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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Business Watch

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 08/28/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Auto workers vote to strike

TORONTO -- Hourly workers at Chrysler, General Motors and Ford plants in Canada have voted overwhelmingly to go on strike to back their contract demands.

The Canadian Auto Workers union says Chrysler workers have voted 99 per cent in favour of strike action if necessary. The vote at General Motors was 98 per cent, and 97 per cent at Ford. The voting was conducted at a number of meetings over the last week and this past weekend.

Negotiations with the North American auto companies resume Monday.

The union is looking to share in the improving financial position of the Big Three after making concessions during the recession. The automakers are looking to pare labour costs in Canada, which they say are higher than in the United States.

Outcry over Bell takeover

TORONTO -- Bell's proposed $3.4-billion takeover of Astral Media has sparked an outcry from another coalition that's asking Canadians to oppose a deal they say will bring further harmful media concentration to Canada.

The group, calling itself the Stop The Takeover Coalition, wants Canadians to sign an online petition to the CRTC and the Competition Bureau, among others, to voice their opposition to the deal that would see Bell own more than 33 per cent of the Canadian English-language audience.

Montreal-based Astral owns radio stations and specialty channels and pay-TV networks, including The Movie Network and HBO Canada.

"Imagine every time you turn on your TV, computer or mobile device you are forced into a pre-selected menu of Bell content, rather than having the open, unencumbered choice you should expect. That's where this merger may be taking us," the group says on its website.

The group is headed by Openmedia.ca and also includes unions and lobby groups such as Canada Without Poverty, the Canadian Media Guild and the Consumers' Association of Canada.

The latest campaign follows a similar one launched earlier this month by Cogeco Cable Inc., Eastlink, and Quebecor Inc., which compete against BCE Inc.'s Bell and Astral Media.

Telus Corp. has also voiced similar concerns.

Telus said Bell could have a 49.5 per cent share of the English-language television audience with its purchase of Astral.

Rogers after young viewers

ROGERS' deal to buy Score Media Inc. will bring younger viewers with its headline sports news and information and access to digital technology for mobile devices, the head of Rogers Media said Monday.

Score Media's niche programming will complement mainstream sports coverage by Rogers' Sportsnet and Sportsnet 1, said Keith Pelley, president of the media division of Rogers.

"Really, what they have done is gone after a younger demographic than we have," Pelley said from Toronto.

Pelley said about 70 per cent of Score Media's audience is under 50.

"So when you talk about the actual event programing, it's a younger demographic," he said, noting Score Media covers World Wrestling Entertainment events, some martial arts and some Canadian and U.S. college sports.

Rogers is competing with heavyweight rival TSN, owned by Bell, for sports fans.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 28, 2012 B6

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