It is 12 pages long and has exactly 3894 words. To put you in perspective, it’s the equivalent of seven of my chronicles, lined up!
Minister Champagne is the “jack of all trades” in the cabinet. For example, it’s up to him and Pablo Rodriguez to check copyright. He is also our guardian when it comes to artificial intelligence, which I discussed in my column on Tuesday.
Needless to say, since the moratorium that the open letter signed by more than 1,000 AI experts just called for, we will be examining Minister Champagne’s actions. Its mission requires developing a strategy, coordinating international research efforts and, most importantly, setting the standards that protect us from the dangers of AI.
In Quebec, the Rogers-Shaw transaction didn’t draw much attention, and with good reason. First announced in March 2021, the deal took forever to materialize. And then it wasn’t about Videotron.
Last summer, Rogers announced that it had just entered into an agreement to sell Freedom Mobile, a Shaw subsidiary
Videotron for the sum of $2.85 billion.
As a result, Quebecor Media, a Quebec company that owns Videotron, was to become a national company. Following the transaction, Minister Champagne took the opportunity to tie a number of threads with Rogers and Videotron.
FINGERS CROSSED
As the fourth wireless carrier in Canada, Videotron has made a 10-year commitment to offer rates 20% lower than what Shaw and Rogers subscribers in the west were paying on February 20th. In addition, Videotron will invest US$150 million to improve its services in the West and commit to bringing 90% of its subscribers to 5G within two years.
In practice, the transaction will not change anything for Québec Videotron subscribers.
Nevertheless, Videotron would be inappropriate to offer its new Western subscribers more attractive terms than those in Quebec.
In conclusion, we keep our fingers crossed that mobile telephony is as profitable as possible. Bell, Telus, Rogers and Videotron, which also own our main television networks, can no longer hope to profit from television.
