Comments on: “Say No To Bell”: The hypocritical campaign against Bell/Astral

By: Quagmire

Quagmire — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 18:51:56 +0000

I support the Bell/Astral Merger, because once the Canadian market becomes concentrated, and we have 2 major players in Canada, the Canadian Government will allow foreign companies to start offering services in Canada. Bell & Rogers will be the Verizon & AT&T of Canada that way the Eastlink, Allstream, Videotron, Cogeco, will be purchased by network operators like Level 3 Communication, Windstream, AT&T, Verizon, Direct TV, Dish Network, Warner Cable, Comcast and provides us Canadians with more choices of service providers and this will ultimately drive prices down.

By: My first quote in an ad – Fagstein

My first quote in an ad – Fagstein — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 00:28:11 +0000

[...] opposition grows over the planned Bell purchase of Astral Media (a new campaign was just launched today), Bell and its opponents are multiplying their use of [...]

By: Carl

Carl — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 20:11:57 +0000

While I do not disagree with the entirety of your point, I just wanted to let you know that it is false to say that all of Bell's french calls are handled in Quebec. Some french calls are handled in Moncton, New-Brunswick and some are handled in Tunisia.

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 17:09:03 +0000

Because Bell-Astral will be bigger than just Astral

But not significantly, at least in Quebec. Bell has few French-language broadcasting assets, essentially limited to RDS and related channels. Bell would be larger because it's a telecom company, but Quebecor would still be the dominant media player.

By: Timothy

Timothy — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 16:16:13 +0000

Because Bell-Astral will be bigger than just Astral, otherwise there would be no issue with Bell quiring it, would there?

By: Marc

Marc — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 14:51:07 +0000

Neither Bell of Astral can do this. However, Power Corp. can. It's headed up by Daniel Johnson and he has been the one controlling the government and the QLP. If there are some decent people who would make great ministers but instead sit on the back benches, it's because Daniel Johnson doesn't like them.

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 08:11:57 +0000

We need somebody to balance out the market so that Quebecor can stop deciding elections based on which politicians will break which laws in their favour.

If Astral couldn't do this, what makes you think Bell will?

By: Timothy

Timothy — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 20:02:33 +0000

If one of the other companies were trying to make the same purchase, would you have the same issue with it? Or is this just based on a previous bad experience with Bell?

By: Timothy

Timothy — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 20:01:08 +0000

It is, but since when is the government office whose job it is to regulate this industry not enough? Since when do we need other companies trying to create a monopoly, who are never going to sell the properties necessary for this monopoly to exist, to help regulate the market? They want it deregulated.

By: Timothy

Timothy — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 19:59:08 +0000

I assume since you are calling a high ranking VP with degrees in his domain and the pedigree to spit on most business experts an idiot that you have better education in the business field and/or better/more experience. I am tired of people getting miffed about something and suddenly becoming experts in all things business. If you were an expert, you would know that thinking that a corporation, an amalgamation of properties governed by a commitee VOTED IN BY ITS OWNERS WHOSE SOLE JOB IS TO RAISE PROFITS, is moronic and just needs to stop. Not all opinions are valid, and when you are going to call a proven expert an idiot, you better have the education to back it up, or your opinion is invalid.

By: Timothy

Timothy — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 19:52:43 +0000

Every news broadcast is slanted. I challenge you to find me ONE news broadcast that is neither slanted nor government subsidized. Besides, how does this in any way apply to the situation at hand?

By: Timothy

Timothy — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 19:46:12 +0000

You better not be from Quebec or Ontario, because if so what you said is just false. Yes Bell is trying to create a monopoly, so is everybody else, Bell's just better at it. The telecom market is a quasi-oligopoly running based on monopolistic competition. If everybody goes with other companies it's their choice, but whichever company they choose they are simply pushing closer to the monopoly they want to create.

By: Timothy

Timothy — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 19:42:01 +0000

You are correct, good sir. If this aquisition occurs, Bell WILL run its business for its interests, as they always have, and always will. So will every other business that has ever existed on this earth ever. Do you honestly believe that Cogeco and Quebecor are looking out for you? They are looking out for themselves and their bottom line. Picture yourself as the CEO of a multinational. Would you or would you not attempt to make multi-billion dollar purchases that will lead to a massive increase in personal revenue? Every business owner in the world is in it for themselves. Watch shows like Shark Tank and Dragon's Den, look at the profit margins that they create. If a company charges any less than four times what it costs for total production and distribution for a consumer to buy their product, they are considered profit-hating idiots. Wake up! Sign a petition if you want, but not one with any sort of corporate backing, or there WILL be a second agenda.

By: Timothy

Timothy — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 19:36:16 +0000

Mono=one. For Bell to be a monopoly, it would mean that I should not be able to name Cogeco, Quebecor, Shaw, Teksavvy, Rogers, Distributel, ACN, Primus. Just a small sampling of the companies that exist for telecom in Canada. The telecom market is a quasi-oligopoly, and it should remain that way, unless you plan to dismantle all these corporations at once, that petition I would vote for.

By: Timothy

Timothy — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 19:33:16 +0000

The main issue here is who the buyer would be. You all seem to be worried about media concentration, but if Bell is forced after the fact to sell off certain stations, they will be selling them to the ones who can the most for them, the other two rediculous media giants.

By: Timothy

Timothy — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 19:29:59 +0000

By very definition, the second a company becomes a corporation, it loses all the human connection it had. There is no such thing as a good corporate citizen, barring obvious exceptions such as Google (who have also been known to slip). The bottom line for a corporation is everything. There is no consideration for anything resembling human condition, only for profit. As declared in the article, Cogeco owns an unfair portion of francophone radio in the province's major cities, and Quebecor has shipped some of its french call centers to Egypt to save money. All of Bell's french calls are handled in Quebec, and they are the only one of the three that is at least willing to tell the truth about the motivations behind their actions. MONEY!!! All three only care about money.

By: Timothy

Timothy — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 19:25:42 +0000

The problem is that as a Quebecer, I need this to go through. In Quebec we have 2 media companies, Quebecor, and everybody else. We need somebody to balance out the market so that Quebecor can stop deciding elections based on which politicians will break which laws in their favour. John James Charest gave the deal to build a new amphitheater, without the legally mandated public bidding, to Quebecor because its founder owns most of the major newspapers and almost all of the french televised news, and has infinite power to make it look like he does not have a two and a half decade history of political corruption. This is also the corporation that, had it the money, would have no qualms about concentrating one hundred percent of the media under its control. For the sake of democracy in my province, and for the sake of not making yourselves puppets, please do not let multi-million dollar corporations that stand to lose potential profit tell you that they are acting for YOUR best interest. These are souless entities who care not for human life, welfare, or safety, what makes you believe they care for democracy?

By: margo may taylor

margo may taylor — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 00:26:16 +0000

bell is big enough thank you ... it should not be any larger

By: Evelyn Edmonstone

Evelyn Edmonstone — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 21:52:46 +0000

I too wish to say no to Bell as we have been very disappointed in Bell after having
been customers for many years.

By: linda Morales

linda Morales — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 14:25:43 +0000

Monopolies do not belong in Canada! Healthy competition between companies is beneficial to the consumer!