Rose's Cantina

It was hard not to blow my coffee through my nose this morning when BCE CEO George Cope expressed his "shock" that the CRTC turned down his company's bid to acquire Astral Media. He claims sucking another great Canadian company into the BCE vortex was "essential" to mount a domestic response to the "over-the-top" contenders who are picking off subscribers. As Barack Obama said the other night: "Could you please repeat that?" I just signed up for Netflix and I've literally stopped watching television on Rogers, another one of the conglomerates that are gouging Canadian pocketbooks with their huge fees for cable and premium networks. Right now, I'm paying as much to Rogers as I pay to Hydro for my electricity. For what? So I can watch Honey Boo Boo and Cake Boss ? On Netflix, I have been able to connect with some of the great shows made over the last few years. Last week, it was Damages , this week it's Freaks and Gee...

BCE's planned acquisition of Montreal-based Astral Media for $3.38 billion creates an "unmatched competitor" in the Canadian marketplace that will benefit consumers, BCE's president and CEO says. "This fits perfectly with what we are trying to do," said George Cope at a press conference Friday alongside Astral president and CEO Ian Greenberg, who will join BCE's board of directors. "The customer wins, no doubt about it, more choice in the marketplace across this four-screen evolution and in a way, also drives the Canadian broadcast business and puts it in a stronger position in the headwinds we see in this space going forward and the opportunities we see," Cope said. BCE, the country's largest telecommunications company, already owns Bell Media, which includes the CTV network, BNN and other specialty channels. I did not write the above story. I don't know if any of this is true. But BCE just bought this blog for a pa...