The Competition Bureau has given Canadian newspaper giant Postmedia (TSX:PCN.A) the green light to buy rival Sun Media’s 175 English-language newspapers and websites after concluding the deal is “unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition.”
The federal agency announced March 25 it would not oppose the transaction after concluding there was a lack of rivalry between Postmedia’s broadsheet newspapers and Sun Media’s English-language tabloid newspapers.
The Competition Bureau also cited the existing competition from free local daily newspapers as one of the reasons for giving the deal the go-ahead.
In B.C., Postmedia owns both The Vancouver Sun and The Province, while Sun Media owns 24 Hours Vancouver.
The $317-million deal means Postmedia would own three out of four of the region’s daily newspapers. Torstar Corp owns the Vancouver edition of the Metro newspaper.
“We found that advertisers and readers continue to value print newspapers, despite the growth of online sources as an alternative. However, our review concluded that there would not be significant anti-competitive effects for readers or advertisers arising from the proposed transaction,” the bureau’s competition commissioner, John Pecman, said in a statement.
Postmedia and Sun Media hammered out the deal in October, while the Competition Bureau spent five months reviewing the details of the exchange.
The deal also includes Sun Media’s online Canoe network. With 8.515 million unique visitors in the third quarter of 2014, Canoe is the second most-viewed news information network in Canada behind the CBC’s websites, which had 8.556 million unique visitors in Q3 2014.
Quebecor (TSX: QBR.B) owns Sun Media, which shuttered its Sun News TV operation in February. Sun Media will hang on to its French-language newspapers, such as La Journal de Montreal.
Business In Vancouver is owned by Glacier Media.
