The CRTC on Tuesday opened a proceeding to review Rogers Communications’ acquisition of NBA TV (Canada) as part of the cable giant’s larger acquisition of Bell Canada’s 37.5-per-cent ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE).
After announcing its proposed $4.7-billion deal with Bell in September, Rogers applied in November for authority to acquire control of Toronto Raptors Network Ltd. (TRNL), licensee of the English-language NBA TV (Canada) discretionary service, according to the CRTC’s broadcasting notice of consultation posted to its website Feb. 18.
The proposed change in ownership and effective control of NBA TV (Canada) is the one aspect of the Rogers-Bell transaction that falls within the broadcasting regulator’s mandate, and will require Rogers to make financial contributions to support Canadian programming production in the form of tangible benefits.
Rogers has proposed a tangible benefits package of $3.71 million, representing 10 per cent of the proposed $37.1-million value of the transaction to acquire NBA TV (Canada). It proposed to direct 48 per cent of these contributions to the Canada Media Fund and 32 per cent to the Rogers Documentary and Cable Network Fund, its own certified independent production fund. Rogers proposed to direct the remaining 20 per cent of tangible benefits to the Diversity in Sports Initiative to support a $10,000-per-year scholarship in sports production from the College of Sports Media.
The CRTC is accepting interventions, comments and answers to Rogers’s application until March 18. The commission could decide to proceed with an appearing public hearing if interventions raise substantive concerns that warrant further discussion, it said.
