Seven months after the initial application, Corus Entertainment’s bid to wholly own Teletoon Canada is approved.
Seven months after the initial application, Canadian regulator the CRTC approved on Friday Corus Entertainment’s bid to wholly own Teletoon Canada. But, according to a report by Kidscreen, the regulator imposed key conditions on its approval to guard against anti-competitive behavior by Corus.
The CRTC approved the takeover from Bell Media of Teletoon Canada, which includes licenses for Teletoon, Teletoon Retro and Cartoon Network Canada, at a cost of $233 million.
Corus bought out the 50 percent stake in Teletoon that it did not already own, with the other half previously held by Astral Media before it shifted to Bell Media as part of a wider takeover deal earlier approved by the CRTC.
The regulator ruled Corus must ensure that content from Teletoon, YTV and Treehouse not overlap by more than 10 percent. Given Corus ownership ties to parent Shaw Communications, the broadcaster is saddled with the same vertical integration restrictions to guard against anti-competitive behavior that BCE received when it took over Astral Media.
The Teletoon approval comes with a $24.5 million tangible benefits package from Corus to be applied over the next seven years, which includes expenditures on indie production.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
