The highly anticipated decision comes after a month-long hearing that included evidence from 45 witnesses and tens of thousands of pages of documents
Canada’s Competition Tribunal has dismissed a challenge to Rogers Communications Inc.’s contested $26-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc., paving the way for the deal’s approval from the federal government.
The deal still requires approval from Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, whose department is reviewing the transfer of wireless licenses from Shaw to Quebecor’s Videotron unit. The deal cleared the first of three regulatory hurdles in March, when the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commissionto acquire Shaw’s broadcasting services. The CRTC attached a number of conditions to its approval, including that Rogers pay more than $27-million to funds aimed at supporting Canadian content and local news.
But in the end, Rogers and Shaw agreed to sell Freedom to Videotron for $2.85-billion, announcing the deal a month after the Competition Bureau had filed an application to block the cable merger.