Bell Canada signage is pictured in Ottawa on Wednesday Sept. 7, 2022. The Competition Bureau says Bell Media must sell nearly 700 advertising displays in Ontario and Quebec as a condition of its $410-million acquisition of outdoor advertising company Outfront Media Inc.'s Canadian operations. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
GATINEAU, Que. – The Competition Bureau says Bell Media must sell 669 advertising displays in Ontario and Quebec as a condition of its $410-million acquisition of outdoor advertising company Outfront Media Inc.’s Canadian operations.
The watchdog’s ruling Monday comes as the BCE Inc. subsidiary announced the closure of deal, first announced last October, to take over Outfront Media’s 9,325 advertising displays.
The bureau says its investigation concluded the merger was “likely to substantially lessen competition” in Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke and the Greater Montreal and Toronto areas, where Bell and Outfront had “vigorously” competed.
It says the loss of the rivalry would result in higher prices and fewer options for customers in those regions.
Bell Media president Sean Cohan says the closure of the acquisition marks a significant milestone for Bell and solidifies its position as the leading supplier of out-of-home advertising space.
Before the competition watchdog imposed its conditions for the deal, experts had estimated the move would increase Bell’s share of the out-of-home advertising market in Canada from around 20 to 35 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)
